Well that has been a hectic past week... I'd better finish this last post before something else comes up! But first, as we lawyers are wont to do, a disclaimer:
Right, now where were we?
I was explaining to these teenagers at HIP Cafe that there are different types of law in which you can choose to practise. The level of specialisation depends largely on where you work, for example, in a small town, the lawyers would be Jack of all Trades "general practitioners", whereas in large cities, there will be a very fine degree of specialisation into even rather arcane areas of law.
In Kuching, there are a number of broad fields. Some lawyers only do conveyancing. Others only practise criminal law. There are a number of lawyers who spend much of their time in the Labour Courts, while a few focus on the Family Courts.
Me, I'm a civil litigator, which means I handle law suits between private individuals or corporations. What does that cover? Well people sue each other over everything! To that extent the civil litigator has to become knowledgeable in many different fields and industries, in order to adequately present their clients' cases in Court.
Just to toss you a totally random example, what is crazing in tiles? In a dispute over the fitness for purpose of tiles supplied to a condominium project, I had to learn that small hairline cracks which appear can often be caused by a mismatch in the thermal expansions of surfaces. For that suit, an expert was flown in from Singapore to give his opinion on the various possible causes of failure in the goods sold and delivered.
We civil litigators also need to know who auditors report to (answer: the shareholders, not the directors of a company); what ministry issues permits to import vehicles (MITI); what neurological impact can diabetes have; what is overburden in a quarry operation; what are the requirements for masterplanning approval in Sarawak; etc.
I then passed the mike over to Gladys Lee, a very bright young lawyer currently with Tang & Partners, to field questions on requirements for university admission, etc. My knowledge in this area is around 25 years out of date, so if you have any questions after reading this blog, please don't hesitate to send enquiries to Gladys through me.
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