The Kuala Lumpur Bar Blog

The 1st Young Lawyers Legal Practice Management Speed Track Course (“SpeedTrack”) organised by the Practice Management Unit of the Young Lawyers  Committee in collaboration with the Practice Development Committee of the Kuala Lumpur Bar was held on 22 May 2009 at the Bar Council Auditorium from 10am to 6pm. SpeedTrack was structured as a comprehensive one-day program with relevant topics conducted in an effective classroom-type setting, designed to be exhaustive, relevant and effective.  About a 100 young lawyers and pupils attended SpeedTrack last Friday. The course comprised three (3) modules: The Management Module, The Professional Module and The Personal Module.  The Management Module essentially dealt with file management, time management and boss management. The Management Module was conducted by Preetha Pillai, a Dispute Resolution Partner with Messrs. Skrine. Preetha gave young lawyers an insight into good legal management practices and habits to inculcate in the early years  o...

Jawatankuasa Peguam Kuala Lumpur menyelar kenyataan yang dikeluarkan oleh Ketua UMNO Bahagian Cheras, Datuk Wira Syed Ali Alhabshee mencabar Majlis Peguam untuk didaftarkan sebagai pertubuhan politik. Majlis Peguam Malaysia adalah sebuah badan professional yang tidak cenderung pada mana-mana parti politik. Ia tidak pernah dan tidak akan terpengaruh dengan aliran politik mana-mana parti politik dan hanya berhasrat untuk menegakkan keadilan melalui keluhuran perlembagaan dan kedaulatan undang-undang. Berkenaan dengan insiden penangkapan lima (5) orang peguam daripada Pusat Bantuan Guaman tersebut, Jawatankuasa Peguam Kuala Lumpur ingin menegaskan bahawa ia adalah satu kewajipan peguam untuk memberi nasihat kepada anak guam sekiranya anak guam memohon untuk perkhidmatan peguam di mana hak-hak untuk berjumpa dengan peguam juga adalah dinyatakan jelas di Kod Prosidur Jenayah. Jawatankuasa Peguam Kuala Lumpur mengecam penahanan tersebut dan melihatnya sebagai intimidasi dari pihak polis unt...

Your Life as an Open (Face)book –  The Legal Impact of Online Social Networking  by Brendan Navin Siva I have a confession to make. Although I don’t have a MySpace account, and I have lost all interest in Facebook, I tweet on Twitter like a madman, and despite feeling that I should stop, I can’t! The power of social networking sites that have mushroomed over the years like Facebook, Friendster, MySpace and Twitter should not be underestimated. As of late last year, Facebook boasted 200 million users worldwide. MySpace has over 100 million users while the new kid on the block, Twitter, has a fairly small but growing number of users in the 4-5 million range with over 14 million unique visitors [1] . The attraction and popularity of such sites are not hard to understand. Human beings are social beings. We share thoughts and express feelings to and with one another. Some of us who are shy and reluctant to share intimate and personal information on an intangible medium consisting of million...

Please attend the Malaysian Bar EGM. Details are as follows:- Date : 15 May 2009 Time : 3.00pm Venue : Dewan Sivik Majlis Perbandaran Petaling Jaya Jalan Yong Shook Lin 46675 Petaling Jaya Selangor Also, please see link to the Motion proposed by the President of the Malaysian Bar, Ragunanth Kesavan.  Thank you. Regards, Richard Wee Honorary Secretary Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee

Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee demands the immediate release of the 5 lawyers arrested on 7th May 2009 At about 11.30pm on 7th May 2009, 5 members of the Kuala Lumpur Bar were arrested by the Royal Malaysian Police Force at Brickfields Police Station. All 5 lawyers are also members of the Bar Council Legal Aid Centre of Kuala Lumpur, which included the Chairperson and Secretary of the Legal Aid Centre. 15 people were arrested by the Police at the Brickfields Police Station, just before the arrest of the 5 lawyers. The group of 15 were part of a larger group, holding a candlelight vigil, in response to the arrest and remand of Political Scientist, Wong Chin Huat since 6th May 2009. The 5 lawyers, in their course of duty as Advocates & Solicitors and as members of the Legal Aid Centre, went to the aid of the 15 arrested people. They were arrested instead. The arrest of the 5 lawyers who were merely discharging their duties, is an affront to the laws of the country and a lack of common co...

A comment by a Pupil in Kuala Lumpur about the Legal Aid Program I read an article today about the situation orphaned and other disadvantaged children face, especially the difficulties faced in studies and job prospects upon graduation. Some of the children were attached to vocational training schools while others were attached to homes. One of the students scored 6As during her exams, which was the best result a student from the home had ever achieved. That's a pretty good result.  I was posted to the juvenile rehabilitation program as part of my legal aid programme. I've done similar work before. I visited a vocational training school as a teenager and saw how the students, who were quite ordinary looking, perhaps a little naughty, trained. I also helped out at a school for children with learning disabilities when I was in school.  I think I have a special interest in looking out for younger people, especially disadvantaged teenagers. There's a lot of real injustic...