Dear RWY,
As Richard said to us, on the first day we came to the firm, there are so much things for us to learn especially for a first year law degree student like us.
And I am really thankful to Richard, Mr. Yip and Johnson for giving us the chance to be involved in some significant cases; such as the drug-trafficking, defamation and the ISA cases. We acquire the knowledge of what are the essential elements to establish a particular charge and how the proceeding of these cases, run.
For instance, in the drug-trafficking case, we managed to learn the charges under Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 such as the s.39A and s.39B Dangerous Drugs Acts 1952 and the defences against these charges. When we were reading the facts of the case, we were also being taught the ways to establish defence through the evidence given by the prosecution side and the ways to cross-examine the prosecution’s witness.
In the defamation case, while doing the research, I learnt to search for relevant cases effectively through the CLJ web site. Though it took quite a long time and I had to read through the facts of those cases to fit in with the case before us, it was really worth it all, as it is vital in our future career.
Moreover, while doing the research, I also realize that the definition of an offence is very important to distinguish with the case before us, for example, in the cases of defamation, there is a very fine distinction between whether a statement made is defamatory or just merely an opinion with no intention bring down the reputation of the Plaintiff.
The most unforgettable experience for me is that we went for the Teoh Beng Hock’s inquest in the Shah Alam Coroner’s Court with Richard Wee. From a lay person’s point of view, we could see how ridiculous are the cross-examination questions posed to the witness, one Tan Boon Hong; skewed at trying to establish MACC’s theory that Teoh Beng Hock purportedly committed suicide. And the another thing I learnt, is that a litigator should be rational and act professionally by not bringing out their personal feeling when he is representing his client in the court.
Other than that, we had also learnt some basic litigation procedures such as drafting Affidavit, Letter of Demand, Summons, Statement of Claim, Submissions, bankruptcy procedure and winding up procedures.
Again, I wish to thank all at RWY for your help and please accept my sincerest gratitude for giving me the chance to learn from you all.
Regards,
Bryan
