by Ganesh Sahathevan
This matter which was reported on this blog in 2018 was brought to the attention of the NSW Law Society when the immediate past secretary general of LAWASIA, Michael Tidball, was still chief executive of the the NSW Law Society :
Australia's College Of Law is promoting something called the ASEAN+6 LLM by relying on this seeming endorsement from Nathaneal Kitingan of the Jeffrey & Joseph Kitingan clan.
The Kitingan name is hard to ignore, and hence Nathaneal was queried about his endorsement and connection to the College and the ASEAN+6 LLM.His response:
Until your email I had never heard of the ASEAN +6 LLM.
Tidball did nothing despite being quite familiar with the College Of Law's problems in its primary market:
"It is understood that the College of Law is currently losing market share in the PLT market, and it may well be that there are potential commercial openings for the law Society of NSW in pursuing the growth of new streams of business activity. Done in a strategic way, this development could strengthen our membership retention in the years ahead."
This then is one more reason why LAWASIA needs a new home, and a new leadership, divorced from its Australian antecedents.
Friday, January 28, 2022
LAWASIA needs Asian leadership and a HQ in Singapore if it is to remain relevant - Australian leadership promoting parochial interests has led to a divergence of interests, and standards
by Ganesh Sahathevan
In 2017 the current Chief Justice Of NSW Tom Bathurst QC told a gathering of Australian lawyers that "Australian lawyers and judges have been instrumental in bringing together members of the profession throughout Asia, and indeed globally".
It was an interesting observation from a senior lawyer of the Commonwealth, a QC, who seemed to have forgotten that Asia's lawyers, especially those from India, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore share with Australia and New Zealand a common law heritage, being countries that were once of the British Empire.
That shared heritage meant equal standing with Australian lawyers and judges, without any need for leadership from the latter, but that fact seems to have been lost on Mr Bathurst, who then went ton to say:
For example, LawAsia, an international organisation of lawyers’ associations, lawyers, judges and legal academics, was a project of the Law Council of Australia (LCA). Since it was founded in 1966, LAWASIA has served as a platform for the cross-jurisdictional exchange of legal information and for encouraging adherence to the rule of law, the protection of human rights and high standards of legal practice.
Since 1966 however the Law Council Of Australia seems to have lost its way. In 2015 it backed a Communist Party China linked business in its ultimately successful application for a license to grant law degrees in Australia. The license was issued by the NSW Legal Profession Admission Board, of which Chief Justice Bathurst is chairman. Australia remains the only jurisdiction in the world to have given its approval to a CPC linked business to train local lawyers.
Meanwhile LAWASIA and the LCA continue to lecture Asian lawyers on the matter of correct behaviour and standards. As one can see from the story below, these lectures are premised on the basis that Asian lawyers have much work to do in improving their standards, while at the same time ignoring the wrongdoings of Australian legal businesses in Asia.
The time has come, if LAWASIA is to remain relevant, for LAWASIA to be divorced from its Australian antecedents and its secretariat be moved to Asia. Singapore would seem the logical location for the new secretariat. The position of Secretary General, currently held by the CEO of the LCA, Michael Tidball,can then be assumed by the CEO of the Law Society Singapore, or of any other Asian legal professional body.
TO BE READ WITH
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Australian legal profession governing bodies failure to address "College Of Law Asia" issues in Malaysia, ASEAN have led to an escalating investigation by the relevant authorities in Malaysia into the College's business in Asia; recent revelations by Malaysia's former AG expected to escalate matters further
by Ganesh Sahathevan
However, while the issues raised in the New Malaysia Times article below remain unanswered, the recently released memoirs of the previous Attorney General Of Malaysia Tommy Thomas , which throws much needed light on the state of Malaysia's legal system has the potential to reveal much that the Bar Council Malaysia and its business partners have chosen to keep secret. This includes a curious email from the College to a person or persons in Malaysia.
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
