Stepping out of my comfort zone, I applied for my first ever attachment here at Alex Chang & Co (hereinafter ACC). It was short, but worth it, fruitful and rewarding. ACC was a great platform for me to gain deeper insights into the legal field. During my tenure of attachment, I gained invaluable insight of the inner workings of a legal firm. The attachment definitely gave me a taste of what I want to do in the future in my career.

Hands-On

Prior to this, I have heard many stories where most law attachment students only dealt with administrative jobs such as photocopying documents, printing and scanning, serving documents and so on. However, things are different here in ACC. True enough, the abovementioned tasks are inevitable in a law firm. Besides those administrative tasks, I was actually exposed to many hands-on experiences in ACC. I was glad that I could finally put what I have learnt in law school into practice. I also came across many legal documents which I never got to learn in law school – affidavit, statement of claim, notice of demand, etc.

Court Visits

During my tenure of attachment in ACC, I was given the chance to follow Mr Chang to attend hearings in the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya, the Kuala Lumpur High Court and the Shah Alam High Court. The court visits allowed me to observe and learn from the hearings. I got to witness how each counsel presented their submissions to the judge. Further, I also had the opportunity to witness an application for the annulment of bankruptcy.

Court Deportment and Colorful Words

One of the open court hearings I attended was definitely the highlight of my attachment in ACC. The hearing was in relation to the Defendant seeking leave to file rejoinder wherein Mr Chang was acting for the Plaintiff. It was a rather intense hearing as the judge personally commented on the Written Submission submitted by the Defendant’s counsel.

The counsel was too overenthusiastic and had apparently used too many ‘colorful words’ in his submission. The judge noted that he was looking through the Lexicon to get those words. The judge took offense and reminded the Defendant’s counsel that he was not participating in a high school debate. Further, the judge even requested the Defendant’s counsel to issue an apology to Mr Chang in which the counsel repeatedly apologize to both the Court and Mr Chang.

I was fortunate enough to witness such an interesting hearing during my time in ACC. It taught me one important lesson – less is more. In some circumstances, doing more will not necessarily be a good thing. Being overenthusiastic may end up attracting the displeasure of the Court.

Mooting and Meeting a Judge

Mooting is a tradition in ACC. All attachment students will be given a chance to participate in an in-house mooting session. We were given an approximate period of about one week to read the case file, do thorough research and complete our own submission. It was an eye-opening experience to me as it was my first time mooting. In my opinion, the mooting session helped improve my written and oral advocacy skills.

Thanks to Mr Chang, I also had the opportunity to meet the former retired judge of the Court of Appeal, Dato’ Kang Hwee Gee during my tenure of attachment at ACC. Dato’ Kang was invited to be the guest judge for the in-house moot. When we were told of this, I was very nervous as I had not participate in any mooting prior to this, what more to submit our case in front of a real judge. However, post mooting, I was glad that I was given this rare opportunity. Dato’ Kang was not only humble and friendly, he patiently attended to all our queries besides giving us valuable advice at the end of the mooting session.

Hello Confidence

One of my biggest takeaway during my attachment in ACC was definitely boosting my own confidence level. I remembered vividly on my first day in ACC, I was given an easy task which I could not complete – to ask each and every colleague a question. Yes, such an easy task but I failed to do it because I was too shy to speak in front of everyone. Fast forward three weeks later, I presented my moot submission confidently in front of Dato’ Kang, Mr Chang, and all other colleagues. I spoke and argued my case confidently, though there were still some mistakes made. I was glad to receive positive feedbacks regarding my performance from Dato’ Kang, Mr Chang and my colleagues.

I am really thankful to be able to grow and improve myself throughout this one month. I now possess better oratory skills than before. My sincere gratitude to Mr Chang for providing me a platform to learn and for pointing out my strengths and weaknesses to allow me to further improve myself.

Thankful and Grateful

The past one month in ACC had definitely equipped me with skills and experiences that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I would like to take this opportunity to express my utmost gratitude to Mr Chang, Miss Elaine, Miss Chow, Miss Janice and Miss Lim for their guidance and teachings. I would also like to thank Miss Jaryne, Miss An Ni, Miss Chai, Miss Ting and Miss Qama for the help and support given throughout my attachment. I wish all of you the best in your future endeavours.

Thank you.

Tan Kejing
University of London