Admission to the Malaysian Bar (Long Call) Speech
Name: NAZIFAH BINTI ZAINUN
Date : April 15, 2011
ADMISSION SPEECH FOR NAZIFAH BINTI ZAINUN
If it pleases you My Lady,
I, Aimee Liew, appear for the Petitioner, and my learned friends representing the Attorney General, the Bar Council and the KL Bar Committee have already been introduced earlier.
Your Petitioner was born in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah on a remarkable date of 25th December 1986 (Christman day) and is the fifth child to Encik Zainun Bin Omar and Puan Roziyah Binti Ibrahim. Your Petitioner’s parents are retired teachers and are now spending their golden years with their grandchildren.
My Lady,
Allow me a minute or two to share some secrets pertaining to Your Petitioner. She tells me that it was never her ambition to be a lawyer during her school days. In fact her first ambition was to be a hockey player since she had represented Sabah for hockey since she was 15 years old. She did not enjoy her studies and thought playing hockey professionally would mean no more studies. Then she became interested in Ice Hockey, but the practical issue of Malaysia being a tropical country put paid to that interest since it was not cold enough for snow in Malaysia. That idea was thus, shelved.
After her SPM, she was accepted to do her matriculation at IIU and while she was there, she formed a band called the “Bloodsucker Blackened” and thought of playing guitar in the band professionally. It was too bad the ministry of health thought it would promote Aedes Mosquitos. Playing in the band therefore died a natural death. Finally, she decided that she would become a lawyer as she thought at that time that being a lawyer would be the easiest way to make money. Fortunately for her, she realised today that this is not true. So much about her secrets. And that was how Your Petitioner took up Law at the International Islamic University where she obtained her Bachelor of Laws 2nd Class Honours in May 2010.
Your Petitioner began her pupillage with Mr Lee Yin Chuan but as her Master was taken ill she was fortunate to complete her pupillage under the tutelage of my good friend Alex Chang Huey Wah Esq from Messrs. Alex Chang & Co who is the author of the Companies Winding Up Handbook. As a pupil of Alex Chang Esq , she had a great time of learning and exploring corporate law under the guidance of Mr Alex Chang who specialises in companies winding up, injunction, shareholders’ dispute and debt recovery. Your Petitioner gained much experience in assisting, conducting research in many legal matters from the Magistrates’ Court right up to the Court of Appeal.
My Lady,
Your Petitioner told me that an important thing which she learned from Mr Chang which she will remember always is that the key to be a great lawyer is preparation and efficiency. She learnt that if one does not invest in time to prepare for a case, the result would be disastrous, no matter how smart one is. She learnt to be consistent in her presentations. To make an impact with fresh, modern and easy to digest arguments, that don’t lack the solid, meaty information. She also learnt that to be an efficient lawyer, one must be like a super-organized shopper creating a strategy that minimizes their time while maximizing their output. To categorize what you want to do, need to do and must do and then prioritize that information and create a process for getting it done. Become addicted (in a healthy way) to being an efficiency lawyer. It is therefore not surprising that she sums up the period reading in the chambers of Alex Chang Esq as interesting, very challenging.
My Lady,
On this memorable day for Nazifah Binti Zainun, Your Petitioner, she would like to take this opportunity to record her appreciation to her parents Encik Zainun Bin Omar, Puan Roziyah Binti Ibrahim (Her biological mother) and the late Puan Aisyah Binti Mohamad (Her loving stepmother) for their endless tender love and care, moral and financial support to her. She also thanks her siblings, teachers, lecturers and friends for their prayers and guidance. She would likes to also record her everlasting appreciation to her Master, Mr. Alex Chang Huey Wah, whom she testifies is the best teacher she has encountered thus far, and to her other master, Mr Lee Yin Chuan, for the experience and opportunities granted to Your Petitioner. Your Petitioner is also indebted to her best friends, Miss Anis Bazilah Abdul Gani and Miss Khatijah Saari for sharing her joys and sorrows during her law studies and pupilage. And not forgetting all her friends who are present here today. Looking back at the pupillage period, Your Petitioner expresses her utmost gratitude to Miss Jo Tan, for her endless guidance and support and all her colleagues in Messrs Alex Chang & Co for making her time reading in chambers such a meaningful and unforgettable experience, one in which she will treasure always. Finally: Thank you again to her Master, Alex Chang Esq., a good teacher and master. For the near future Your Petitioner plans to return to Kota Kinabalu to commence her pupillage in Sabah at the law firm of Messrs Lind, Willie & Co in order to gain admission as an advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Sabah & Sarawak and thereafter to practise there.
My Lady,
I believe that Your Petitioner’s papers are in order and that the Attorney General, the Bar Council and the Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee have no objections. Wherefore I humbly pray that the Petitioner Nafizah Binti Zainun be admitted and enrolled as an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya. I am obliged.
May I seek leave from this Honourable Court for My learned friend Alex Chang Esq Your Petitioner’s pupil master to robe Your Petitioner.
