Article contributed by Vanimalar Money Selvam, Officer, National Young Lawyers Committee, and photos by Roslan b Mahamud, Administrative Assistant
The Bar Council National Young Lawyers Committee (“NYLC”) and the Bar Council Professional Standards and Development Committee (“PSDC”) co–organised a workshop for young lawyers entitled “Client Interview 101” on 18 Aug 2015 (Tuesday) at the Raja Aziz Addruse Auditorium. The objective of the workshop was to educate the participants, particularly the young lawyers, on how to conduct interviews with clients.
A total of 35 attendees, comprising Members of the Malaysian Bar, pupils in chambers and law students attended the workshop. The workshop commenced with an opening remark by the Co–Chairperson of NYLC, Ida Daniella Zulkifili who introduced the speaker, Daniel Joseph Albert to the participants.
The power point presentation by Daniel Joseph Albert pointed out the importance of effective client interviews, the preparation required for the interviews, the basic dos and don’ts, and common issues that impede an effective client conference.
The second half of the workshop began with a role–play session. The participants were divided into five groups and each group was led by a facilitator. Yeoh Tung Seng, Vivekananda Sukumaran, Ida Daniella Zulkifli, Choo Dee Wei and Aaron Mathews were the facilitators for the session. The participants were instructed to go through the workshop handouts and prepare questions to ask the clients. The facilitators conducted a mock client conference to test the participants on their skills.
Syahredzan Johan, Co–Chairperson of NYLC delivered the closing speech. The workshop was a success based on the participants’ feedback on the knowledge that they have obtained.