Inspired

I had a Saturday training at the office on arbitration proceedings. One of the partners from the dispute resolution practice group in the Singapore Baker & McKenzie office came down to give the training at our KL office. As a litigation lawyer, I must say that I haven't had much experience in arbitration proceedings, so I found the session to be very informative.

One thing I must say is that the training was excellent! It was that good that I don't have any qualms about having to had come into the office on a Saturday morning. The speaker was really inspirational as he talked about the topic with so much passion! It's after talks like these that I am reminded why I chose to be in this field.

Finally started the ball rolling

I have finally started to make some progress in my wedding preparation. I told myself that I must at least get started 6 months before the wedding, that is by 26 May 2010.

Sure I have started looking for cards and all but don't feel as though it is such a big step forward.

However, I finally settled my wedding invitation cards! :) I went to this place at Tropicana City called My Storybook last week to discuss card designs with the card designer. I saw quite a few designs that I liked on the shelf and was curious to see if she can customise a hydrangea themed one for me. So I explained to her the card that I had in mind and how I would like it to be and she scheduled an appointment for her to show me the customised cards.

Today I went to see her and was really happy with her work! She totally get the kind of design that I was looking for. I even had a difficult time choosing from the options. However, with the help of my mum and Azmir, I was able to pick one. I paid the 50% deposit and sealed the deal! :)

Now the things that are pending are:-

(a) Appointment to tailor my wedding gown;

(b) Appointment with the photographer; and

(c) Confirming the string quartet.

My First Contested Hearing

I had the amazing opportunity to work with Dato' Ambiga Sreneevasan recently on one of our trials and the advice she gave me in terms of conducting my own hearing was "Just get on with it!".

The reason why it is difficult for me to have the opportunity to do so is because our matters are either very huge (requiring the partners themselves to conduct the hearing) or very small (not contested where it is just a matter of attending court and getting an order in terms). But then again, you have to start somewhere.

Don't get me wrong, I have done several open court hearings but they were not heavily contested and mostly at the subordinate courts.

On Thursday I managed to convince the partner to let me do my first contested high court hearing for one of my files.

The courtroom was packed with lawyers in their robes as there were about 17 matters listed for hearing in the open court. I was of course extremely nervous but the amazing thing was that once I got started, all of that went away. Even though there were other people in the court room, at that point in time I only was concerned with the Judge in front of me and my opponent. One of the senior lawyers in my firm was actually sitting at the public gallery to observe my first hearing (and probably to ensure that I don't screw it up :p).

I stood my ground. Even though the Judge was not with me on one point, I persisted. Rebuttals were very heated with both parties not letting it rest. I even raised an objection towards part of my opponent's submissions which was not supported by any affidavit evidence and argued that it should be disregarded as it was purely submissions from the bar.

At the end of it, the Judge fixed another date for him to deliver a decision.

Overall, exhilarating!

Why it works for us

I was in court yesterday and bumped into one of my legal aid buddies during the time I was still chambering. I had an injunction hearing and she had a case management. We were both waiting for our case to be called up and had time to catch up for a bit :)

We got to talking about work and relationships and it got me thinking. I've heard from quite a few people how work schedule can get in the way of a relationship, especially when one person is busier than the other.

Some time ago one of my colleagues was congratulating me on my recent engagement and was just asking me a bit about my fiancé. So I told him that Azmir is working with PwC as an auditor. And the comment I got from him was "wow, the hours are bad for both of you", to which I answered, "that's true, but that is what makes our relationship work".

Our hours are pretty similar, with of course slight variations as I don't have clear peak periods. My "peak periods" would be when I have a trial or when I get served with court papers from my opponents, which is often very difficult to predict. But other than that, it is pretty much the same.

I'm not saying that it is synchronized all the time. There are times when I don't have to work over the weekend and he has to and vice versa. But I suppose we have learnt to work around it and of course, living close together helps because even if we are extremely swamped, it may still be possible to squeeze in a meal together :)

So I think that is why our relationship works and I am glad that we don't let work get in the way ;)

Die Cuts With A View

I went to Craft Haven yesterday to look at their things. I've passed by this shop many times but was always under the impression that they only had painting materials. Clearly I was wrong as they has so many nice decorated papers to do cards, scrap books etc. It is sort of like Paper Chase in UK.

I actually love making cards for people. I used to do it a lot when I was studying and enjoy trying to come up with new card designs. Unfortunately I haven't had the time to do it since bar school days.

So I came across this US paper brand "Die Cuts With a View" when I was browsing around in Craft Haven and really love their products. I was actually half considering on buying the Linen Closet collection and making my own wedding invitation cards with them! :P

Unfortunately, they have very limited sales here in Malaysia and the stock they have wont be enough for that purpose. I tried seeing if I could purchase it online but delivery is limited to within the US. Plus I wonder if it is really a viable option with my working schedule....

These are some of the prints I love:

Busy busy

This week has definitely been one of the worse for me. It was a lot busier than what I had anticipated and also the first time that I worked throughout morning. Of course I did take a 10 minute shut eye with the lights off before getting ready for work.

What was I doing? preparing 2 written submissions which I only had time to start around 11 pm. The important thing is that I delivered it on time the next morning.

As for the trial, it was very heated during cross-examination with the witness being very evasive and not answering the question and at times even going beyond what was asked. This of course led the line of questioning becoming more aggressive with constant reminders given to the witness that she was on oath and also that being untruthful in the witness stand would amount to perjury.

Some people may take the view that cross-examination can be somewhat misleading as the counsel will be asking the witness leading questions which should only be answered "yes" or "no". So where a witness starts the answer by trying to explain him/herself, you can bet your bottom dollar that the counsel will cut short the answer and say "just answer the question, yes or no".

Unfair? I would say no, simply because there will always be a chance to re-examine the witness. There will be an opportunity to explain the answers that have been cut short, if in fact such explanation is necessary. All in all, the trial was probably the most enjoyable part of the week.

As for today, it was tiring. Went for a case management at Shah Alam High Court in the morning, came back to the office to clear some work and also complete my personal evaluation for which was initially due by COB today and then went to the KL High Court for 2 other hearings. When I came back into my office at about 4.30 pm, I saw some documents on my desk with a post-it from my boss which said "Please see me". Went to see her and started working on it right away. Wanted to clear it before 6 pm but that didn't happen cause another client called for which I had to quickly join my other boss in a conference call with the client. By the time I got out of the call, it was already 6.30 >.<

So why am I still up now. I guess part of me just wants to let it out. I have e-mails which I have yet to respond to, and work piling and I feel as though I am not clearing it fast enough. I need to be more efficient and I really need to up my game!

A Quick Update

I just realised that it's been a while since I last updated my blog. Things have just been real busy with work. I honestly felt like April went by too quickly. I remember looking at the calendar noting that its already April and all of a sudden its May?? It has also come to a point that I find myself wishing it was Wednesday when its Friday ><

Next week I have a trial from Mon - Wed, hearing in Penang and Melaka on Thurs and 2 hearings on Friday. I hope I survive this week and don't get too stressed.

On the upside I went shopping this weekend and bought lots of new working clothes :D Was not planning to go shopping until I got a call from my mum saying that another one of my white shirt is torn. Since I will be in court everyday next week, I need to get more of them. I'm done with G2000 shirts! I think they are of no good quality seeing how they get torn so easily. So I went to Cuffz and bought 3 shirts and am happy with the purchase :)

Also couldn't resist buying some other colourful working tops from the Executive. I like their clothes because they have my size hehe

So I guess that is a quick update from me. Now back to finishing my submissions!