The standard of lawyers, most of whom graduated from local universities, range from the good to the grotesque, said a senior judge. "Many of them are bad because of the low-quality training they received at local institutions of higher learning," Court of Appeal judge Datuk Gopal Sri Ram told the New Straits Times after the launch of a book, Malaysian Employment Laws, by M.N. D'Cruz.Sri Ram, who has been in the legal profession for 40 years, said some lawyers did not have a clue how to introduce their opponents or to cite cases in court. There was also a large number who did not know how to prepare written briefs, he added. "The Bar Council should address this problem instead of being distracted by other matters. " He said the professional standard of lawyers, estimated at 13,000, had declined in the last 10 years.
He also went on to touch on the financial difficulties of lawyers in private practice.He said many lawyers were financially strapped because of the high cost of maintaining their practice. As a result, many could not afford to even buy law journals, which cost between several hundreds and thousands of ringgit per volume. "Law books to a lawyer are what the scalpel is to a surgeon and making them expensive does not help the profession," he said. "Many are broke because private practice takes a lot of money; they have to pay their staff and their provident fund and taxes, and when all that is done, nothing much is left." He said the journal for contract law, for instance, cost RM 2,000 and this was because it was printed and published in England. "Many law journals come from Australia and India while Malaysia produces very few law books.This is another reason why it makes it expensive for lawyers. That is why the photocopy machines in their offices are kept busy at all times," he added. He however went on to commend government's decision to replace the Certificate in Legal Practice examination with the Common Bar Examination adding that it was a good idea which deserved support.
The Bar council in responding to the criticism leveled against it cited that the issue of poor- quality lawyers was an ongoing issue which needed comprehensive change of the whole structure. Its vice-president Ragunath Kesavan was reported to have stated that the Bar Council was well aware of of and was in the process of taking steps to address the issue. He however disagreed with Sri Ram that locally-trained lawyers were not up to par. "It's a question of perception. There are senior lawyers who perform horrendously in court, too. The problem is not confined to locally-trained lawyers . On the subject of expensive law journals, he said the Bar Council was looking into an online library system accessible to members. The statement by Datuk Gopal Sri Ram also touched a raw nerve amongst law students . Some thought that there was an element of truth while others disagreed.
A fresh graduate, who is in chambers at a top law firm, said his education did not prepare him for what he was now facing. "Local institutions focus too much on exams. They do not give you the proper picture of the legal profession and there's no exposure to the real industry. When I started chambering, it was a completely different world. Processes, such as the proper way to address judges and the actual art of advocacy, are not taught and it takes years to master. However, he said, solely blaming the training of local graduates was an unfair generalisation as there was no guarantee that an Oxford-trained graduate would be better than a locally-trained one. A second-year Universiti Malaya law student agreed that there was too much focus on examinations. "A better idea would be to have a system that is evenly split between course work and exams. "There are advantages to using assignments as a benchmark because students often do more in-depth research and studying when preparing an assignment," the part-time student said, adding that during examinations, students often just mugged and regurgitated facts and cases. She said more debates were needed in law school to prepare students for the real world. "But, it is unfair of Gopal to say that many lawyers these days are of low quality since there was plenty of deadwood in the legal profession even during his time." Universiti Malaya vice-chancellor Datuk Rafiah Salim disagreed that the poor quality of local lawyers was something related to training. She stressed that it was more an issue of language. Many students did not have a strong command of English, which was why they were struggling in court, she said. ”Our law is based on Common Law and this means lawyers still look up English law and read up on English cases. If the students have a better grasp of English, they would be able to practise advocacy better.Language is a tool in law and we need to address the issue at primary and secondary school level, as university is not the place to do it, unless you are studying languages.”
Rafiah, however, agreed that universities needed to be more focussed in teaching the subject, especially on the procedural aspects of practising law. "What is being taught in university is not being used by those going into practice," she said.
extracted from New Straits Times May 26 2008
