My internship experience at RWY - Vynny Wong

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

CIPAA 2012 - How does it work? - by Wong Jyh Ling

You may visit the link below for RWY's Powerpoint Slides on CIPAA 2012:-
http://www.slideshare.net/jyhling/rwy-cipaa-2012-scope-and-applicability

Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Act 2012 (“CIPAA”)

Part I. An Introduction

I.               Introduction – What is CIPAA?

One of the biggest issues faced by contractors in the construction industry is the delay, if not non-payment by their employers in the construction project. In order to remedy their position in such a predicament, contractors were forced to resort to either civil litigation or arbitration to recover their monies. Unfortunately, the litigation/arbitration processes are usually tedious, slow, and involves professional fees that would poise as an obstacle for contractors who lack the requisite monetary funds.

Hence, on 15th April 2014, the Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Act 2012 (“CIPAA”), which was gazetted 22^nd June 2012, finally came into operation to address and hopefully alleviate this problem. 

CIPAA introduces an intervening provisional stage in the dispute resolution process vide the concept of “pay first, argue later”. In a nutshell, CIPAA aims to ensure that all employers of contractors in the construction industry (including the Government) pay their contractors promptly so that the contractors are not starved for cash.  

The application of CIPAA effectively removes conditional payment provisions of “pay when paid” or “pay if paid” which contributes to cash flow problems. However, it is to be noted that CIPAA is only applicable to construction disputes which arises on/after 15^th April 2014.

The governing rules and procedure of CIPAA include:-

a)   Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Act 2012;

b)   Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Regulations 2014;

c)   Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication (Exemption) Order 2014; and

d)   KLRCA Adjudication Rules and Procedure.

II.             Why CIPAA?

First of all, the adjudication proceedings under CIPAA are private in nature, which provides parties confidentiality in the contents of the dispute.

Secondly, many construction companies (the appointed contractors) are able to rely on this statutory solution to specifically deal with the following prevailing cash flow issues:-

a)   Defaults in payment;

b)   Conditional payments; and

c)   Non-payments.

III.           Comparison

No.		Litigation	Arbitration	Adjudication
1.	Venue	Court	Anywhere	Anywhere
2.	Parties	Plaintiff & Defendant	Applicant & Respondent	Claimant & Respondent
3.	Representation	Lawyers	Lawyers/ Self-Representation	Lawyers/ Self-Representation
4.	Decision-Maker	Judge	Arbitrator	Adjudicator
5.	Effect of Solutions	Binding (Judgment in Law)	Binding (Arbitral Decision)	Temporarily Binding (Pay first, argue later)
6.	Costs	High	Medium	Lower
7.	Time	Slower	Slower	Faster

IV.           Scope and Applicability

Under Section 2 of CIPAA, CIPAA is applicable to every construction contract made in writing relating to construction work which is carried out wholly or partly within the territory of Malaysia. It is worthy to note that the construction contracts also include contracts entered into by the Government of Malaysia. It is to be noted that CIPAA does not apply to construction contracts entered into by a natural person for any construction work in respect of any building which is less than four storeys high and which is wholly intended for his personal occupation.

V.             How Does It Work?

        TIMELINE OF ADJUDICATION PROCESS
     The timeline of the Adjudication Process is, briefly, as follows:-

1.    The Contractor/Unpaid Party will firstly serve a Payment Claim to the Employer/Non-Paying Party (Section 5 CIPAA).

2.    Thereafter, there are four possibilities:-

a)   If the Non-Paying Party fails to respond, the Payment Claim is deemed to be disputed wholly (Section 6(4) CIPAA);

b)   If the Non-Paying Party admits to the Payment Claim wholly, then both parties may proceed to arrange for settlement of claim;

c)   If the Non-Paying Party responds to the Payment Claim by disputing the claim wholly, then the Unpaid Party may initiate an Adjudication Proceeding (Section 7 CIPAA);

d)   If the Non-Paying Party admits to the Payment Claim in part, then the Unpaid Party may initiate an Adjudication Proceeding based on the disputed portion of the claim.

3.    The Unpaid Party/Claimant initiates the Adjudication Proceeding by serving a written notice of adjudication on the Non-Paying Party/Respondent (Section 8 CIPAA).

4.    An Adjudicator will then be appointed either by the Director of KLRCA or by agreement of parties within 10 working days after the Respondent receives the written notice (Section 21 CIPAA).

5.    Thereafter, the Adjudicator who accepts the appointment would propose his terms and fees to be agreed upon by both parties (Section 22(2) CIPAA).

6.    Once the appointment of the Adjudicator is finalised, the Claimant will serve his Adjudication Claim on the Respondent within 10 working days from the receipt of the acceptance of appointment by the Adjudicator (Section 9 CIPAA).

7.    The Respondent will be required to answer and serve his Adjudication Response within 10 working days from the receipt of the Adjudication Claim (Section 10 CIPAA).

8.    If the Claimant wishes to respond further, then his Adjudication Reply must be served within 5 working days from the receipt of the Adjudication Response (Section 11 CIPAA).

9.    The Adjudicator then has 45 working days from the service of Adjudication Response or the Adjudication Reply, whichever later, to arrive at his decision (Section 12 CIPAA).

VI.           Conclusion

The introduction of CIPAA is an important stepping stone in the construction industry to alleviate and hopefully prevent the issue of cash flow shortage by construction contractors. While CIPAA may not be able to guarantee a permanent solution, it is a quick and handy tool for contractors to obtain regular and timely payment. 

By Wong Jyh Ling

My Internship experience at RWY - Jackie

My internship experience at RWY

It was my semester break again and this time I decided to do something productive about it since I have plans to study abroad for my final year in the upcoming months.  I immediately went on a search on law firms around my housing area, and with the help of Google, I stumbled upon RWY, a cosy and decent law firm situated not far from my house. After reading up on their website and legal background I’ve decided to send in my resume. Soon after, I was accepted to begin my internship there after an interview with the partners, Mr Yip and Mr Richard, who turned out to be less intimidating than I thought it would be.

During my one month of internship here, my learning experience include transcribing minutes and cases, drafting legalized letters, attending clients’ AGM as a representative lawyer, witnessing Mr Richard and Sarah deliver a speech and the idea of Safer Malaysia to college students, and not to mention day-to-day office work such as basic comb bindings, photostatting documents and paper shredding. Although it may seem insignificant, but without a doubt it is essential to keep the firm organised and running smooth.

Like any other interns, I too had the privilege to tag along with the partners to attend several court hearings and at least one trial which turned out to be extremely valuable as it goes out to show that how much work and preparation has to be done before a lawyer can confidently take on the trial stage in court.  These experiences have taught me more than what I could learn from a class lecture. Apart from that, I am also honoured to be given the opportunity to contribute a Wikipedia page on behalf of the firm!

My one month experience at RWY was definitely priceless. Besides the reasons mentioned above, I was also always blessed with neverending amount of food from the firm! RWY does knows how to treat their staffs in the most appreciative manner = food. I have proudly ended my internship with pride and dignity as well as some extra gains of happy lipids onto my weight!

Last but not least, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for the opportunity to be part of the firm. Even though it was only temporary, the experience I had was nothing short of amazing. So thank you Mr Richard for believing in me, giving me the courage to speak with confidence and act with integrity in hopes of transforming me into a reputable lawyer like him one day. Thank you Mr Yip for sharing his experience and advice on overcoming stage frights and vocal fears, I needed that. Thank you Sarah as well for being so patient with the clumsy me, I really look up to her charisma in handling difficult clients with a cheerful attitude and positive mind set! Also to Lesley, JyhLing and Luey, being able to work under their guidance has given me a glimpse on how to be a mini perfectionist which is definitely essential to a lawyer’s duty apart from striving hard and to be consistently hardworking in order to excel in the legal field. Finally, big thanks to Penny, Kak Sal and Aunty Wee for taking me in as a family, really appreciate their ever willing guidance and patience to my silly questions and mistakes. I am forever grateful and blessed with the invaluable experience I had whilst working at RWY.

By Jackie 

RWY welcomes new Associates

Richard Wee & Yip is pleased to announce the addition of 2 new Associates, from July 2014.

Wong Jyh Ling & Loh Choy Luey; both formerly Pupils at RWY were both retained and embark on their new career as Associate of the firm.

Welcome aboard Jyh Ling & Luey!

Speech by Tuan Harun bin Che Su of Ministry of Youth & Sports

Dear readers,

Here is a link by Tuan Harun bin Che Su, Deputy Secretary General (Strategic). Ministry of Youth & Sports. The said speech was made at Richard Wee & Yip's Sports Law Conference 2013.

http://www.kbs.gov.my/dokumen2013/arkib/IKLGCC.pdf