Contributed by Andrew Ang and Nizam Bashir
The session begun with Gaythri Raman, the session’s moderator introducing the speakers for the session, Matt Kenser a practicing lawyer in the USA and Wong Meng Meng President for the Law Society of Singapore.
First speaker, Matt a lawyer who is tech savvy, and has a port folio of clients from Silicon Valley, such as Facebook and Dropbox giving an overview of the evolving legal landscape that has occurred in the USA. Matt alluded to the fact that lawyers are being attacked by new technologies and most lawyers are not able to cope with ever advancing technologies.
Matt argued that the Internet has eliminated one of the two services lawyers provided in the past which is directing access to legislations because legislations can now be searched online. Clients also want information fast, simple, and for free and he further gave examples such as delivering information via mobile phones, also having knowledge management (KM) system that provide for timely actionable information and creating checklists as evidence of the industrialization of the legal practice.
The session begun with Gaythri Raman, the session’s moderator introducing the speakers for the session, Matt Kenser a practicing lawyer in the USA and Wong Meng Meng President for the Law Society of Singapore.
First speaker, Matt a lawyer who is tech savvy, and has a port folio of clients from Silicon Valley, such as Facebook and Dropbox giving an overview of the evolving legal landscape that has occurred in the USA. Matt alluded to the fact that lawyers are being attacked by new technologies and most lawyers are not able to cope with ever advancing technologies.
Matt argued that the Internet has eliminated one of the two services lawyers provided in the past which is directing access to legislations because legislations can now be searched online. Clients also want information fast, simple, and for free and he further gave examples such as delivering information via mobile phones, also having knowledge management (KM) system that provide for timely actionable information and creating checklists as evidence of the industrialization of the legal practice.
Matt further stated that with the Internet, law firms should be collaborating with lawyers all around the world and with the Internet, work can be done more efficiently and quickly. He also suggested that law firms can provide legal services via social networking and services like project management.
Matt then concluded by arguing that one business would have more advantage if they only have to move bytes and not bits and the recipe to success is essentially to combine I.T. and law.
The second speaker, Wong Meng Meng, speaking from a viewpoint of a Singaporean lawyer with 30 years experience since the opening up of foreign law firms into Singapore, argued that it is an inevitable trend for governments to open to foreign law firms for a nation thrive to become business hubs in various industries.
Wong then commented that law firms in Malaysia must be prepared for the change that would occur in near future and further claimed that law firms in Singapore that has decided to take on the change by reforming their practices was able to survive through the change. On the other hand, law firms which chose not to have mostly closed down.
Wong further suggested that Malaysia will adopt the reformation at a faster pace than Singapore and therefore Malaysia is left with only one option that is to improve the quality of lawyers at quicker pace.
Some survival tips that Wong has given for instance are if law firms are permitted to employ foreign lawyers, foreign lawyers should be subject to the same disciplinary regime as the domestic lawyers, re-thinking ways to retain talents in a law firm and to show professionalism, integrity and to respect confidentiality of clients at all possible occasions.
Wong also pointed out the issue of steep growth in legal fees entailed with the opening to foreign law firms would pose real concerns for people in the street to access to justice, and claimed that Singapore has established avenues to address these issues.
Wong also concluded that the judiciary must take the lead to put the reforms in place, as opposed to it being driven by lawyers, in order to see it being successfully implemented.
Matt then concluded by arguing that one business would have more advantage if they only have to move bytes and not bits and the recipe to success is essentially to combine I.T. and law.
The second speaker, Wong Meng Meng, speaking from a viewpoint of a Singaporean lawyer with 30 years experience since the opening up of foreign law firms into Singapore, argued that it is an inevitable trend for governments to open to foreign law firms for a nation thrive to become business hubs in various industries.
Wong then commented that law firms in Malaysia must be prepared for the change that would occur in near future and further claimed that law firms in Singapore that has decided to take on the change by reforming their practices was able to survive through the change. On the other hand, law firms which chose not to have mostly closed down.
Wong further suggested that Malaysia will adopt the reformation at a faster pace than Singapore and therefore Malaysia is left with only one option that is to improve the quality of lawyers at quicker pace.
Some survival tips that Wong has given for instance are if law firms are permitted to employ foreign lawyers, foreign lawyers should be subject to the same disciplinary regime as the domestic lawyers, re-thinking ways to retain talents in a law firm and to show professionalism, integrity and to respect confidentiality of clients at all possible occasions.
Wong also pointed out the issue of steep growth in legal fees entailed with the opening to foreign law firms would pose real concerns for people in the street to access to justice, and claimed that Singapore has established avenues to address these issues.
Wong also concluded that the judiciary must take the lead to put the reforms in place, as opposed to it being driven by lawyers, in order to see it being successfully implemented.