Contributed by Anis Taufik and Chua Ai Lin, Officers, with photos by Rachel Tan, Public Relations Officer, Bar Council
The highly-anticipated launch of the revival of Praxis: Chronicle of the Malaysian Bar, a collaboration between the Malaysian Bar and LexisNexis (Malaysia), took place at the Bar Council Auditorium on 3 Mar 2011. Although the event officially kicked off at 4:00 pm, guests began trickling in from as early as 3:30 pm.
The event, organised by the Bar Council Publications Committee (“PC”), was attended by Ragunath Kesavan (President of the Malaysian Bar), George Varughese (Secretary of the Malaysian Bar), Rajen Devaraj (Chief Executive Officer of Bar Council), Chin Oy Sim (Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Bar Council), Bart Sjoerdsma (Managing Director (Southeast Asia) of LexisNexis) and Doug Kaplan (Chief Executive Officer of LexisNexis Asia Pacific). Other attendees comprised Members of the Bar, staff of LexisNexis (Malaysia), invited guests and members of the media from theSun, Berita Harian, Sin Chew Daily, New Straits Times, The Star, Makkal Osai, Radio 24 Bernama and NTV7.
The event, organised by the Bar Council Publications Committee (“PC”), was attended by Ragunath Kesavan (President of the Malaysian Bar), George Varughese (Secretary of the Malaysian Bar), Rajen Devaraj (Chief Executive Officer of Bar Council), Chin Oy Sim (Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Bar Council), Bart Sjoerdsma (Managing Director (Southeast Asia) of LexisNexis) and Doug Kaplan (Chief Executive Officer of LexisNexis Asia Pacific). Other attendees comprised Members of the Bar, staff of LexisNexis (Malaysia), invited guests and members of the media from theSun, Berita Harian, Sin Chew Daily, New Straits Times, The Star, Makkal Osai, Radio 24 Bernama and NTV7.
The event began with Syamsuriatina Ishak, Chairperson of PC and proud editor of Praxis, going on stage to deliver her introductory remarks. In her enthusiastic speech, she provided a brief introduction to Praxis, explaining that the publication had initially started off as Infoline in 1986 before being repackaged as Praxis in December 2006. However, due to various constraints, Praxis has only been published online since 2008. Citing that Praxis has been an important journal that serves to capture contemporary challenges facing the practice of law in Malaysia, as well as its achievements, she noted that the new publication aims to keep abreast of events and developments related to the legal profession and industry, in addition to sharing the different perspectives.
Syamsuriatina also expressed her confidence that the collaboration with LexisNexis (Malaysia), which enables Praxis to begin recirculation in print form, improved the publication in many ways, making it compatible with the evolving landscape of the legal profession.
In the second half of her speech, Syamsuriatina “spoke from her heart” and gave her thanks to the many individuals who supported her in her role as the editor of Praxis, in particular Azman Thaiyub Khan (Deputy Chairperson of PC) and Chua Ai Lin (Officer-in-charge of PC).
Ragunath Kesavan, when invited to present his speech, expressed his delight at the collaboration between the Malaysian Bar and LexisNexis (Malaysia). He lauded Syamsuriatina and PC for their efforts in producing Praxis, commenting that they had done a fantastic job. He was especially impressed with PC’s efficiency and admitted his surprise at how the committee had managed to produce the first issue in such a short period of time, while pointing out that it was possibly one of the publications most long-awaited by Members of the Bar. “Amazing” was the word he used to describe the first issue of Praxis, which offers a wide selection of thought-provoking articles and interesting features.
Bart Sjoerdsma addressed the audience by highlighting Praxis’s special features. Commenting that it is a publication produced by Malaysian lawyers for Malaysian lawyers, members of the legal fraternity are thus able to benefit from the publication as it features articles and contributions from peers and colleagues, in addition to updates on latest news and happenings within the legal community. He found the publication’s “lifestyle section” provided good reading while the “book review section” was his personal favourite.
The climax of the launch was the unveiling of the A3-sized cover of the Jan-Mar 2011 issue of Praxis by Ragunath Kesavan, George Varughese, Bart Sjoerdsma and Doug Kaplan, to the music of Vanessa Mae’s “Storm”. Amidst thunderous applause, all four gentlemen proceeded to place their signatures on the cover before obligingly posing for photographs. There was also an exchange of souvenirs between the Malaysian Bar and LexisNexis before Ragunath Kesavan and Bart Sjoerdsma signed the publishing collaboration agreement, thus cementing the five-year partnership.
The launch was followed by a short question-and-answer session. Significant enquiries, such as the meaning of Praxis and the possibility of releasing it as a monthly periodical (instead of a quarterly one) in the future, were posed. Syamsuriatina replied that Praxis is a combination of ideas, discussion and philosophy that aims to promote a healthy exchange of ideas between Members of the Bar. On the matter of eventually publishing it monthly, she commented that it was still too early to tell, but she was optimistic and open to the idea.
As the launch drew to a close, all guests were invited to a scrumptious afternoon tea – a wonderful conclusion to the groundbreaking event. As everyone mingled and gushed with excitement over the glossy pages of the latest issue of Praxis, there was an unmistakeable sense of positivity in the air – that the new era of Praxis: Chronicle of the Malaysian Bar, had indeed begun.
Syamsuriatina also expressed her confidence that the collaboration with LexisNexis (Malaysia), which enables Praxis to begin recirculation in print form, improved the publication in many ways, making it compatible with the evolving landscape of the legal profession.
In the second half of her speech, Syamsuriatina “spoke from her heart” and gave her thanks to the many individuals who supported her in her role as the editor of Praxis, in particular Azman Thaiyub Khan (Deputy Chairperson of PC) and Chua Ai Lin (Officer-in-charge of PC).
Ragunath Kesavan, when invited to present his speech, expressed his delight at the collaboration between the Malaysian Bar and LexisNexis (Malaysia). He lauded Syamsuriatina and PC for their efforts in producing Praxis, commenting that they had done a fantastic job. He was especially impressed with PC’s efficiency and admitted his surprise at how the committee had managed to produce the first issue in such a short period of time, while pointing out that it was possibly one of the publications most long-awaited by Members of the Bar. “Amazing” was the word he used to describe the first issue of Praxis, which offers a wide selection of thought-provoking articles and interesting features.
Bart Sjoerdsma addressed the audience by highlighting Praxis’s special features. Commenting that it is a publication produced by Malaysian lawyers for Malaysian lawyers, members of the legal fraternity are thus able to benefit from the publication as it features articles and contributions from peers and colleagues, in addition to updates on latest news and happenings within the legal community. He found the publication’s “lifestyle section” provided good reading while the “book review section” was his personal favourite.
The climax of the launch was the unveiling of the A3-sized cover of the Jan-Mar 2011 issue of Praxis by Ragunath Kesavan, George Varughese, Bart Sjoerdsma and Doug Kaplan, to the music of Vanessa Mae’s “Storm”. Amidst thunderous applause, all four gentlemen proceeded to place their signatures on the cover before obligingly posing for photographs. There was also an exchange of souvenirs between the Malaysian Bar and LexisNexis before Ragunath Kesavan and Bart Sjoerdsma signed the publishing collaboration agreement, thus cementing the five-year partnership.
The launch was followed by a short question-and-answer session. Significant enquiries, such as the meaning of Praxis and the possibility of releasing it as a monthly periodical (instead of a quarterly one) in the future, were posed. Syamsuriatina replied that Praxis is a combination of ideas, discussion and philosophy that aims to promote a healthy exchange of ideas between Members of the Bar. On the matter of eventually publishing it monthly, she commented that it was still too early to tell, but she was optimistic and open to the idea.
As the launch drew to a close, all guests were invited to a scrumptious afternoon tea – a wonderful conclusion to the groundbreaking event. As everyone mingled and gushed with excitement over the glossy pages of the latest issue of Praxis, there was an unmistakeable sense of positivity in the air – that the new era of Praxis: Chronicle of the Malaysian Bar, had indeed begun.