KUALA LUMPUR: All young Malaysian lawyers do not meet the standard international quality benchmark set by their employers, according to a Bar Council survey.

Bar Council treasurer Steven Thiru said the survey, conducted on 400 law firms, also found that employer satisfaction of new working lawyers was “shockingly low”.

“It found that young lawyers practising for less than seven years do not have basic attributes like English proficiency, communication and critical thinking skills and commitment to the profession, which is vital for the career,” said Thiru at a forum between the Bar Council and the National Young Lawyers Committee (NYLC),

He said the problem was prevalent among both local and foreign university law graduates.

Thiru placed the blame on the failure of several tertiary education institutes, which did not include practical skills with academic learning.

“So, what we get is law firm employers having to retrain young lawyers in basic practical skills that they should have learned in university,” he said.

The findings come in the wake of the NYLC's recommendations to the Bar to increase the wages of young lawyers and provide more flexible working hours.

The young lawyers have been complaining that they are being paid “too little” for the amount of work they do.

The NYLC, citing its own survey, said 28.2% of young lawyers in the Klang Valley wanted to leave the profession in the next five years while another 38.7% were considering leaving.

Outside the Klang Valley, 15.3% said they would leave and another 48.2% were considering.

“Most cite low salaries and no work-life balance as the main reasons for opting out,” said NYLC chairman Richard Wee.

He said most young lawyers were attracted to overseas firms offering better benefits.

He said NYLC had suggested a starting pay of RM3,000 to RM4,000 a month for young lawyers in Klang Valley and RM2,500 for young lawyers elsewhere. The current salary is RM2,000.

He said that of the 14,500 lawyers in the country, 2,070 were considered as young.

Thiru and other senior lawyers however, said young lawyers did not deserve the raise.

Chee Siah Le Kee & Partners' Wong Fook Meng said young lawyers should earn the raise they were demanding for.

“They fail to realise that they should be working to learn and better themselves as lawyers, rather than focus on the cash.

“There are no shortcuts, young lawyers must create value and contribute meaningfully to their firms to justify higher compensation,” said Wong, who is a member of the Bar Council's Constitutional Law Committee and former NYLC deputy chairman.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=...5345&sec=nation

Sounds like the complaint of every employer in every field nowadays so can offer low salaries to freshies.

this whole thing smells like the employers don't wanna pay higher salary to their talented young employees.

if the young lawyers are able to get employment in other countries, doesn't mean that the problem lies with the employer?

Good one like Alvin tan goes to nus singpose

the truth is firm partners want have more for themselves, one way to do that is keep junior lawyers and other staffs salaries low

the bar raised too high? ahahaha....well, it is just your life they are lawyering about between them...which and what do you prefer? a high bar or a low bar?

same thing in every field, our "professionals" all low quality bt delusional thinking they r all that

this punk is really hilarious.
Foreign graduates: come back and attend CLP which all in theory and no practical exams whatsoever. Who's fault is it? LPQB. They are the one that sets the standard of examination. Why put the blame on us?

Local graduates: Churns out thousands of rubbish that doesn't go through the retarded CLP exams and straight into the working sector, no QC for them because they have apparently studied local law so the assumption is that they are good at it. Turns out maybe 1/100 is a good student. and every 1/10 good student might be a good lawyer.

Employers are stringy and kiam siap....maybe ask banggala to be lawyer hahaha

this things prove work cannot get rich one

They expect fresh graduates come out know everything. national poverty line RM3k, they offer RM2k.

oi, dun say young lawyers la. look at the judge 1st. cant make proper english closing oso.

"He said NYLC had suggested a starting pay of RM3,000 to RM4,000 a month for young lawyers in Klang Valley and RM2,500 for young lawyers elsewhere. The current salary is RM2,000."

the current salary for lawyer is 2k? seriously?

a junior partner, u can earn 10k.

As a young lawyer, I approve of this message. 90% of local grads are absolutely shit

touche. like i said 1/100 is a good student. and 1/10 of that good student MIGHT be a good lawyer.

so they sux because they are young
what about old graduate ppl

btw they all started as young lawyer too,they could be sux when they young

Steven Thiru being politically correct. What he meant to say is that the primary factor resulting in the problem of shit young lawyers = local grads. That is to say, there are shit foreign grads too, but that's like blaming one person's cigarette smoke for causing global warming. Local grads are the cow-fart equivalent.

You see la UITM la, UKM la, even the so called Le Magisteria UM, macam taik kucing the grads I tell you.

Don't blame the senior lawyers. Blame the system for allowing shit students to study law in the first place.