LAWYERS are facing a steep learning curve in adapting to Covid-19 pandemic requirements to work from home, which include attending court online and interviewing witnesses online.

Legal practitioners said there are varying degrees of challenges and success for different firms, but noted that it is particularly difficult for smaller firms.

The silver lining so far is savings in time and expenses, but these come at the cost of the stress in adapting, lawyers told The Malaysian Insight.

Family lawyer Honey Tan from Tan Law Practice said that working online has been a struggle, especially for lawyers who are not tech savvy or running a sole practice, or for senior litigators.

Working online is also not possible for all areas of legal practice, she added.

“For conveyancing, not all transactions can be conducted online. For example, witnessing a client’s signature for agreements, and for presentation at land offices,” Tan said.

Virtual courts for appeals at the Court of Appeal or the Federal Court are a bit easier than for trials, Tan also said.

Appeals hearings at the higher courts have seen a smooth transition to the virtual realm, where the hearings are held via Zoom.

“This is the same (easier) for the hearing of applications at the high court because the evidence is contained in affidavits,” she said, but when it comes to trials, she added that lawyers and judges face several challenges.

“Dealing with witnesses in family matters who are older, and not used to dealing with technology is a challenge.

“How can judges interview children online?”

Online trials are also difficult when many volumes of documents are involved.

“A witness looking for a page in a volume will have a chance to flip through the bundle to get to the relevant page. At some level, this helps the witness to contextualise the document.

“When only a particular page is shared on a screen, that ‘disembodied’ experience takes some getting used to,” Tan said.

Lim Yew Yi from Kerk & Partners spoke of the challenge lawyers face in arguing a case through a computer screen, and when interrogating witness as well.

Lim agreed with Tan that lawyers still prefer to attend trials in person.

“There are certain nuances during the trial that are best observed and handled by attending in person,” Lim said.

The other challenges of working online for law firms is the need to subscribe to certain software and to train staff in performing electronic documentation work, he added.

“While the changes are well-received by most lawyers, you will still come across old-timers who do not have the requisite resources scoffing at it.”

Khor Heng How, a senior associate from Bodipalar Ponnudurai De Silva, said senior counsels have had to be more independent.

“While everyone is working-from-home, some senior counsels who expect assistance from juniors in the office can face some problems,” he said.

Marketing, building clientele, needs in-person contact

Khor added that working online also puts stress on newly established firms who have to build connections and trust with clients without face-to-face interactions.

This is besides the fact that most existing clients are now less ready to pay compared to before lockdown, as times are bad, he said.

“Last time, when it comes to marketing, it’s easy to pick up the phone and ask anyone out for lunch, dinner and drinks.

“Without the human touch, people are less open to speaking to each other when it comes to business, especially litigation, where clients value private and confidential matters,” he said.

Sundaradevan Ramachandaran, another associate from Bodipalar Ponnudurai De Silva, said he had observed lawyers using social media platforms in place of social events.

“Law firms are giving more online talks, publishing videos and articles pertaining to the current issues in Malaysia.

“Even G.K. Ganesan, a senior practitioner, has a YouTube channel called GKtv Law. The videos are informative and some have above 30,000 views,” he said.

Improving efficiency

For law firms that have the resources, the move to online work has enabled better efficiency from investing in online infrastructure and platforms, such as computer servers, file storage and communication software.

Along with the shift, the Malaysian Courts Rules committee has also amended the Rules of Court 2012 to recognise email as a remote communication technology, Sundaradevan added.

“Prior to this, when you file a new action, it must be served personally or through post. Firms have traditionally relied on hard copies.

“Due to the movement control order, parties have been serving all the papers through emails,” Sundaradevan said.

During virtual hearings, lawyers used the share screen feature on Zoom to refer to the judge the relevant clauses.

A test run is conducted by the court registrar a week before the official hearing for lawyers to practice and be guided.

Sundaradevan said the experience of the past year of adapting to work during the pandemic is now seeing plans to continue online for certain matters, post-pandemic.

This is based on indications by Court of Appeal judges, who said in a webinar organised by the Inns of Court Malaysia, that the court may proceed online for civil appeal matters, even after movement restrictions are lifted.

“The legal profession has no choice but to be prepared and ready for this,” Sundaradevan said.

Lawyers can learn to improve their performance during virtual proceedings by reviewing the digital recording after, he added.

As for Tan, she suggested that the courts not insist that trials must be conducted online, especially if the parties involved are not ready.

“For the next year or so, allow clients and lawyers to set the pace; we only ought to move as fast as the least is ready.

“Many of the young lawyers are also not familiar with technology in the ‘work’ sense such as using Google documents to draft collectively,” she said.

Khor said that Malaysia has been a late bloomer in online legal practice compared to Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore.

In fact, Peninsular Malaysia has been behind Sabah and Sarawak, which has been conducting online hearings for some time, he added. – August 13, 2021.