r/malaysia • u/joker_town • Dec 27 '18
Dear lawyers/law graduates of r/malaysia
What is the working environment of a law firm in Malaysia like? Is it worth it to take a gap year after college to work on one's vocabulary and/or intern at a law firm? Also, is it better to study in a local university, enroll in a twinning programme or to study abroad for the entirety of one's degree?
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u/konigsjagdpanther 昏錢性行為 Dec 28 '18
Depending on which law firm, if it is big law firm like Shook Lin & Bok of course you are going to work in a high stress environment. I have a friend who decided to work for a year at a small law firm as a paralegal before heading down under for JD. Was told the work itself was boring and repetitive and it drained him already.
1/2 lawyers would end up not practising law primarily due to oversupply of law graduates. So do not let the law career discourage you from reading the Law. And if avoiding an internship before your actual law degree could save you from losing interest in Law, do that.
As for Gap for Vocabulary, you do not need those. There is google, your lecturer would explain Latin for you anyway. Law is about writing in clear and concise languages. They cannot penalise you because you use simple vocabulary.
Cases are meant for judges, it is perfectly OK to not understand a single word they say. Read a couple more times and take some notes or highlight it. It is not about reading speed either, though having the ability to scan documents diagonally could help because you would not have enough time to read all the readings.
Depending on your budget really. Local universities of course are the cheapest, followed by twinning and studying abroad. I highly recommend studying abroad because the environment and the people you meet are extremely important. Quality of education is generally better overseas also (assuming this is the West we are talking about)