Law grads face fierce competition

PETALING JAYA: Thousands of law graduates are scrambling to secure chambering spots in legal firms, which are finding it hard to cope with the demand.

Law graduates can only experience hands-on legal training when they undergo pupillage or chambering at legal firms.

However, the Malaysian Bar said not all such graduates were guaranteed chambering spots due to limited openings and increased competitiveness in the legal industry.

“Securing pupillage with a law firm upon one’s graduation is not a given,” said Malaysian Bar president Karen Cheah Yee Lynn.

“An applicant has to be not just capable but competent and with the potential to provide value to the firm and the legal profession – it is, after all, a very demanding profession,” she told The Star when contacted yesterday.

Cheah said she had predicted several years ago that it would get more difficult to land chambering spots, with competition getting stiff among law graduates.

“Law firms want to secure the best pupils.

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“The interview process can be tough, and some law firms only want well-rounded candidates,” she added.

Cheah said currently, about 1,500 law graduates do their pupillage with law firms around the country each year.

“We only know how many law graduates secure chambering as the Bar Council is served with papers by pupils who are doing their pupillage under Section 36 of the Legal Profession Act (LPA).

“Only then do we know of how many get to do their chambering,” she added.

Cheah said although the law graduates might go on to complete the required nine-month chambering stint, not all end up practising law as many drop out of the profession.

“Of the 1,500 fresh graduates who try to enter the legal profession, there is an attrition rate of about half for one reason or another,” she added.

She said the number of pupils a firm could absorb depended on the needs and resources of that particular firm.

“The minimum remuneration of a pupil is not fixed at the moment and the Bar Council is looking at amending the LPA to provide a guideline.

“Different states have different allowances paid to pupils.

“Law firms in Kuala Lumpur, especially the larger ones, have no issue paying the minimum allowance of about RM1,500.

“But to get in, the pupils must be the cream of the crop,” she added.

Cheah advised those who failed to secure a chambering spot on their first try to reapply with other firms.

“Some law graduates eventually take up employment as in-house counsel, set up a business or venture into a different industry altogether,” she said.

There are currently more than 6,000 legal firms and 22,000 active practising lawyers in the country.

Jamie Wong, a lawyer with 14 years’ experience in Kuala Lumpur, said there were more law graduates now.

“The field is getting saturated, particularly in the Klang Valley.

“But there are still pupillage chambering placements available outside the Klang Valley,” she said.

Depending on the type of legal services offered, she said smaller firms could take in between two and four pupils a year compared with larger ones which can chamber up to 12 pupils a year.

However, Wong said this depended on the requirements of the firm and the availability of resources.

She said failure to secure a chambering spot was not the end of one’s dream of practising law.

She said that it would just be a temporary setback.

“Gather as much work experience in the meantime. Alternatively, explore your interest in other fields while reapplying,” she said.