Some lawyers see their vocation as a business that can quickly make them rich, according to Syed Ahmad Helmy Ahmad, who retired yesterday as chairman of the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board. He was a Court of Appeal judge when he retired from the judiciary in December 2012.
He said it was disappointing that there were lawyers who regarded their “noble profession” as a path to riches.
He cited cases of lawyers doubling up as money lenders to their clients and thereby committing a serious misconduct under the Legal Profession Act.
He said some lawyers would set up well-furnished offices only to act as proxy for others in business enterprises.
He advised young and would-be lawyers to expose themselves to the “baptism of fire” by working hard to be competent legal practitioners.
“Do not lead a life in the comfort of your chambers as you will merely become a paper tiger,” he said.
He also said universities were producing too many lawyers and that the graduates were of varying standards.
“Even in local public institutions the standard varies,” he said, adding that the mushrooming of private colleges and universities further aggravated the situation.
He said the nation should be producing an average of 200 to 250 law graduates a year but the current numbers were far in excess of that range.
Local universities annually produce about 1,300 law graduates. Another 200 come into the profession after passing the Certificate of Legal Practice (CLP).
Most local graduates are exempted from sitting for the CLP.
Syed Ahmad said the government must have the political will to issue policy guidelines and check the mushroooming of law schools.