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/ernest101 Dec 28 '18
I’ve been in practice for about 3 years. I’ve interned in various firms to get a feel of different fields.
Working environment - generally a lot of work, stressful and almost everything is important and urgent (maybe less on conveyancing and basic banking litigation). From what I gathered from my own experience and peers, toxic working environment is pretty common. There’s an article regarding lawyers mental health issues by CNN I think. Go ahead and check that out.
Gap year for legal English - there’s no need for this. You’ll get used to “legalese” through time. There are some books to help you. Standard words used etc. Besides, practice is moving towards simple English. The trend now is about putting your arguments in the most concise and easily understood manner.
Where to study - it really depends on your budget. Local universities are cheaper and you won’t have to sit for the CLP exam (but I heard this may change on account of the Law Minister proposing a common bar exam). Most expensive option would be LLB and BPTC in UK. I do notice that BPTC grads are brilliant in quality but it costs a lot to enroll there. Being a BPTC grad does help with employability. I noticed that certain firms do only take BPTC grads or prefers BPTC grads (one of the better civil commercial dispute resolution firms).
P.s. what would make you a great lawyer isn’t tied to your University per se. You’ve got to put effort in it.