How to Choose a Lawyer
Lawyers’ services are used by the public when there is a conflict between two parties and both parties are unable to arrive at one conclusion therefore, the conflict must be taken to a third party (court) to be resolved. Other than that, their services are needed for legal documents, transfer of ownership, new business venture agreement and many more.
You may find all lawyers and law firms practicing law legally in Malaysia at the bar council website or at their office in Kuala Lumpur. You can also find a list of lawyers and law firms with reviews at our website, LookP.com.
Now, let’s discuss what you need to see in a lawyer before choosing one of their services:
- Comfort level among you both
Make sure you are comfortable talking to your lawyer. It might sounds unnecessary but the amount of information given to your lawyer will affect your case in the courtroom.
- A Good listener
Make sure your lawyer is ready to listen to you and your points to be submitted to the judge or to be inserted in the contract. If anything goes awry, it will be on you not the lawyer.
- Obeys your requests
There are a few lawyers which will ask you to follow their instructions and rules. If it is okay with you, you may continue seeing them, otherwise you won’t have the work as per your wish.
- Reasonable fee
Lawyers with great experiences and respectable names will often charge you with an overpriced fee for their services. Some of them takes the case and later on pass it to their juniors as they are preoccupied with other cases. So, if you are paying for the experience, make sure you are getting it.
- Always available to consult
Lawyers tend to be busy as they don’t only handle one case at a time. They are always running from different courts and other law firms to get an understanding between the two parties. Ensure that your lawyers are able to find time for you when you are in need for consultation.
- Experienced in the field you want to consult them on
Identify your problem and go to the lawyer who specialize in the issue. Most law firms will have more than one lawyers so you don’t need to look far. They will recommend another lawyers to you if they choose not to take the case. Take a look here for specializations which are adopted by law firms.
Many Malaysians choose lawyers through the word of mouth recommendation by their family members or friends. Lawyers have different fields which they specialized in. There are five main branches of Law in Malaysia which are:
- Family Law
Family Law is law enforced for issues regarding family matter and domestic relations, including Divorce Petition, Adoption, and Child Custody Rights.
- Criminal Law
Criminal Law is for the ones who committed crimes and foul play to others. Example of the use of Criminal Law is murder, kidnapping, drugs smuggling, and robbery.
- Civil Law
The system of law concerning private relations between members in a community except of relation to criminal, military, or religious affairs.
- Business Law
Applies to the rights, relations, and conduction of people and business which are related in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales such as Sales and Purchase Agreement.
- Syariah Law
Syariah law applies to all Muslims residing in Malaysia. The law covers all four of the above and the judgement is given based on Islamic values.
After all these, if you feel that your lawyer or your friends’ lawyer is not giving satisfying results, you can complain to the Bar Council. If you sense that there is something dubious or questionable in the way the lawyer is handling a case, you can file a complaint to the Bar Council as well. So, if there are any swindling, cheating, harassment, bribing, bias opinion from your lawyer’s side, you should be able to lodge a complaint to the Bar Council. To complain, you need to have proof of your accusations before going to them. If the proof is valid, the Bar Council will do an investigation and execute actions accordingly. If proved guilty, the lawyer’s license will be cancelled.
So, here were some know-about that a person needs to know before and after getting a service of a lawyer. I hope it was useful to you guys. If there is any information needed to be add or taken out, let us know at the comment section below or contact us.
