26.6.2010-The External Liaison Committee ("ELC"), a committee under the purview of the Kuala Lumpur Young Lawyers Committee ("KLYLC") embarked on its yearly visit when the volunteering lawyers visited the new KDU College ("KDU") campus at 76, Jalan University, Petaling Jaya. We were informed that the new campus now houses the School of Business and Law and that the batch of students attending the talk that morning was generally the first batch of students from the January 2010 intake.
Primarily the objectives of the visits, is to ideally manage the expectation of the students planning to carve out a career in the legal industry thus the volunteer lawyers attending the workshop were tasked with giving advice, insights and likewise sharing their experience with the students. All volunteers were eager to share talks with all the fresh-faced, 40 plus participating students who attended that morning.
The session started off with a short welcoming speech delivered by Ms. Fam Yu Min to the students explaining the objectives of the visit. A brief introduction of the volunteers from the KLYC soon ensued.
Next, students were then segregated into different tutorial halls and the volunteer lawyers were dispatched into the respective halls to proceed with workshop. The students were apprehensive at first but went along with the session.
During the workshop, students were welcomed to ask any questions related to chambering, practice, in-house practice, areas of laws, contentious legislation and legal issues pertaining to the industry. Volunteers likewise shared their insights and experiences maneuvering the often-rough seas of the trade. All keen, enthusiastic and eager, students were full of queries. The session lasted about one hour.
Subsequently, the students were ushered back into the main hall and were invited to give their feedback on the session. The feedbacks were positive, surprisingly. From the feedback, we were informed that the students expected a 2 hours strong lecture-like talk that morning but were rather taken aback when it turn out that sessions were conducted in a very interactive manner For the question and answer session, we were told that it was an effective way to get the messages across and that such visits are most welcomed in the future.
In line with the objectives of these visits, the ELC will continue its efforts to support and provide advice for law students in various universities and colleges in Malaysia and hopes with these workshops would contribute towards the improvement of standards and quality of the future pawns of law.
Prepared by Darren Malis