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 of practice. She also offered advice on what a young lawyer is expected to do when taking over another lawyer’s portfolio. The session was practical and relevant and was conducted in a systematic and paced fashion.
The Professional Module was divided into the Litigation, Corporate and Conveyancing Tracks respectively. Participants had to choose one track to attend (depending on his/her area of practice/interest) as the tracks were conducted simultaneously.
The Litigation Track drew the most number of participants. Sanjeev Kumar of Messrs. Sanjeev Kumar conducted the Litigation Track and covered topics which included the litigation process; court decorum; effective legal research; attending meetings; what the court and a young lawyer’s supervising partner expects of him/her; and developing a file / case management system as a litigation lawyer. He also emphasised the use of the General Litigation Checklist as a useful tool to effectively manage cases. Sanjeev’s session was very well received and gave young litigation lawyers an insight into being an effective litigation practitioner.
Kelvin Loh Hsien Han, a Partner with Messrs. Shook Lin & Bok conducted the Corporate Track. He gave an introduction to practicing corporate law, being a successful corporate lawyer and dealt with the role of a corporate lawyer to the client and the role of a junior corporate lawyer to his/her respective team. Kelvin also discussed common corporate laws, regulations and guidelines and highlighted the importance of using checklists, and practicing good file management as a corporate lawyer. Kelvin’s session was practical and succinct and gave pupils and young practitioners a good overview of corporate practice.
The Conveyancing Track was conducted by Ms. Y.P. Cheong of Messrs. Y.P. Cheong & Co. She discussed conveyancing basics, how to aim to be a
better conveyancer, conveyancing checklists and sub-sale and purchase agreements. She provided participants with a comprehensive overview into legal practice as a conveyancer, and highlighted various tools and checklists to better manage conveyancing practice as a young lawyer.
The Personal Module was conducted by Adrian Choong, a business coach and certified trainer with E-Essence Enterprise. The Personal Module was divided into the Personality Track, the Interpersonal Track and the Stress Management Track. Each track was conducted one after the other. Adrian conducted a personality test using the DISC Behavioural Model in order to enable participants to understand their respective personalities and working styles in the Personality Track. The Interpersonal Track dealt with interpersonal skills, Neuro Linguistic Programming and preferred representational systems. The Stress Management Session saw Adrian giving tips on how to identify stressors based on different personality types and offered stress-relieving strategies to manage stress in legal practice. The Personal Module was a conducted in a relaxed environment, and participants got an idea as to what makes them tick, what makes them ticked off, how to deal with other people in the workplace who are different from them, and how to apply various interpersonal skills in legal practice.
SpeedTrack ended at 6pm with a de-brief and certificate presentation. The feedback received was almost all positive, save for a few suggestions on how to better conduct the course in the future.
Ruth Garnet Maran
Program Coordinator
Deputy Chair (Practice Management)
Young Lawyers Committee