Hi sis ,

Agreed with your recommendation to target for labor laws but i think , just my personal opinion thou , that might only works if its in a dense area like klang valleys or etc.. the firm is in a medium size town something like batu pahat , taiping or Kuantan.. Correct me if im wrong..

Agreed with all the point you given.

Islamic banking dominated by bigger firms ? what if its in small-medium size town.. Will it be dominated by them too ?

I wanted to suggest my wife to do criminal since almost everyone said criminal its the most making money cases but im afraid of the post settlement.. you know la criminals relate to gangsters and all.. Plus , to me , a woman lawyer fighting for criminal cases doesnt seems so right... not being racist thou

A medium law firm, I'm sure your father-in-law has established a good client base and that includes panelship for most of the banks around. For a start, conveyancing and banking transactions are one of those easier ones u can get in. I presume your wife has experience in insurance litigation, it's possible to get some Plaintiff files. If you already have plenty of experience, can try getting into insurance companies' panel for defendant matters. Fees wise, more on volume.

For islamic banking, it really doesn't matter what kinda firm you are in. The concept is the same but maybe the name and structure wise has slight difference. Basically if your law firm has panelship for conventional bank, you are good for islamic bank. Just that maybe bigger loan amount requires higher tier law firms, what we call panel A.

Even if you don't have panelship for banks, fret not, you can apply for adhoc panelship. Requirements are pretty basic, minimum of 2 partners with 1million professional insurance coverage.

I'm not sure those who replied have experience in running or are they practising in a law firm. Some information given is not entirely accurate.

This post has been edited by chastise: Feb 13 2015, 04:06 PM

Now, when I say Islamic Banking, I am referring to more than just being the panel lawyer for the Islamic Housing Loans.

That one almost any Lawyer firm can do.

When I am talking about Islamic Banking, I am referring to Lawyers who are capable of coming out with new structures for Financing Products and in order to do this, you need resources like how places like Dubai, UAE, London, what sort of Islamic Products are being offered there.

Smaller firms will have not have resources.

Why not? Islamic banking is just syariah compliant banking products. What kinda resources are you referring to? Just need to understand how the structure works. Most are similar to conventional banking just different terms are used.

As long as your client wants you to do the deal, be it Islamic or conventional; you are in their higher tier panel (depending on the amount); and you have experience in Islamic banking (even if you don't as long as you have banking and finance experience, you can read it up. That's how lawyers learn anyway), it really doesn't matter.

If you don't mind me asking, are u a practising lawyer?

This post has been edited by chastise: Feb 14 2015, 01:25 PM

When a lawyer says that he / she specializes in tax, do you expect the lawyer to do just normal CKHT submission or do you expect the lawyer to be able to advice on how to structure the transaction to minimize the tax exposure. If the lawyer cannot do the later, he / she should not claim to be a tax lawyer.

The same goes for Islamic Banking, what does the lay man or general public expect this lawyer to do if the lawyer claims to specialise in Islamic Banking?

is is just normal Islamic Loans, conveyancing work, etc. If this is the case, it's just any normal lawyer can do. if someone wants to claim to be a specialist, one must be know more than other normal non specialist.

Anyway, I have given my views and I am not a Lawyer although my firms uses many Lawyers. I have met a number of Lawyers who claim to be specialist in

a) Tax
b) Insurance
c) Fund Raising
d) Conventional Banking
e) Fraud and due diligence

But not many Lawyers claim to specialise in Islamic Banking.

You don't have to agree with my interpretation of what a specialist is but please do ensure you have the necessary skills to call yourself "specialising in...." whatever field.


This post has been edited by cfa28: Feb 14 2015, 03:12 PM

Then probably you have not met with any yet. Every lawyer's path is different. You can't be generalising a lawyer working in a small firm has no experience in Islamic banking. What if that particular lawyer who opened his law firm has previously worked in pure banking and finance line?

Eg. Myself has been trained years in banking and finance (that includes Islamic banking, no not those housing loans type). Then moved into one of the big S firm non-lit dept doing transactions ranging from Islamic banking, corporate banking and finance, corporate advisory to simple conveyancing job. Now that I have my own practice, I do take up some civil and criminal lit matters in addition to my usual bread and butter. It's a matter of learning new stuffs.

Perhaps you really have to be in the industry to understand how to run a law firm.

This post has been edited by chastise: Feb 14 2015, 11:12 PM

Good that there is another experience lawyer in lowyat that I can summon next time.

Your expertise exceeds the normal conveyancing work.

Some of the experience was gained while working for bigger law firms.

No doubt you have your own practice but still the experience, knowledge and contact was gained from past bigger firms right?

TS wife father law firm appears to be the smaller standard conveyancing type.

Perhaps you can guide him where his wife can get the knowledge to specialise in areas such as Islamic Banking, etc.

This post has been edited by cfa28: Feb 15 2015, 12:42 AM

Experience yes but contacts, no. Knowledge, depending on individuals.

TS mentioned his FIL owns a medium sized law firm. That's about 10 LAs at least? Maybe I've missed it, but TS did not specifically mention which area the firm does.

Anyway legal works are not that hard to understand. Once you learn the concept everything else can be applied and re-apply to suit the transaction. In fact, I learned the most of my knowledge in corporate and islamic banking during my first few years in a medium sized firm.

Don't be surprised if a civil litigation lawyer can suddenly become an aviation lawyer in a week. What we do is read, understand, re-apply.

Well, i am no expert, but i think the fundamentals of S/M in any type of biz is merely the same. But the thing is, in a hospitality industry, ask yourself, what are your clients or customes seeking for? And what service are you giving them. So, it's the same in handling a law firm. Know what you are servicing, what are people searching in a law firm and write out a marketing strategy and plan.

The basics are the same... maybe the purpose is different. I believe you can do it bro!

p/s - Always start your tagline as "My expertise is to help people in...." Maybe 'to help you extend your mortgage...' or whatever...

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This post has been edited by aromachong: Nov 1 2016, 05:14 PM

Was re-reading TS info on his FIL Law Firm again

TS, perhaps you can list out:

a) what sort of clients does your FIL do at the moment
b) How many qualified LA does his firm have
c) How many "legal clerks" does his firm have
d) Where exactly is his firm located

Since chastise is also a practising Lawyer, perhaps he/she can give you more insights

Is your firm doing conveycing or litigation or both? If conveycing, go and tie up with bankers and agents. I'm not going to tell you what to offer to them, at your firm's own discretion.

The next best thing is to panel with developers to be their SPA solicitors and hopefully loan documentations as well.

You have to really go out and maintain relationship with your prospects. Sit and wait for loan to come no longer works in today's market.

As of all, you need to ensure your wife is familiar in which field.

Secondly, you may consider your wife's dad field too. As you may consider to expand the business based on their expertise.

If you choose to start something which they are not familiar with, you need to standby at least 3years +- for them to catch up. So, why not just go into the field they familiar with? As lawyer is a professional field, not simply as just on marketing, get client then run it. Tons of liability might appear even after you close the case. Just as conveyancing, anything might appears, even after the case is closed such as fraud cases, fake title and etc...

I personally started my own partnership firm last year but fully focus on conveyancing. So could only able to share with you conveyancing related matters. Not proper for me to comment on others. Again, yes, you can treat legal firm and run it as a business but, plz take note on the liability accrued.

P/S: Looks like alot of experienced lawyer here! I am here stand to be corrected if any mistake/error on the info provided.

This post has been edited by Tavia88: Feb 18 2015, 09:54 AM

Hi there ,

Thank you for the replies.

Thats the thing , i am not too sure how is my father-in-law running his business , well i do know a lil bit about the office and all but not too detailed of it. Even my wife does not know that much either. This is the reason why i am so nervous about it.. Anyhow thanks for the tips and explanations.. There is a lot of new things i ve to learn..hank

Thanks again

Don't be surprised if a civil litigation lawyer can suddenly become an aviation lawyer in a week. What we do is read, understand, re-apply.

Agreed with that .. Back in uni life , used to helped my wife for exams..

Hi there !

Answers for :

A . I dont know that .. even my wife.. my FIL is a silent type of person.. we dont talk that much about the firm but all do we know that soon we ll take over his business..

B. This i know , Only 3 lawyers for now..

C. I asked this question before from my wife.. Total of 25 staffs in the office but not too sure how many LC thou..

D. Perak. 3 firms actually , ipoh , taiping and kuala kangsar

This post has been edited by CommonPeople: Feb 18 2015, 11:09 AM

Okay, you mean your FIL has 3-offices, one each in ipoh , taiping and kuala kangsar

So, when you mean 3 qualified Lawyers, this is for each office or combined offices.

Same goes for staff

How long as the qualified Lawyers been employed

Any risk that they don't like the new boss - your wife and leave with some clients and clerks?

Hi there ,

Thanks a lot for the explanation and tips given .

Great to hear you have started your own partnership firm , i hope i can do well too in the future.. If you dont mind im asking , any future focuses besides conveyancing ? thanks again for the clarification yea..

Good Morning bro , tak balik kampung or holiday ke ? hehhe

Anyway , Yea 3 offices but maybe , the ones in kuala kangsar will be closed soon due to internal probs.

About the lawyers , if im not mistaken , taiping 3 , ipoh 2 , KK 2..


Duration of employment.. i am not too sure about that.

Risk of loosing the staffs are quite high thou since they all are old people and maybe waayyyy too comfort with the current style of work.. i am considering to buang half of them in order to increase the productivity ..