INSIGHTS OF AN IN-HOUSE LEGAL
NATALIA KAMARUDIN
A Father ’ s choice
INSIGHTS OF AN IN-HOUSE LEGAL
NATALIA KAMARUDIN
• Natalia Kamarudin holds a Bachelor of Law ( Hons ) degree from University of the West of England , Bristol .
• Having completed the Bar exams , she was then called to the English Bar by the Honourable Society of the Lincoln ’ s Inn .
• Natalia has been an advocate and solicitor for 6 years in the Corporate construction practice .
• She is currently part of the Legal Counsel of AECOM , an American multinational engineering company listed in the FORTUNE 500 and FORTUNE ’ s World ’ s Most Admired Companies in 2015 , 2016 , and 2017 .
I didn ’ t want to be a lawyer . That has come to be my standard response every time someone asks me why I wanted to be a lawyer . I was forced to ( or in a politer term , persuaded to ) read law by my father , the lawyer . He said “ Natalia , you do not have to DO law , you just have to READ law ” but one milestone after the other and I later found myself admitted to the Bar both in England and Malaysia and became a qualified practising lawyer . Although I must say that , the decision to practise law after I graduated was my own because I felt that LLB would only be worth something if I continue and complete the whole trail .
The beginning of the journey
I started reading-in-chambers in a considerably large firm . Each pupil or chambering student is assigned to a “ Master ”, a senior practitioner who is meant to be a guide and a person that you can follow as a model to watch and learn . My Master was the head of the corporate construction practice group and I spent much of the duration of my pupillage working and learning under him . That foundation has led me to stay within the corporate construction law practice to this day . I made a decision to move in-house as a legal counsel of AECOM , a global engineering consultancy firm , 3 years ago , after 6 years of practising , to get myself exposed to the technical and business aspects of the construction industry . Practising corporate construction ( in a law firm ) more often than not only exposes you to the top chain of the players in the construction industry ; which are the Clients or Project Owners and the Contractors . Our legal advice would mostly be drafting and advising on the construction contract on behalf of the Clients or Project Owner . Unless we are sought to advise on issues during construction , our legal advice ends at the drafting and finalization of the construction contract and that whole process hugely revolves around heavy reading and perfecting a standard form of construction contract .
Going in-house
I wanted to also be versed with what goes beyond the construction contract , beyond the relationship between the Client and the Contractor and what is happening on the ground during the carrying out of the construction work itself . Being in AECOM is perfect for that because in an engineering consultancy firm ( with services spanning from engineering consultancy , project management , design and quantity surveying ), through the performance of these roles by AECOM ( note that these roles ordinarily sit in between the project owners and the contractors in the construction contractual matrix ),