bar council

A serious threat to the independence of the Malaysian Bar

Marcus van GeyzelLeave a comment

Serious threat to independence of Malaysian Bar

On 27 May 2016, the President of the Malaysian Bar issued a Circular to members of the Malaysian Bar (“Proposal to Amend the Legal Profession Act 1976 is a Severe Threat to the Independence of the Malaysian Bar“). The Circular informed members that the Bar Council had been notified by the Attorney General’s Chambers that the Government intends to pursue drastic amendments to the Legal Profession Act 1976 (“LPA”), and that those amendments “pose a serious threat to the independence of the Malaysian Bar, and are an unwarranted interference into the self-regulation and internal management of the Malaysian Bar”.

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Malaysian Bar Council’s scrutiny of Dragon Law continues legal innovation debate

Marcus van Geyzel11 Comments

Legal innovation in Malaysia image

On 1 June 2016, legal startup Dragon Law announced its entry into the Malaysian market, with a promotional launch offer of free access to their suite of legal documents for a limited time. Dragon Law first launched in Hong Kong in January 2015, and in Singapore in the second half of 2015.

For now, users in Malaysia will be able to find and customise legal documents, sign and share the documents electronically, and organise and store these documents in the cloud. Users in Hong Kong and Singapore have access to various other services, including personalised training, access to a legal drafting help desk and legal clinics, invitations to seminars and events, and legal support from the Dragon Law team and their network of lawyers. The subscription packages for Malaysia have not been announced, but the pricing in Singapore starts at SGD175 per month.

On 12 June 2016, a story in The Star (Legal start-up’s services scrutinised by Malaysian Bar) reported that Dragon Law‘s entry into Malaysia has come under the scrutiny of the Malaysian Bar. It was reported that Malaysian Bar President Steven Thiru has confirmed that Dragon Law‘s services were being studied.

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Ideating the future — how DIY legal documents for conveyancing transactions can become the new reality

Marcus van GeyzelLeave a comment

This post is the final post in the series.

Please read the following earlier posts for context:

  1. DIY legal documents for conveyancing transactions — can we really do it without lawyers?
  2. DIY legal documents for conveyancing transactions — why some people think you don’t need lawyers in a sale and purchase of property.
  3. DIY legal documents for conveyancing transactions — understanding the basics of a sale and purchase property.
  4. DIY legal documents for conveyancing transactions — sale and purchase and loan agreements.
  5. DIY legal documents for conveyancing transactions — time for a reality check.

From what we’ve discussed so far, it’s obvious that currently the ideal is very far from reality.

The conveyancing ecosystem in Malaysia means that a non-lawyer intending to complete a sale and purchase agreement without a lawyer will end up entering a maze. It’s dangerous, it’s complicated, and it’s impossible.

Ideating the future of a conveyancing transaction.
Ideating the future of a conveyancing transaction.

I’m sure that the organisers know this — that “DIY conveyancing” isn’t possible now. But the purpose of the project is to ideate solutions for the future.

What needs to change for DIY conveyancing to be possible? Hopefully CALR and others can come up with some solutions. Here are my quick thoughts before everyone gets to ideating.

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