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Ladies and Gentlemen,

A very good afternoon to all of you.

It is my singular privilege and honour to have been invited to address you at this Ethics and Professional Standards Course Lunch this afternoon organized by the Bar Council Malaysia.

As per the invitation extended to me, my talk is to be confined to some tips on how to be an excellent, ethical and successful lawyer and the challenges ahead in the profession. I am also requested to touch on the subject of the independence of the Bar, and to do all this in, at the maximum period of twenty minutes.

In an attempt to do my best, and within the mandate as given to me, permit me to deal firstly with the subject of the ethics of the legal profession, as I am a firm believer in the fact that, the ethics of the profession is a necessary pre-requisite to one’s excellence and success as a lawyer.

You are all only too familiar with the Legal Profession (Practice and Etiquette) Rules, 1978, a set of Rules promulgated by the Bar Council, a body established under the Legal Profession Act, 1976, specifically to ensure the proper management of the affairs of the Malaysian Bar to which all of you will automatically become members of, on your admission as an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court, in the near future.

Entrenched in the said Rules are some 61 Rules touching on various aspects of the practice of the law and conduct of an Advocate and Solicitor.

It follows that, the minimum requirements for you to be an “ethical” lawyer, will then be to familiarize yourselves with those 61 Rules, and strictly adhere to the same, at all times, in your day to day practice, as an Advocate and Solicitor.

What is ethical in this context? To me the answer is simply conducting oneself as dictated by one’s morals or conscience.

What then is conscience? Conscience, it is said, is nothing but “other people inside you”.

If you look close into the 61 Rules of the Practice and Etiquette Rules, you will see that they are all related to the conduct of an Advocate and Solicitor viz-a-viz his or her client, viz-a-viz the colleague of the Advocate and Solicitor who happens to be the opponent lawyer, viz-a-viz the Judges before whom the Advocate and Solicitor appears, to advance his/her client’s cause. These then are the other people inside you.

Excellent and successful lawyer – how does one become one? There is no short cut. Hard work, a firm determination at all times to improve oneself in the knowledge of the law, a reasonably good mastery of the area of the law of the Advocate and Solicitor’s chosen area of practice, are all of great importance towards excellence and success as a lawyer.

The law is not static. It is constantly changing to meet the needs of the times. New Acts of Parliament are enacted from time to time repealing old laws, or amending existing laws. Decisions are handed down by the Courts interpreting provisions of statutes, and/or expanding the application of the law, as existing to other and different facts situation. Hence the need to keep abreast with the changes and/or development of the law, cannot be over emphasized, as being a necessary catalyst for success and excellence as a lawyer.

You are bound to meet with failures, some time or other and in some form or other in the course of your practice. After all, to err is human. However, what is important is to acquire experience to master such failures and avoid their recurrence. Here I can do no better than to recall the words of wisdom which fell from the lips of the former President of India, Mr. Abdul Kalam, and which is, “people dissect their failure for causes and effects, but seldom deal with them and gain experience to master them and thereby avoid their recurrence”.

The art of advocacy is by no means any less important to be a successful lawyer. You are all possessed with the basic knowledge of the law in the multifarious areas of the law. However, you must remember that what is required of you in the matter in which you stand up before the Court to advocate the cause of your client, is not to give an exposition of the law to the Judge, who is equally familiar with the area of the law, if not more familiar than you. Your task as an Advocate and Solicitor, advocating your client’s cause in the Court of law, is to attempt to marry or link the principles of the law with which you are familiar with and which are applicable, to the factual matrix of the case that you are handling, where it is possible by the use of accepted devices such as analogy or an extension of the settled principle to the facts of your case.

Likewise, where the occasion demands, you ought to be in a position to distinguish the facts of your case with the facts of a decided case, towards demonstrating to the Court that the decision in the decided case is not applicable to your case.

It is however inherent in the art of advocacy whether, by the use of the devices of “analogy” or “an extension of subsisting principle of law” or “distinguishing” that you must have a thorough understanding and mastery of the facts of your case and the law relating to those facts as laid down by the Courts in earlier cases. In simple terms, what this will entail is a constant effort by you to keep yourself updated on the law, and in particular the developments thereof, both legislatively and judicially.

Then comes the important part of the stage of advocating your client’s cause in the Court of law. With a good grasp of the facts of the matter as handled by you, and a good understanding of the law as applicable thereto, or closely applicable thereto, as the case may be, you must put forward your case before the Judge in a systematic fashion and do so clearly and loudly enough for the Judge before whom you are appearing, to follow.

This will apply whether you are advocating in the English language or in Bahasa Malaysia, the official language of the Courts.

Not infrequently a good case can end up in an unsuccessful outcome simply because of poor or illogical presentation of the case, and in as precise a manner as is possible. It is important to bear in mind that, presiding Judges are not there to hear lengthy speeches from Advocates and Solicitors appearing before them. The time constraint of the Courts simply does not permit this, and it is no criteria of good advocacy in any case. The words of wisdom has it that, “the most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words, when one will suffice”. In simple language what this means is, be brief in your address to the Court, but ensure being to the point.

Moving on to the challenges ahead in the profession, the profession is growing in numbers by leaps and bounds, by the year. I am given to understand that the figure as of two days back was 12,450 lawyers. With the increase in the numbers, comes the attendant competition amongst the members of the profession.

Current members and to be members of the profession therefore have to be prepared to meet with the challenges, and to do so within the bounds as dictated by the profession, so as to maintain the status of the profession as a honourable profession.

Lastly, but by no means of any less importance, is an awareness of the fact that as Advocates and Solicitors, you have mixed duties, duty to your client, duty to the Court, duty to your opposing counsel and duty to the establishment to which you are attached to.

In the discharge of these several duties, you must at all times keep, at your forefront, the paramount duty of yours in seeking justice to your client’s cause and be prepared to discharge that duty without any fear or favour, and to the best of your ability.

I end my speech with my sincere best wishes in your chosen profession as Advocates and Solicitors and in particular to those of you who will be commencing practice as Advocates and Solicitors in the not too distant a future. I also thank the Bar Council Malaysia for having given me this opportunity to address this august body.

Datuk N. Chandran
20/5/2010