Ho-ming in on justice

Welcome home: Ho is set to begin her pupillage in Kuala Lumpur next month.

FOR years, Emily Ho Mei Li had dazzled as a student, garnering a string of awards and scholarships for herself.

This continued at the tertiary level where she not only gained admission into Cambridge University in the United Kingdom to study law, but also completed her bachelor’s degree studies as a triple first class graduate.

Most recently, the 23-year-old became the only Malaysian to graduate from Harvard Law School’s Class of 2022 with an LL.M (Master of Laws) degree, and three Dean’s Scholar Prizes to boot – Dean’s Scholar Prizes are awarded to students in recognition of their outstanding work.

In an email interview with StarEdu, Ho, who attended her commencement ceremony on May 26, expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to study at the “historic, excellent law school” in the United States where, she said, she was able to delve deeper into her scholarly interests under the teaching of professors who are pioneers in their fields.

“I am primarily interested in constitutional law as it commits a country to specific enshrined values, even on behalf of minorities, whose voices may not otherwise be heard in the competitive democratic process.

“I am also hugely interested in international trade law, where global concerns like climate change, wealth disparities, global development, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict are addressed powerfully through the use of countries’ trade policies,” she shared.

Recalling her classes at Harvard Law School, she said lessons were taught using the Socratic method, in which students’ input was folded into the class and used as teaching opportunities for the entire class. “This could be nerve-wracking because any student could be called on by surprise, but it also means that there was active participation in the collective process of learning.

“It created a sense of community in the classroom, making every class I was in a unique one, instead of a stock lecture being impersonally delivered,” she added.

Having obtained her LL.M degree, the Perakian is set to begin her pupillage in Kuala Lumpur next month – a pupillage, according to Ho, is a nine-month training period spent in a law firm before one is called to the Bar as an advocate and solicitor in Malaysia.

“I have been most inspired by senior lawyers who have tried to make a difference in our country.

“Justice is deeply beautiful. When the going gets tough, or when daily news is rough to hear, I stay inspired by my hope for a future where broken relationships are redeemed and unjust patterns of society are corrected.

“This hope is fed by encouraging stories from my friends and is most steadily nourished by my faith to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly,” she enthused.

It was also this hope that had spurred Ho on to pursue her law studies.

“As a student, I was interested in how people with different, often cross-cutting, interests were able to live together peacefully as a society.

“In Malaysia, particularly, I was interested in how, despite social divisions, people could somehow inhabit the same spaces in relatively peaceful conditions,” she said.

While Ho had enjoyed success in her studies, she let on that her journey had not been without obstacles.

One of the challenges she had faced, she divulged, was the pressure to define success according to other people’s measures, especially when she was uncertain of what internships and jobs to apply for during the early stages of her undergraduate education.

“At the end of my first year, I felt pressured to apply for a whole suite of law firm vacation schemes that other people were applying for. Instead, I applied for an internship at the Center for Orang Asli Concerns in Subang Jaya, Selangor,” she shared.

In the subsequent years, however, she immersed herself in conventional legal work which included undertaking mini pupillages in London’s legal chambers, shadowing barristers, attending court, and drafting documents.

She also kept up a variety of legal work experience such as doing research for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and editing an academic law journal.

“Both my time at the Center and my legal experience were equally formative for me.

“Overall, I am glad I explored a wide range of legal work. It has helped me to see various possible paths for the future, and also to see how different types of legal work feed into one another – for example, good teaching at a university contributes to good, conscientious lawyers in law firms, non-governmental organisations and the government,” she said.

When asked what she regards as her most valued achievement to date, she cited the friendships she had made along her journey in legal education.

“The most significant shift in perspective I’ve had since my first year of law school in Cambridge is that the law is not all about the books, but also about the people.

“I value the intentionality with which I have taken the time to listen and learn from others. This is the bread and butter of legal learning: when the stuff in the books is understood, experienced and then animated in real conversations and discussions of differing opinions,” she explained.

To those aspiring to pursue law, Ho, who plans to consider roles in areas like policy research and academia in future, offered her advice to always observe how the law operates in the world around them, and even in their own lives.

“Even for those of us who will never see the inside of a courtroom, the law impacts our social interactions, transactions, and our general comfort and security every day. “Ponder these things deeply, and you will find your musings will be never-ending – and it will give you much to talk about when you start applying to universities.”

Carrie Ann, 21, a student in Penang, is a participant of the BRATs Young Journalist Programme run by The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (Star-NiE) team. To join Star-NiE’s online youth community, go to facebook.com/niebrats.