Law minister Takiyuddin Hassan said the permission was given after taking into account the need for legal services to support other essential services sectors as well as for the smooth running of court and government-related matters.

“Only two employees or 20% of total manpower, whichever is higher, are allowed to work from the office and the working hours is fixed at between 9am and 1pm,” he said in a statement here last night.

He said the lawyers must also schedule appointments with clients if matters are to be dealt with face-to-face.

Takiyuddin added that these firms can also apply for permission to operate through the Covid-19 Intelligent Management System (CIMS) 3.0 portal and the approval obtained through the CIMS last month can still be used.

He said details on the EMCO SOPs for this service sector are available at the National Security Council (MKN) communications platform.

At the same time, he said enforcement and monitoring would be conducted in an integrated manner by the authorities to ensure SOP compliance.