Malaysia’s Bar Council (“BC”) today announced, via Circular 324/2021 to its members, that after more than six years, it is finally reversing its own ban on law firms operating via virtual offices.
This issue first arose in March 2015, when the BC suddenly issued a Circular immediately banning lawyers from practising through virtual offices. The BC asked lawyers to “cease such operations with immediate effect” and warned that “the Bar Council may take disciplinary action against lawyers who are reported to be operating through virtual offices”. The ban was put on hold temporarily as a group of lawyers requested a discussion with the Legal Practice Committee, but in August 2015 the BC made a firm decision to ban the practice.
This week’s edition of The Edge has a feature on legaltech in Malaysia.
The article — titled “Innovation and the legal profession” — features quotes from TheMalaysianLawyer.com’s Marcus van Geyzel, as well as Cherilyn Tan (Asia Law Network), Eric Chin, Fahri Azzat (Fahri & Co and Locum Legalis), and Noemie Alintissar (Future Law Innovation Programme, Singapore Academy of Law).
The LexTech Conference 2017 — Malaysia’s first legal tech conference, which aimed to raise awareness on legal tech and to promote technology adoption — was held on 4-5 November 2017. Among the legal tech experts and innovators, lawyers, general counsel, and other interested parties who assembled from all over Asia, was our own intrepid reporter Janice Tan Ying. She prepared this report on what she managed to glimpse of the future of law. You can read our other coverage via the #LexTech17 tag.
‘Blockchain’, ‘Smart Contract’, ‘NewLaw’. Dubbed the ‘uberisation’ of legal services — is this just fleeting hype, or are these new legal tech trends here to stay? If it is the latter, will it disrupt the livelihoods of legal practitioners, or enable lawyers to enhance their practice? While these buzzwords may sound like gobbledygook (read: tech jargon) to the everyday lawyer, talk about impending ‘disruption’ in the legal industry is rife.
According to Malaysian Bar President George Varughese, “legal technology is still somewhat an enigma in this region”. He said this during his welcoming address at #LexTech17 — the inaugural LexTech Conference 2017 which took place on 4-5 November 2017 in Cyberjaya. He also added — “Some of us know it well and welcome it with an embrace but many of us are threatened by its penetration and understandably so. It’s disruptive, it’s innovative and it’s necessary.”
Malaysian Bar President George Varughese delivering the conference welcoming address | Photo credit: CanLaw Asia
Jointly organised by CanLaw Asia and Brickfields Asia College (BAC), the two-day conference saw the region’s leading legal practitioners and legal tech innovators come together to share their ideas and solutions on legal innovation. Topics that were discussed throughout the expert panel and breakout sessions on both days centred around four issues: The role of regulators and accelerators in legal innovation, blockchain and smart contracts, Artificial Intelligence (AI) in legal research, and how legal practitioners can future-proof their practice.
The following are four key themes from the conference:
The LexTech Conference 2017 will be held in Cyberjaya on 4 & 5 November 2017. Visit the event website for more information. TheMalaysianLawyer.com is a media partner of #LexTech17, and our readers can use the promo code LEXTECHTML when purchasing the tickets to enjoy a 10% discount. You can read our other posts on the conference via the LexTech17 tag.
Noemie Alintissar-Mooney, the Programme Manager at the Singapore Academy of Law’s Future Law Innovation Programme (FLIP)
Singapore is home to many of the most exciting legal tech initiatives in the Southeast Asian region, and one of the main players behind this is the Singapore Academy of Law’s Future Law Innovation Programme (FLIP).
Leading up to #LexTech17, we caught up with Noemie Alintissar-Mooney, the Programme Manager at FLIP. At the conference, Noemie will be talking about ‘Of Roadmaps, FLIP & Funding’.
The LexTech Conference 2017 will be held in Cyberjaya on 4 & 5 November 2017. Visit the event website for more information. TheMalaysianLawyer.com is a media partner of #LexTech17, and our readers can use the promo code LEXTECHTML when purchasing the tickets to enjoy a 10% discount. You can read our other posts on the conference via the LexTech17 tag.
There are some exciting panels and speakers lined up for #LexTech17, and we managed to speak with two of these speakers, both from LexisNexis, to get a preview of some of their thoughts on legal innovations and technology.
Gaythri Raman is the Managing Director of LexisNexis Southeast Asia, and at the conference she will be sharing about “Legal Innovations We Should Look To Accelerate”.
Min Chen is the Vice President & Chief Technology Officer Asia Pacific of LexisNexis, and the title of her conference topic is “AI in Legal Research”.
We would love to invite to you to join us at #LexTech17, a legal technology conference themed “The Future of Law” organised by Brickfields Asia College and CanLaw, happening in MaGIC Cyberjaya, Malaysia on 4-5 November 2017.
TheMalaysianLawyer.com is a media partner of this conference.
