The second half of year is always peak period for job applications at law firms. At various times during this period, we will receive applications from local or overseas graduates, as well as those who have passed their CLP or UK Bar exams. Whenever this time of year comes around, I’m always shocked at some of the appalling job applications that I see — and it’s not just me, many fellow employers or recruitment partners share horror stories and regularly ask “how on earth did this person pass law school?”
For the benefit of current applicants, here are 3 ridiculous errors that you really shouldn’t be making:
The long-awaited Companies Bill 2015 has received Royal Assent and has been gazetted as the Companies Act 2016.
Based on a prescription order under the National Language Act, the authoritative text of the Companies Act 2016 (and any subsidiary legislation made under the Act) is the English language text. The new Act has not been brought into force yet.[update: The gazette notice has been issued. Almost all the provisions of the new Act will be brought into force on 31 January 2017. I have now written about this and the 10 things to immediately prepare for.]
It has also been announced that the Companies Commission of Malaysia intends to bring the Companies Act 2016 into force in stages. This will start from next year onwards. I would imagine that the sections dealing with insolvency and the new corporate rescue mechanisms could be brought into force at the last stage. The priority may be to implement the new provisions on the incorporation of companies.
To read more about my thoughts on the Companies Bill 2015 and now, the new Companies Act 2016, see below:
Guest writer Lee Quin shares her thoughts of having moved from being an intellectual property lawyer in a law firm to a regional in-house legal counsel role. She gives advice on the 8 things to consider if you are thinking of making the move in-house.
Just another typical working day for Quin
Starting Out
I started my career as an intellectual property and data protection lawyer in one of the top tier law firms in the country. My career path officially began when I was called to the Malaysian Bar aptly on the day the Malaysian Personal Data Protection Act 2010 came into force. On a day-to-day basis, I assisted with advising GLCs, FMCG companies, and Fortune 500 companies on intellectual property issues, IT and data protection matters, and everything else in between that largely dealt with technology.
One of the highlights of my career as a practising lawyer was the opportunity to advise a technology company on the viability and compliance of their business model in Malaysia, and to then go on to see it change the lives of Malaysians every day (this information is significant here, you’ll see why further along).
Immersing in Startup Culture
Sometime in 2015, I started to witness a trend amongst young lawyers. Many of my peers increasingly started to make the move from being a practising lawyer to either working in or building a startup. A black hole of curiosity with an unforgiving gravitational force started to emerge in my life and sucked me in.
Guest writers Richard Wee and Samuella Kong shed light on doping tests in sports. How does the international sports community monitor athletes and investigate doping cases?
The Rio Olympics 2016 have come and gone. Once again, the spirit of human passion to achieve greatness and to accomplish what was once deemed to be impossible, has been illustrated repeatedly at the Rio Olympics. In the midst of all this competition, a constant reference to fair play was made with regards to doping in sports. Due to the Russian doping scandal that first broke out in November 2014, a great suspicion has hovered over any athlete from Russia throughout the competition. Seeing a Russian athlete on the podium may have invoked suspicion among some spectators, an unfair situation for athletes not involved in the scandal. This highlights the importance of modern day athletes not only staying clean and above drugs but being perceived to be clean and above drugs.
The mid-year months of June to August are traditionally popular periods for legal career fairs in Malaysia. During these months, law students are either on a break in between semesters, or on their summer holidays before the start of the new school year.
In recent years, there has been a notable decline in interest in these legal career fairs. Employers who have been participating in these events started noticing a few years ago that the number of attendees was beginning to drop. After some time, we are now seeing employers beginning to lose interest too, and the number of law firms and other employers who are willing to spend on taking up spaces at legal career fairs have reduced dramatically.
The failure of the most recent legal career fair in Kuala Lumpur — the Bar Council’s “Legal Expo” (LEXPO) on 30 July — is a perhaps extreme example of this trend.
