Firstly, I would like to express my gratefulness to Mr. Chang, for giving me a chance to do an internship at Alex Chang & Co. Also, I would like to apologize for constantly changing my internship period, (I am terribly sorry for that and the inconvenience caused) thank you Mr. Chang for making it flexible!
In these two weeks, I have really learnt a lot. First and most importantly, research skills. Mr. Chang, thank you so much for giving me useful advises and tips on my research! Your advice had provided me with a better and clearer understandings on research skills, and has helped me improve it. In fact, I have misunderstood the question he gave initially and provided the wrong answer. Luckily, Mr. Chang explained it to me patiently and gave me some directions. Next, I would like to thank Miss Jess and Miss Lim, who had taught me the research methods willingly, although they are extremely busy. They are very friendly and helpful! I am not sure lawyer or pupils from other firm would be willing to teach me step by step as they are always busy, the same goes for Mr. Chang, Miss Jess as well as Miss Lim!
Then I have read some cases as well. After reading through the whole file, including facts, bundle of authorities, some letters and also some judgment, Miss Jess and Miss Lim had asked me to identify the issue and also my own opinion. It is my pleasure to be able to discuss the case together with them, expressing my own opinion, and to understand what points should be raised.
I am truly grateful to have the opportunity to follow Mr. Chang, Miss Jess and Miss Lim to the Kuala Lumpur Court. In following three of them, I have learnt the process of litigation, how to serve a document, what to prepare for a submission (briefly).
It is definitely my first time to enter the mediation room in a court which I did not expect at all. I have learnt how to properly communicate in court whilst listening to Mr. Chang, Miss Jess and Miss Lim talking to the judge, to the client and also the opposition. It is definitely my pleasure to see how Mr. Chang deals with the judge and the clients. The way he presents in front of them is very professional, polite and formal as well.
I also realized that to be a lawyer, being patient is important. While the clients were not satisfied with the judgment, Mr. Chang tried his best to calm the client down, and proceeded to explain to them patiently about what is going to happen. He also makes sure that he will fight for his client’s right by expressing his defending points firmly.
Other than that, I have also seen the judge try to encourage both parties to settle the case by going through mediation or by settling it privately, and not to bring it forward by encouraging, and explaining thoroughly to the lawyers from different parties.
Other than legal knowledge, I have also learnt a lot of admin works. I would like to say Thank you to Ms Elaine, Ms Chow, Ms Janice and Ms Ivy. They have taught me the basic admin works, for example, how to photocopy documents, scan documents, doing an Air-post and Certified-post, striking reusable papers or shredding papers. These jobs are definitely not related to legal world, but I am truly appreciate that I got to be exposed to these kind of works! To be honest, I certainly enjoyed it! I am thankful that they are willing to teach me while they are preparing the cases, as it is not easy to prepare a case especially when one is rushing and the case is time-consuming.
In conclusion, I have learnt a lot in this firm. It will definitely be one of the most memorable experiences in my life! Again, I want to thank Mr. Chang for making all of these happened. Words cannot describe how grateful I am as a zero experience intern! Lastly, thank you Mr. Chang for all the guidance.
Chai Hui Wen
