At the beginning of my practice, thanks to my lack of experience, I was
criticized… too much! There were moments where I felt embarrassed for
not being able to meet the expectations of my pupil master and mentors.
Teary-eyed, I had to bite the bullet and strive on. Ego was only going to
hamper learning.
The legal training during the earlier part of my career was largely
provided by a boutique litigation firm situated in the heart of the city.
Owing to the impressive credentials of its partners, the firm received
various high profile commercial briefs and public interest cases. On top of
attaining valuable experience, it also augmented the value of my CV.
I recall days and nights of hardcore grinding at work tasks, being in and
out of courtrooms daily, sometimes multiple times within the course of a
day, drafting legal documents at odd hours trying to meet the ever-tight
deadlines, rushing for meetings and so on. I had to learn to become a
task-juggler. But finally, when a favorable decision is delivered to you,
after months of hard work throughout the trial proceedings, nothing can
beat that feeling… that bliss. This (perhaps narcissistic yet addictive)
sense of achievement at the end of the ordeal is perhaps the drug that
keeps me hooked to the field of litigation.
I did not allow the heavy workload and hectic schedule to deter me from
taking initiative at work. This is an attitude that makes the difference
between learning, and learning effectively. Enter the attribute of
perseverance, on top of that. These helped me leap the many hurdles
along the way.
Other than that, I must add that I am especially glad to have managed to
keep an open mind throughout, and learned to respect personal
preferences and differences in opinion, heritage and beliefs, be they that
of clients, court s taff, opponent lawyers or senior members of the bar.
One of the most important tools of the legal profession is none other
than having excellent social skills, to which certain humility and
acceptance is a prerequisite.
There are of course a myriad of aspects in a professional life, such as
ethics, decorum, and lifestyle which I’d be happy to share with you, but
let’s leave this for some other time.
On running my own law firm
Taking that first step to independence is always the most difficult. Having
waded through laborious academic and professional training, I’d begun
to seek new challenges in my career. Of course the idea of being my own
boss is a big plus, but what truly motivated me was the desire to know if I
would be able to take what I’ve gathered in knowledge and apply it at a
whole new level. After 5 years of active practice, I withdrew all my
savings and took a giant leap of faith, to set up a law firm which I
personalized in such a way that would be truly my own – from mission
statements to wall colours. I am after all a woman and this firm is my
quasi-baby.