I usually do not blog about my talks but this talk is worth a mention. I was invited by the Melaka Young Lawyers Committee to speak about the above topic. I spoke about this topic few months ago to some young KL lawyers, chambering students and law students at the KL Bar.
My presentation was attended by around 50 people. It was held at UTC Melaka, a multipurpose building with numerous Government offices.
The hall
Leong, the chair of the Melaka Young Lawyers Committee, was an excellent host. He brought me out for lunch and I met some other young lawyers too.
The presentation encompasses information about types of clientele, building your own clientele, how to get media coverage, specializing in your practice, marketing methods and tips on networking sessions.
After my presentation, I got the participants to do a group exercise. The organisers separated the participants into groups and they are required to come out with 5 ways to market their law fictitious law firm. Each group will nominate a representative to present on stage. I made each of the representative announce the names of their members. I did so because I wanted to instill a habit on these young lawyers to remember the names of the people they met. There was one girl on stage could not remember all her group members’ names. I hope she does now.
Some of the groups came out with brilliant ideas like having a drive through counter for clients to drop off and sign their documents, 24 hours legal services, roadshows.
From what I gathered, the Melaka legal industry is a small one. They only have 30 over chambering students this term. My old firm has minimum 20 chambering students at any given time! Many of these students came from the local Melaka Multimedia University (MMU). Some stayed back in Melaka to do their pupillage although they are not from Melaka.
I am told that specializing in certain subject (like IP) does seem to be viable as Melaka is a small market. But I think one can actively tap into the small and medium industry by approaching and educating them of their legal rights and obligations.
Leong and a few other fellow Melaka lawyers brought me to a nice place that apparently sells the best tosai in Melaka. I had a great time chatting and learning from the Melaka lawyers.