In this corner – systems that works. In that corner – Msia

This nice little suburban firm is different to some other law firms I have dealt with, Aussie context notwithstanding. The principal is intense, but can lighten up in a very fun way. He took us all (lawyers) out to lunch today, some Vietnamese joint (great food but man, was I thirsty for hours after that – cook must have been shoveling msg by the truckloads). No Friday drinks either, although from the conversations over lunch and other times, I don’t think there are any teetotalers around. Maybe it’s just a small suburban firm thing-Friday drinks was more of a city firm thing, I guess. Maybe I’m wrong. There’s this largish firm here in the suburbs, which may have that sort of thing. I’ve heard people deriding them though – something to the effect that they have grown too large and wanted only large corporate work. Smaller suburban commercial work doesn’t have priority anymore, it seems. Heck even in my place, larger corporate entities always get priority, simply because they pay larger fees! It’s business after all, suburb or otherwise. Especially a suburban firm with a principal who is a quarter Scots. Anyway, it’s been only 3 months since my family and I arrived. I may only be experiencing the trunk of the elephant now. The journey is still laid out in front of us, for us to explore and experience.

What do I like about working here so far? Things work so much better here. Examples: searches take – wait for this – 5 minutes. Imagine – no search clerks to cajole or threaten. I get my land or company search results within minutes online (I can almost hear Malaysian lawyers swearing). One can also search status of court proceedings online, within minutes. Snail mail is also fast by Malaysian standards. One usually receives a posted letter within 1-2 days. And, authorities are accessible – I have had authorities returning my calls within half hour. And when they say they need time to check and revert, it usually means they revert within the same day! Any written correspondence can be expected within 1 week. So, as far as the system goes, it works like a charm. Even then, the Law Institute and other such bodies are still working away to try and make it work even more. Here they don’t wait for things to break down before acting. I remember Shah Alam Courts being totally unworkable. Ditto the land office. I also remember extracting a couple of titles from the land office in Wilayah – took us 3-4 weeks and some inside connection (included taking care of some people), and I had to sit in on the officers every single day for about 2 weeks, before finally getting them out. I may have left the comfort of relatively senior positions in large organizations to practice as a junior person in a suburban firm, but the pains of dealing with the authorities is so reduced, it compensates somewhat. Sure, we pay taxes that hurt extremely badly, but the money is spent on things that benefit all people (like public service systems that work well). We don’t get our tax money going to mosques, for example.

“So, I commend the enjoyment of life.” (From the Bible – really. Eccl 8:15)