Chambering - part I

Upon completion of the LLB Degree course, I was given the opportunity to read in chambers of Messrs Soraya Chuah & Associates in USJ, Subang Jaya, Selangor. As mentioned before, life as a student who read in chambers or chambering is not as easy as it looks.

First, u have a master who u need to serve - it may sounds a bit serious but that is the true fact. A master will eventually share some of his or her experiences as a senior law practitioner and if you try hard enough, you will learn a lot of things while reading in chambers. This is because the law changes every now and then; new laws were created and each day you will find a new fact about law that you don't even know before.

As for me I enjoy the generous supervision of my master Capt. (R) Sunny Matthews as he told me that if you want to learn, hardworking is most important. If you don't know or unsure of certain things, you should ask. Keeping your mouth shut will do you no good. As lawyers we need to speak a lot rite and having a good speaking skill will help in lot whenever you present your client's case in court.

Aha..i forgot to tell you that before you choose a particular law firm to read in chambers, first you must at least know what are the practices of lawyers in that firm. For instance if you are interested in criminal law then find a firm that offer services in that field. Generally, most law firms in our county practices in litigation and conveyancing matters. Therefore, if you opt to learn more about litigation and conveyancing, then you should not have any worries. Firms will advertise reading in chambers vacancies from time to time and please check at your respective faculties as some of this firms prefer to recruit directly from Law Schools.

Let me share with you on things that I've learn from my master. Since my master was an expert in conveyancing, I was given the opportunity to learn almost every possible aspect of it. From registration of land titles, how to make a land search, possible matters that may arise from a land dispute and of course attending special hearings of land cases at the Land Office. I even traveled to Sungai Besar Land Office alone to experience, to feel and to learn the procedures relating to land matters like making a formal search of land titles and attending hearings. It was a beauty for me to discover that force sale of a defaulted debtor's house will eventually take time as there are certain procedures and steps that need to be taken before any order was given by the Assistant Land Administrator to effect the sale process. It was then that I've realized such procedures applied only to houses with titles. For houses without titles the procedures are different. You see the law itself is a very broad subject and even today I kept learning new things about it.

I'll continue some more in my next post.

A Great Day

Yesterday. I went fishing my my uncle at a fishing pond in Kuala Kubu, Selangor. It was a nice place and I didn't get any fish but my uncle managed to get a 7 kilo Tongsan (I think a type of carp) and it was huge. With a lot of breezing air, the scenery there was beautiful. I also managed to witness the sunset and its a one of the kind feeling I tell you. At least it will somehow rather make your mind at peace - forget all those heavy litigation files or even long hours of criminal trials.


But if you are into fishing, you must have a high patience. It may take hours before your bait was taken by the fish and once you found it nibbling, there are certain techniques that you must use to land the fish.

I told my uncle, the last time I went for fishing was 18 years ago when I left Klang to pursue my secondary education in MCKK. He replied, its ok you don't need to be smart to learn how to fish. Its sheer determination and patience that count. My uncle is a fish enthusiast. There are two big ponds in his house in Kuala Kubu and I developed my hobby to rare fish because of him.

My advice to all fellow practitioners and lawyers, if you have time - get an aquarium. Believe me its worth it. In fact I had at one time four aquariums at a time and I maintained all four by myself with a little help from my younger brother. It helps you to relax watching the fishes swim freely and with ease.

Time for lunch. I'll continue writing soon.

Insomnia

Well, tonight I have trouble sleeping. It's almost 5 a.m. in the morning and I just can't close my eyes. Today is the day we celebrate Aidil Adha and by 8.30 a.m. the Aidil Adha prayers will be held at Mosques all over the world and such prayers are held only twice a year and I can't afford to miss it. I am sure, all of our Muslim friends are looking forward towards today.

Why do I have problems to sleep at this kind of time every year? I meant the night before Aidil Adha - until today I have no answer.

A thought To Myself

Tomorrow all the Muslims in our country will be celebrating the Aidil Adha festival. Such festivals brought memories to my father as on the same day this meaningful festival took place 32 years ago, I was born in a small clinic called Puravi Clinic (as to date I believe the clinic is still at the same place but I was not sure whether the Doctor is still alive).

I been glancing through all my friends profile in Facebook and it seems that almost all of them are married with kids. Huh, only a few of us left and at the age of 32, I should have well settle down looking forward towards my kids new adventure in life instead of my own. You can say the world is not fair huh that was why I became a lawyer in the 1st place. Sure there are ups and downs in life and one can never be so sure when his time wil come.

Till we meet again, I need to do some urgent matters for a while and I'll post a new blog afterwards.

Happy Eid Mubaraq to all Muslims.

In The Beginning

We are the ones who create the path of our lives. I would like to share what I've experienced myself - a sudden change in life which made me realize life is precious and we need to live it to the fullest.

Being born to two teachers life was not easy in the beginning. True, my parents are the kind that will strive to give their children the best education and I ended up with a LLB Degree.. (???). I still wonder why until today. Originally, I wanted to be a medical doctor with a MBBS but it seems that I failed most of my science subject during SPM and therefore a switch was inevitable.

Thus, working life began with me reading in chambers in a medium law firm based in USJ, Subang Jaya, Selangor named Messrs Soraya Chuah & Associates until I was called to the bar, practice for 2 years, build a partnership with a friend by the name of Faisyal Grewal & Associates and things did not go as plan so I withdrew myself from the partnership and joined the legal service of Malaysia 3 years ago.

My first posting was in Kuching, a small town in the Sarawak (Borneo) where I started to learn bout new things in life, absorbing myself to different cultures, ethnic groups and lifestyles not to mention various types of food I found there. I stepped on Kuching Airport on 3rd June 2006 and I was greeted by Abang Bahrin - a friend I knew through a friend and he showed me Kuching town in his classy Proton Gen 2 (Our local car).

My first taste at mee kolok was in Satok; eventually I ended up with a painful stomach for 3 days huhuhu...surely miss umi's and my sis's cooking. I purposely choose Hotel Kapit in Padungan as the place to stay coz it's near town and I wanted to explore Kuching myself, exposing me to things I've never seen before.

Life was happy for me in Kuching. I have lots of friends but the nature of my work does not allow me to be friends with everyone even though I am friendly. As a Magistrate, I heard cases everyday in court and did remand during weekends. I got used to the new atmosphere in no time with the help of fellow colleagues who helped me a lot in finding me a place to stay as well as other needs. (Thanks to Bryan Mason and his fellow comrades). There I met up with this beautiful girl whom later became my girlfriend ( U can check my photos. Her pictures there) and with all the things that I have I thought that it will lasts forever but it didn't.

Later on I realize, all these things came from HIM The Almighty Allah and if he wants to take it back, He can do so anytime.

I'll share with u the next part soon, how I lost everything I have and I still don't understand until now.

Why when we're in trouble the person or persons who we love so much left us?

We shared laughter together but why not tears???

Common Law

Ideally, this branch of law originated from the UK and was introduced to Malaysia - previously Malaya during the 3 English Charters. The word common derived from normal practices amongst the Englishmen and later on these practices were adapted as a law which was common to all the residences of the UK. For some the common law was too rigid in certain areas and thus a new branch of law was born and was named Equity. In the present situation, English cases which was decided prior to 1957 were still being used as a precedent to the courts in Malaysia in the absence of course any local cases. However, the adaptation of the common law can be clearly seen in the Law of Torts and the Law of Contract.

I will again explain the details of Common Law in my other posts.

A-Levels at KYPM, KL

Before, I have told you that I further studies at Kolej Yayasan Pelajaran Mara doing A-Levels and it was a tough one. We were not only taught about the subject law itself but also in accounting and business studies which apparently was my favourite subject. I've spent 2 years there living in a building which was originally built as a car park with complete rams for cars to enter and exit and I started to learn the parts and parcels of living on my own. You see, the college is in Cheras and my hometown is Klang; the distance is about 50 km; some would say quiet near but to me most importantly was the ability to life independently eventhough my family kept visiting me every weekend.

I remembered my fellow friends who helped me survived for 2 years there and we were close like families. We shared our problems, went for outing together, sometimes chase after girls together and even on one occasion drove all the way from Kuala Lumpur to Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan at night just to spend a few early hours by the seaside under the moon - sounds a bit nostalgic yeah guys. Apparently, we arrived in Kuala Lumpur the following day at 7 a.m. and we went straight to our respective classes with joy. Some of these guys still kept in touch with me through Facebook and we still share the most valuable thing in this world called friendship.

Life was full of joy and sorrows sometimes but when it came to the final examinations of the A-Levels, dengue striked me and I was asked to leave the hostel to avoid further spread of the disease to other students. Being in pain I did not even have sufficient time to prepare for my A-Levels and during examinations, I knew the results will not be a good one. Luckily, that year 1998, we Malaysians were facing the economic downfall and the government urged students to complete their studies locally rather than abroad and with a gist of luck, I was accepted to the Law Matriculation programme by Universiti Teknologi Mara or UiTM, Shah Alam. I was thinking it was better to begin all over again at least I have a secured place to continue reading law.

I need to pen off now. As promised I will continue my stories with you in my next blog.

Have a nice day!

A New Chapter

Today, this blog is opened officially. Here I will share with you my experiences as a Malay and Muslim Law graduate's struggle in life. I will certainly share past experiences, present situations and not to forget thought for the future.

My humble journey began from a town in Selangor, Malaysia called Klang which was once famous as the town where the Sultan or King of Selangor used to resides. In my early years, I remembered that my grandfather was a plumber and whenever he has time, he will take me for rides in his old vespa. Those were the days where I cherish and will remember always. Unfortunately, my grandfather met with an accident in 1988 on a road 'Jalan Tengku Kelana' or rather called the 'Little India' of Malaysia near the Fire Brigade's Hq and passed away.

Like other normal Malaysian kids, I went for my primary education at a few schools around Klang before I was offered a place in Malay College Kuala Kangsar or MCKK - a very famous boarding school especially for the Malays. There I've spent five valuable years learning, adapting and enjoying life as a Bumiputera Malay and in 1995, I left the school with a heavy heart. Sincerely, five years in a boarding school taught me to be really independent and well equipped for the future.

After the results were out I had an argument with my family as they wanted me to continue for STPM or the Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia if I'm not mistaken equivelent to the HSC before. I rebelled and stood up to them saying that I wanted to do something else. Luckily I've applied for the A-Levels programme with Kolej Yayasan Pelajaran Mara, Kuala Lumpur and was accepted surprisingly for the A-Levels Law programme.

Later on I'll share with you some of the things I've learnt during A-Levels especially concerning the Common Law or English Law and the relevence of applying such law to our current Malaysian Society.

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