On the back of a successful Luncheon in June 2013, the KL Bar Pupils
Welfare Committee (“KLPWC”) and the KL Bar Young Lawyers Committee (“KLYLC”)
once again collaborated to organise the Luncheon; a meet and dine social event
designed to give an opportunity for younger members of the Bar to share their
experiences, trade views and be inspired by senior members of the Bar over the
course of a luncheon.
This time titled as The Luncheon: A Taste of the Bar III, the Luncheon
was held at Aria Restaurant, Bukit Damansara, on 16 November 2013.
The Luncheon draws inspiration from the London Inns of
Courts' dining sessions.
The cozy atmosphere of Aria perfectly fitted all 39 attendees of the
Luncheon. 31 of the attendees consisted of pupils and junior members of the Bar
(“Young
Lawyers”) from a myriad of legal and educational backgrounds. The
Luncheon was very kindly graced by 8 senior members of the Bar from a very
diverse range of practice (“Seniors”). We had luminaries from
the fields of dispute resolution, employment, constitutional, corporate &
commercial, IT, IP, human rights law and even a co-founder of a certain blawg. The
Seniors who had taken time off their busy schedule to join us were:
1.
Datuk Haji
Sulaiman Bin Abdullah of Messrs Sulaiman;
2.
Sivabalah
Nadarajah of Messrs Shearn Delamore & Co;
3.
Chew Phye Keat of
Messrs Raja, Darryl and Loh;
4.
Khairuzzaman Bin
Muhammad of Messrs Zul Rafique & Partners;
5.
Sivaneindiren
Selvanandam of Messrs Cheah Teh & Su;
6.
Alan Adrian Gomez
of Messrs Tommy Thomas;
7.
Datuk Baljit Singh
Sidhu of Messrs Shukor, Baljit & Partners;
8.
Shanmuga
Kanesalingam of Messrs Kanesalingam & Co.
The Luncheon began with the Reception at 12:00 pm. Aria had set up space
on the ground floor for the attendees to mingle and chat over a range of drinks
and cocktails. The young and eager legal minds were only too happy to
congregate around the Seniors. The Young Lawyers inundated the Seniors with
questions ranging from the peculiar to the legally philosophical. The Seniors
were true to form and reputation, coursing through conversations with charm and
intelligence, welcoming glints in their eyes. Quickly put at ease, entrapped by
the exciting and illuminating tales shared by the Seniors, it took little
effort from the Committee to facilitate the breaking of the ice and to create
conversation.
At 1:00 pm, it was time for the part which Malaysians know how to do
best - eat! Taking further inspiration from the Inns of Court, the attendees
were invited to take their randomly pre-determined seats at tables of four.
Each table had 1 Senior seating with 3 Young Lawyers.
Before Aria unleashed their yummy food, the Chairpersons of the KLPWC
and KLYLC, Vince Chong and Khaizan Sharizad (Sherrie), each gave a speech to
officially welcome the attendees. After briefly introducing the Seniors in
attendance, Vince proclaimed lunch served.
Aria did an amazing job by presenting the attendees with a delicious 3
course lunch, as follows:-
1. Appetiser - the Bruschetta Platter which consisted of smoked salmon,
creamed mushrooms and tomatoes served on toasted bread;
2. Mains - a choice of braised lamb shank dish served with sides of mashed
potatoes and vegetables; chicken breast stuffed with spinach; mushrooms and
pine nuts; seafood spaghetti; and Diavola Pizza;
3. Dessert - sweet crème brulee and coffee of your choice.
Any Bar event taking inspiration from the Dinings of the Inns of Court is
not complete without the traditional delivering of speeches! The Luncheon replicates
that tradition by having a Young Lawyer deliver a speech and a toast followed
by a reply by a Senior who will also propose a Royal Toast.
Representing the Young Lawyers was Kalpana Sivabalah, who thanked the Seniors
for taking the time and effort to come and share their experiences. Kalpana humbly
described her first experience in court to be laborious and being guided
through a labyrinth of instructions and procedures. Kalpana believes that in
events such as The Luncheon, the gap between the seniors and the juniors will
be bridged and that there is so much to be shared among the juniors and
seniors. She shared anecdotes that she had obtained throughout the Luncheon,
and further shared that many of the Young Lawyers present were honoured to be
bestowed a sense of tradition and a sense of belonging to the fraternity. Kalpana
also proclaimed her sense of exclusiveness as she finds the Bar as a unique body,
which safeguards the social institution and it is also the voice of the fragile
fabrics of society. She then proposed a toast to thank the Seniors for taking
the time off to spend time with the Young Lawyers at the Luncheon.
We pause to share and to highlight the casual and jovial setting of the
event. During Kalpana’s speech, she had
rhetorically queried why the Seniors keep doing what they do, in particular,
agreeing to take time off to attend the Luncheon and spend time with the Young
Lawyers. A Senior replied, to the immediate burst of laughter, cheering and
clapping, “How else to meet young and good-looking lawyers?”
After the toast led by Kalpana, Datuk Haji Sulaiman, being the most
senior member of the Bar present at the Luncheon, rose to reply to Kalpana’s
speech. He calls the Luncheon a splendid occasion. He gladly commented that
from what he saw at the Luncheon, the Bar does have promising young lawyers and
this dispels any notions and fears that the future of the Bar was in trouble. He
expressed that the future of the Bar was in good hands. He is also glad that we
have a strong system of government based on the Rule of Law and impressed that lawyers
are tasked and called to uphold the Rule of Law. He is confident that the Rule
of Law will remain strong in this country and is grateful for the system that
we have. Lastly, he thanked everyone for “making an old man happy”.
He ended his speech with the Royal Toast, complete with a quote from Tan
Sri V.C. George:-
“Charge your glass and be upstanding”
and proceeded to make a toast the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
Although the Luncheon was scheduled to end at about 3:00 pm, many of the
attendees lost track of time seeing how engaged they were in their respective
conversations. The crowd eventually dispersed at about 4:00 pm.
The Committee would like to take this opportunity to thank all the
attendees who attended. We hope that the Luncheon has made the Bar a stronger
and closer fraternity.
We must record our sincere thanks to the owner and staff at Aria, who
were simply outstanding and professional throughout.
The Committee hopes that Luncheon met everybody’s high expectations and
that the Luncheon remains as a mainstay in the KL Bar’s annual calendar!
Prepared by Jeremy Vinesh