by Ganesh Sahathevan
That she says would be " good for investment, good for Australia’s soft influence, good for commercial certainty and good for preserving trading relationships even when disputes occur."
The reality however is that the work is going to Singapore, and that Australia has lost significant ground in the Asia Pacific market for legal services. As this writer noted recently:
Singapore International Arbitration Centre caseload crossed the 1000 mark in October 2020: Meanwhile Australian lawyers still unable to compete despite Anglosphere privileges
This loss of standing should not come as a surprise. The Australian and in particular Sydney legal establishment continues to assume that it can continue to put its parochial interests ahead of those of its clients in Asia. The Sydney legal establishment still protects its College of Law Ltd, despite an escalating investigation into its commercial dealings in Malaysia.
Adding to the perception that the Australian legal establishment is trading off its colonial era reputation is the matter of Top Group Ltd:
Top Group(1752:HK) IPO investors entitled to answers from the NSW LPAB & NSW AG Mark Speakman -Suspension of Top Group law school enrolments raises questions about the value of the IPO which relied on NSW LPAB & Speakman's granting Top Group its license to issue law degreesTop Group's share price continues to slide and the NSW LPAB, which is chaired by the Chief Justice Of NSW, Tom Bathurst, continues to remain silent.
TO BE READ WITH
Bar Council education ‘JV’ must be clarified
KUALA LUMPUR, July 19 – The Malaysian Bar Council launched its first education venture, a LLM in Malaysian Legal Practise (LLM), last year in collaboration with the College Of Law Australia.
The LLM does not seem to have the approval of Malaysia’s Legal Professional Qualifying Board (LPQB) but the website for the course, which is hosted in Australia, prominently displays the Bar Council crest.
The crest has not been used before to promote a course of study, and queries put to Bar Council President Fareed Gafoor about the use of the crest have been acknowledged but remain unanswered.
NMT has however sighted an email from Fareed dated Friday, May 24, 2019 with regards the LLM and the use of the crest where he states:
Dear Rajen,
We can’t remain silent on this.
Abdul Fareed Bin Abdul Gafoor
Sent from my iPad
It is understood that “Rajen” refers to Rajen Devaraj, Chief Executive Officer of the Bar Council Secretariat in Kuala Lumpur.
The Bar has remained silent for nearly 2 months since.
Key person suddenly retired during extensive query
The College of Law used to be represented in Malaysia by its Director, Peter Tritt. Tritt have been queried extensively about the LLM and about the College’s business in Malaysia but has refused to provide answers. Tritt has been based in Kuala Lumpur since 2017 but announced on Friday that he had “retired” from the College on 30 June 2019.
It is understood that Tritt has forwarded queries sent him to his head office in Sydney and hence it appears that Tritt is under orders from his Chief Executive, Neville Carter, to remain silent.
Questionable advertising claims?
In advertising on the College’s website Carter has claimed that he had established a Professional Legal Training course for Malaysian Law students seeking admission to practise in Malaysia. There seems to be no evidence of such a course, or of any national level training course for the existing Certificate of Legal Practise.
Carter has also claimed to have produced the “inaugural” Handbook in Legal Practise for Malaysia, in the late 80s. A search of the main law libraries in Malaysia directed by the Chief Registrar, Federal Court Malaysia, has not found any such handbook.
He has also claimed to have, during that time to have identified and addressed “gaps” in Malaysian legal practise, but not even those in practice during that period and since have ever heard of him. Nor are senior practitioners aware of “gaps” that needed that to be addressed by external consultants.
As CEO of the College Carter has ultimate responsibility for the College’s Malaysian operation headed by Tritt and variously named the “College Of Law Asia Pacific” and the “College Of Law Asia”. A search by NMT has not revealed any entities registered under those names in Malaysia or in Australia, not even a foreign entities registered to conduct business in Malaysia.
Meanwhile the College, in collaboration with the Bar Council continues to sell its LLM and other courses in Malaysia, deriving a fee income from Malaysian courses.
-NMT
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