The Malaysian Bar’s International Malaysia Law Conference (“IMLC”) 2026 takes place from 27 to 30 Oct 2026 at MITEC, Kuala Lumpur.
By Faeza Suraya Roselan, Azmi Fadzly Maha & Sim
Day 2 of the International Malaysia Law Conference (“IMLC”) 2026, on 29 Oct 2026, continued in the afternoon with a session titled “Legal Education in Malaysia: Time for a Standardisation of Entry into the Profession?”. This session, moderated by Dato’ Mohamad Ezri Abdul Wahab, immediate past President of the Malaysian Bar, brought together three speakers from different backgrounds who share the common goal of streamlining legal education and entry into the profession.
The first speaker was The Honourable Justice Datin Paduka Evrol Mariette Peters, Judge of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia, who needed no further introduction. The second speaker was Professor Dr Jason Chuah FRSA SFHEA, the former Dean of the Faculty of Law at Universiti Malaya from 2023 to 2026. The third speaker was Dr Rozilini Mary Fernandez-Chung PFHEA, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, School of Education at the University of Nottingham Malaysia.
The session began with an overview of To Be or Not to Be … a Lawyer, which The Honourable Justice Datin Paduka Evrol Mariette Peters wrote and published in 2016. She went on to highlight the versatility of a law degree, which was the aim of the book, and that contrary to the belief of many young lawyers, litigation is not the only option — non-contentious lawyers are just as important, as they prevent disputes from escalating to litigation in the first place.
Professor Dr Jason Chuah FRSA SFHEA took a similar view. Although hierarchy tends to place litigators at the top, a lot of rewarding work is also done by transactional lawyers. He emphasised that diverse options should be presented to law graduates, regardless of whether they eventually qualify to practise, as there is profound value in different areas of law.
Insofar as entry into the profession is concerned, Dr Rozilini Mary Fernandez-Chung PFHEA noted that it would be nearly impossible to implement a “common” standard, considering the varied backgrounds of law graduates who intend to undergo pupillage. That said, plans are underway to replace the Certificate of Legal Practice course with the New Bar Course (“NBC”), which will largely depend on a computer-based legal management system (“LMS”) and mark a departure from traditional handwritten assessments.
NBC will be split into two parts: a conversion course in English, which entails three months of self-learning with a test at the end for foreign-qualified graduates, to give them a basic understanding; and a subsequent six-month provider-supported programme that will be taught in both English and Bahasa Melayu, to prepare the graduates for pupillage. Lesson videos will then be uploaded to LMS as study material.
Assessments aside, The Honourable Justice Datin Paduka Evrol Mariette Peters went on to list the qualities of a lawyer who has completely mastered the material before them. In short, a good lawyer is concise, knows when to concede and when to stop. Her Ladyship quoted the great scientist Albert Einstein: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”.
Professor Dr Jason Chuah FRSA SFHEA agreed with the above, but did posit that the conventional nature of Malaysia’s legal education system puts a lot of focus on rote learning and rules, when experiential learning and hands-on activities would actually be far more beneficial. To add to this, Dr Rozilini Mary Fernandez-Chung PFHEA underscored the effectiveness of the backward design model, which identifies the intended learning outcomes before determining how students should be taught. Overall, the speakers were in agreement that when it comes to advocacy, law students and pupils in chambers learn the most by observing other lawyers.
Ultimately, the burden of preparing law graduates for entry into the profession is not on any singular party. Instead, universities, pupil masters and the Legal Profession Qualifying Board must all play a part — from creating a foundation and imparting knowledge to creating a cohesive framework for assessment.
The session wrapped up with the speakers answering the primary question: “Is it time for a standardised entry into the profession?”. The Honourable Justice Datin Paduka Evrol Mariette Peters and Professor Dr Jason Chuah FRSA SFHEA both said yes, with the latter proposing a caveat that legal education and legal training should be tackled separately. Dr Rozilini Mary Fernandez-Chung PFHEA suggested that pupillage in itself is already a standardised entry, though the mechanism surrounding it is still being fine-tuned.
*This article reports on Breakout Session 7, Stream B: Young Lawyers.