Feature: Legal profession facing unprecedented challenges

Trying times: Malaysian lawyers doing everything from increasing their knowledge to expand their client base to taking out loans and tapping digital resources to survive the challenges posed by the movement control order period. — 123rf.com

THE Covid-19 pandemic hit lawyer Ahmad Maududi Mahdi hard as he had only just set up his own small firm in Kuala Terengganu in early January.While things started off well, with work in his fields of conveyancing and civil litigation coming in in the first few months, it trickled to a halt once the movement control order (MCO) was announced in mid-March.

“When non-essential services like land offices and land and mineral offices closed, our client agreements could not be completed, ” says Ahmad Maududi, adding that a lot of litigation work was also put on hold.

“When the judiciary announced online hearings, it did not apply to every state. Online hearing requires proper equipment and not all states have that, ” he explains.