Contributed by Liew Kok Heng, Writer/Editor, Bar Council Secretariat; photo by Jul Indra Tofan, Senior Administrative Assistant, Bar Council Secretariat
The Malaysian Bar officially commemorated the signing of service agreements with three legal service providers — CLJ Legal Network Sdn Bhd, The Digital Library Sdn Bhd, and Thomson Reuters Asia Sdn Bhd — today at the Raja Aziz Addruse Auditorium, Wisma Badan Peguam Malaysia.
The signing of the service agreements follows the “Resolution Regarding the Provision of Legal Research Products from CLJ Legal Network Sdn Bhd, The Digital Library Sdn Bhd, and Thomson Reuters Asia Sdn Bhd” that was adopted at the 76th Annual General Meeting of the Malaysian Bar on 19 Mar 2022. Negotiations with the service providers took place subsequently, where service-level agreements were signed with each of them to provide legal research products for Members of the Bar. A new three-year legal research product scheme began in July 2022, with a six-month subsidy by the Bar Council for the year. Members would only have to start paying an annual Legal Research Levy in 2023.
In her welcoming remarks, President of the Malaysian Bar Karen Cheah Yee Lynn stated that the signing was the culmination of efforts to secure reasonably priced legal research products for Members of the Bar since 2017. She thanked the service providers, members of the Bar Council Legal Databases Liaison Committee (“LDLC”), and past and present Bar Council Members who collaborated tirelessly in the negotiation process.
Without adequate research tools especially in this digital age, lawyers cannot represent their clients at their best, she added. She hoped that today’s signing would mark the beginning of a stronger legal profession in Malaysia, and that the newly secured legal research products would empower members of the legal profession further in their acquisition of legal knowledge in their practice.
Present for the ceremony were Preghaladhan Vizia Balakrishnan, General Manager, CLJ Legal Network Sdn Bhd; Syed Abu Dahir Hameed Sultan, Senior Manager Executive, The Digital Library Sdn Bhd; Girish Kamat, Country Manager, Thomson Reuters Asia Sdn Bhd; Mohamad Ezri Abdul Wahab, Vice-President of the Malaysian Bar; Harleen Kaur, Co-Chairperson of LDLC; Marisa Regina Mohd Aris Rizal, Bar Council Member; Rajen Devaraj, Chief Executive Officer of the Bar Council Secretariat; and Bar Council Secretariat officers.
If you have any enquiries pertaining to the legal research products or if you have not received any of the three introductory email, please contact Najwa Syazwani Aqilah bt Abd Hamid, Executive Officer (03-2050 2102), or Nursyaizan bt Jasni, Officer (03-2050 2119), or send an email to legaldatabases@malaysianbar.org.my.