Success In Law: Yours For The Taking - Brendan Navin Siva

Speech by Brendan Navin Siva at the Ethics and Professional Standards Course Luncheon that took place on 16 June 2011

Make your dreams happen. | Source: flickr.com/cdevers

The last time I gave a talk at the Ethics luncheon was exactly one year ago — I delivered the June 2010 luncheon talk. A transcript of that speech was published in LoyarBurok in June 2010 and in Praxis in the first quarter of 2011. Google the words “Of Sunscreen, Blackberries and Successful Lawyers” and you will find it on the internet.

Most of what I said then is still applicable now. So please try to get it and see whether there is anything useful there for you. Back then, I spoke about 10 specific things that I believed you ought to work on to make yourselves a good lawyer. But nothing I said there should be taken as absolute truths and nothing I say today should be taken as absolute truths – they are just my views and my perspective – it may be useful to you or it may not – that is entirely up to you.

Today I want to speak more generally about success and successful lawyers.

Throughout my very short career as a lawyer, I have witnessed and observed many lawyers come and go. Some excel, some don’t.

Some excel from the very beginning while others take a bit of time to get on their feet. I have seen some pupils come in on the first day as accomplished individuals with the right attitude and I have seen some pupils take 9 months to gradually learn how to be an accomplished lawyer.

I have also seen individuals who spend 1 or 2 years floundering and wandering aimlessly until one day a spark lights up in them and they suddenly transform into accomplished lawyers.

Sadly, I have also seen many who never actually make it at all. Many leave the profession too early before they hit their stride or before they have had the opportunity to become good lawyers.

Why do some people start off as accomplished lawyers and others take time? Why is it that some people suddenly blossom into good lawyers? There is no clear answer to these questions. And there isn’t one single piece of advice I can give you today that will trigger an inner awakening in you and transform you into an accomplished and successful lawyer.

It is all about you.

Success in law is yours for the taking. But YOU must want to succeed. And you must first realize that success doesn’t come to the guy by the side of the road waiting for something to happen. It comes to the guy who is out there looking for it. Success does not come knocking on your door and waits for you to answer. It comes to the guy who is first in line at the door.

The trigger point is when you realize and accept that what YOU become in life and how successful YOU become is mainly dependent on what YOU do and how much work and time YOU are prepared to put into achieving success. Are YOU willing to do what the average person is not willing to do? Are YOU willing to put in the excruciatingly long hours to gain the knowledge and experience required to succeed in law? Are YOU willing to put in the extra hours to learn more about a particular area of law than any other lawyer? Are YOU willing to put in the time to learn how to market yourself professionally? Are YOU willing to put in the extra effort to speak eloquently and write well?

When you are ready to say yes to those questions, then I believe you are on the right track.

These are not just questions for a young lawyer or pupil. I still ask myself these questions. Every lawyer must keep asking himself or herself these questions. The most successful lawyers in this country and in the world are not relaxing at home on the weekends – they are working hard. I know the top 5 litigators and the top 5 corporate lawyers in Malaysia – they have worked very hard to get where they are today and they continue to work hard every day.

Some of you have already asked yourselves this question. That is why you are already on the right track. What is the right track?

From my perspective, when I see a pupil spend hours on a piece of research and is able to come back to me with an answer and is able to defend that answer and argue with me on the merits of that answer, he or she is on the right track.

When a lawyer can speak to me or to a judicial officer or to a client in a manner and in a tone that exudes confidence and assures me that he or she knows the law and can persuade me that her solution or understanding of the law is the correct one, he or she is on the right track.

When a young lawyer is able to follow me for meetings with clients and is able thereafter to deal with the client and answer the client’s queries, he or she is on the right track.

When a lawyer can come up to me and tell me she would like to attend this conference or that seminar or that she would like the firm to buy this book or that book because it will enhance her knowledge in a particular area of law and this would benefit the law firm, that person is on the right track.

In short, you are on the right track if you conduct yourself as a LAWYER and not as an employee. What do I mean by this?

In your first few years, most of you will probably be an employee – a legal assistant – someone who assists the partner or senior lawyer to generate fees for the law firm. But eventually you will have to be the FEE EARNER – the person who the client comes to and gives a brief to and is prepared to pay fees to do his brief. Accept this fact as reality – a successful lawyer is a FEE EARNER – someone that clients WANT to engage to do their work – not because of the name of the law firm or the name of some other person in your law firm. They want to engage YOU.

You must work out from Day One what needs to be done to become a FEE EARNER – again, I repeat – someone that clients WANT to engage – What differentiates you from any other lawyer? What level of service can you provide that the person sitting next to you now cannot provide? Focus on this. Focus on being a FEE Earner – a good lawyer that clients want to engage.

Don’t focus on your bonus for this year or why your room is so small or why that other lawyer in your firm is doing less work than you but earning more than you or why you have to do more mentions than that other lawyer.

Don’t complain about how much the firm is using you, focus on how much you can use the firm as a platform for you to become a fee earner.

A person on the right track will equip themselves with the knowledge and the ability to be a strong FEE Earner. A strong Fee Earner can go out on his own and start his own legal practice or join another law firm and be a successful lawyer. He is not beholden or dependent on the law firm. The law firm is dependent on him or her. The law firm will want to make you a partner.

When you are on the right track, I assure you that there will be many many different options and opportunities that will come your way, all of which promise, and carry the potential for, success. But first you must ask yourself at this point in time – as you are just about to embark on your career – Are YOU prepared to INVEST in yourself?

BAR COUNCIL ETHICS COURSE FOR NORTHERN REGION

Dear Members,

Bar Council Ethics Course for the Northern Region will be held at the Bayview Hotel Georgetown, Penang on Friday (13th May 2011) from 8.00 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. and on Saturday (14th May 2011) from 9.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. at a cost of RM150.00 per pupil.

This will be followed by a compulsory lunch on Saturday (14th May 2011) at the Sri Delima, Level 4, Bayview Hotel, Georgetown, Penang.

A copy of the notice can be viewed HERE.

Thank you.


Perak Bar Blogmaster

Bar Council Ethics Course for Northern Zone

Dear Members,

This is to inform members that the Bar Council Ethics Course for Northern Zone will be held at the Bayview Hotel Georgetown Penang on the 26th and 27th November 2010 at RM150.00 per pupil.

Details of the course can be seen HERE.

Yours faithfully,

Perak Bar Blogmaster

ETHICS COURSE BRIEFING

Dear Members of the Perak Bar and Chambering Students,

I write to confirm that members of the Bar - Mr. Colin Andrew Pereira and Mr Sanjeev Kumar Rasiah will conduct the Bar Council's Ethics Course briefing at Perak Bar as follows:-

Date : 14 August 2009 (Friday)

Time : 3.00pm

Venue : Perak Bar Committee premises at No. 41, Jln

DatoMaharajalela, Ipoh, Perak

Kindly RSVP to the Perak Bar Secretariat by 13th of August 2008.Please inform your chambering students to attend the same as it is a compulsory attendance for those who has not attended the ethics course yet.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Surindar Singh

Chairman

Chambering Students Sub-Committee

THOUGHTS ON THE PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS AND ETHICS COURSE

If you can remember I gave my 2 cents worth on the Ethics requirements about a few months back; this is my update. So, here goes:

I attended the Professional Standards & Ethics Course in Penang from 22/05/09-23/05/09 at the Bayview Georgetown Hotel. The course spanned two days; the lectures themselves were held on the first day while the dreaded ethics examination was held on the second and final day. There were six lectures in total and they were presented by the Penang Bar lawyers.

Lectures :

The lectures themselves were just a brief overview of the respective topics as there was certainly not enough time to go in great detail. Looking around the room, I saw some genuinely interested faces while others were aching for that morning coffee to provide that much needed energy boost. If you are by any chance wondering in which particular category I fall, you shall be disappointed as I am keeping mum. Maybe that might provide an answer? The lectures covered all the topics in the Ethics materials; the lectures were definitely meant as a refresher for those who had studiously read the materials, while providing a succinct overview of the individual topics for those who had maybe left the reading until the very night before. From my observation, some chambees had already neatly tabbed the relevant pages of their materials along with highlighted sections, while others possessed materials that looked brand new without a single marking on them. It really depends on what sort of individual you are because there is no single study tactic for all. No one size fits all in that sense. There were some topics that I felt could have been covered with slightly more depth notwithstanding the time constraints. Also, a helpful suggestion would be to potentially utilise audio-visual aids to present the topics as this would certainly capture our attention and be a more effective way of teaching. However, of course it is understandable that lawyers may not have the luxury of time to indulge us chambees in this way. After all, we are meant to have done the necessary reading before the course itself. Either way I am sure that we were all grateful that these senior lawyers took their time off on a Friday to present lectures to us.

Chambees:

I was seated beside two friendly Penang chambees and was soon introduced to the rest of their cohort. From my brief observation, the Penang Bar is much akin to the Perak Bar in the sense that they are a closely knitted community and at the same time very welcoming to members of the profession outside their immediate area. I felt extremely at ease and was soon happily chatting with them about my chambering experience and the Perak Bar. Rest assured that it was all good things in respect of the latter. Due to the fact that I did not attend a pre-ethics session, which was meant to brief chambees about the requirements and structure of the ethics examination, I asked the Penang chambees about what was said. They were certainly kind enough to share the necessary information with me.

Examination:

I wish this day had never come. Certainly no one enjoys sitting for exams? We were provided a new set of materials to ensure that everything was standardized. If we were to use our own set there would definitely be ‘extra’ information scribbled along the way. We had a total of 3 ½ hours to complete a list of questions. We were frantically writing and referencing the Ethics materials for fear that we would not have enough time. All I can say is that by the time I finished, my fingers were in a permanent state of shock and numbness. Never had I written so fast and so much for a long time. The examination was simple enough in the sense that all the necessary answers were already contained in the materials themselves. All that we needed to do was to extract the relevant information and apply them to the questions. It was straightforward enough and there were no red herrings in the questions. The difficult part was allocating just enough time for each question and moving on as quickly as possible due to time constraints. My practical advice to all those who are about to take the ethics examination is this: READ & KNOW your materials. Can you pass the examination if you read the materials just the night before? Possibly. However, can you take that risk?

Conclusion:

The Ethics Course and Examination is in no way a comprehensive guide on how to be ethical. This will be something that will be left to a lawyer’s good conscience and thorough understanding of the governing laws and rules on ethics e.g. Legal Profession Act 1976, Legal Profession (Practice and Etiquette) Rules 1978, Legal Profession (Publicity) Rules 2001, Bar Council Rulings etc. One thing that I have learnt from the Ethics course is this: the importance of preserving the integrity of the Malaysian Bar by adhering to certain professional standards and yardsticks. Ethics is not just another term for being a ‘saint’ or ‘goody two-shoes’ but about respecting fellows lawyers, the Bar itself and the sanctity of law. Jokes abound about disingenuous, unscrupulous and dishonourable lawyers and often time we laugh together when such jokes are told. However, do these jokes have a substance of truth in them? Is that why the humour is so effective? Jokes aside, lawyers should zealously guard this noble profession by upholding the highest professional conduct and principles; this is something I truly believe and I hope others do too.

Submitted by Julia Tang