Before I finished my year one, I successfully
applied to RWY to work as an attachment student during my summer break. Despite
the fact that some of my friends told me that an internship was a waste of time,
as the firm would not appreciate your existence and, as a law student who has yet
to graduate, you would not learn much throughout the internship period, I had
my doubts and did not believe what was told to me. I preferred to experience it
myself.
In the 3 months of my internship, I learnt
to work with other senior lawyers and attachment students as a team. This
ensured that everyone knew what was happening and we could easily come out with
a solution through discussion. A task to do some research on the Federal Constitution
was given to me and other attachment students to work on as a team. To be
honest, as a Malaysian, I had never read or even wanted to know what the
content of our Federal Constitution actually was. Ironically, there is a
chapter known as “British Constitution” in my constitutional law year one
textbook. This presented me with very good opportunity to know more about my
own country which I took up wholeheartedly.
Besides that, I was also given a chance to
draft a Letter of Demand and a Statement of Claim as well as to do some
transcribing work and help out in conveyancing matters as well. I discovered
that a letter can reflect the professionalism of an associate through the line
of words found in the letter. Therefore, one needs to be very detail-oriented
and ensure that there are no mistakes before issuing out any letters. In conveyancing,
I learnt the important of being precise and particular, as a tiny little error
would affect the whole procedure.
By doing some preparation work on a file, I
had grasped some idea as to where one should start their research work. This is
something I was not thought in law school. I was also trained on how to
prioritize my work and how to complete the task given within the time frame
given. I was also given an opportunity to attend in court and was able to
observe how lawyers handle their cases and were able to speak confidently in
front of the Judges. It was a fruitful experience. I was also lucky enough to
join in several meetings with clients which provided me with a good opportunity to witness how the a
lawyer ought to deal with a client’s problem as well as how to approach a client
and gain their trust.
I would extend my thanks to the all the guidance
I had received from all the lawyers, in particular Ms. Lesley, Mr. Luey, Ms.
Sarah, Mr. Lim and Ms. Jyh Ling as well as my two bosses, Mr. Richard and Mr.
Yip during my three months with RWY. I apologize for any trouble I may have
caused and appreciate the patience provided to me. Many thanks as well to Kak
Sal, Ms. Penny and Auntie Wee for their guidance in clerical work. The
experience I gained through this internship is something that I will treasure
and always remember in the future. In addition, my weight had increased
throughout my internship period showing that all the good food provided to me
at RWY motivated me to work harder. I would like to end my passage with the
quote from one of the bosses, Mr. Yip, who impressed upon me that “practice in
law is not a sprint, by a marathon”. Thanks to my internship, I will definitely
maintain a spirit to succeed in the legal profession and will move forward with
to become a lawyer with a deeper passion of the law.
By Wong Poh Yee, Vynny
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