(This is an ongoing online novel started as a fictionalised events of my life. Its based on true events not all experienced by me but there were some total fictions too)I entered into practice as a young upstart in a small legal firm in Seremban. I was given a room with a small table and a high chair. There were two other staffs in the 600 square feet room and they respected my partner more than me.
The firm informed the Bar Council on my status as a partner of the firm and I was officially a partner but the name of the signboard only had my partner's name. It was okay as he was the founder of the firm and I came in later. It would also be harder to explain to all those that we applied for panelship to explain the change in such a short period that the firm was form.
I thought I now could go around town and people would fell head over heel trying to give me cases. I thought all I have to do was go to the office, sit around and the cases would come to me.
I was so excited that I had a heart to heart talk with a few of my friends and even my mother about whether I was moving to fast in the world by taking a partnership stake with someone. They thought I was just checking whether I was doing the right thing by just winging it and started to manage a business without learning about law properly. They actually encouraged me as most of my friends were working with other people.
What they did not know was deep down I was so excited at my prospect that I thought in no time I would be driving a big car and having things that people rarely achieved in such a young age. This was in 1998 when Malaysia was coming back from a recession and young entrepreneurs are non-existence.
How wrong was I. How so very wrong.
That was when I was forced through a baptism of fire. My partner approached me two weeks after I was installed as a partner and told me that I need to contribute to the monthly expenditure as I would also be using the staff, the office with its electricity and other overhead. I was a bit put-off but he explained that this was what sharing a partnership really means.
I only had one file then and it was introduced by a relative of mine. As our modus operandi in opening a file was just a payment of RM500-00, I had squandered all of the money to celebrate on my status as a partner upon receiving it from the client. I asked for a few days from my partner and had a discussion with my parents. My parents agreed to give me an allowance of RM1,000-00 until I manage to stand on my own two feet.
So much for all of their sons not needing them anymore.
Actually, I had to thanks my parent quite a lot. I was living in their house. I was given the full usage of their second car. I still had the supplementary credit card given to me when I was a student. I was not given another RM1,000-00 allowance before I could really make money on my own.
All these were the push factor for me when I was a young lawyer, still trying to make a mark for myself in the world and was trying to impress quite a few girls. These was also the time I was juggling 8 girls at once in various stage of relationship (read http://kruel-legalcat.blogspot.com/2008/09/sold-soul-fiction-of-epic-proportion_29.html)
When I realised my shortcomings, I quickly went around looking for cases with all the contacts that I could exploited. I used my parent's contacts in town. The association that my father was a part of. My friend's client whom they don't want to refer to their firm who wasn't giving them any commission, unlike me, for case referral. My relatives. I was like a whore. If you pay me, I would be willing to do anything.
I learned a lot in that one year I was in Seremban but it was never a bed of roses. Until I agree to go to Petaling Jaya and had a meeting with this one guy who was looking for someone who could work from morning till midnight and with a promise of big things to come.
If not for him, I would still be stuck in Seremban.
If not for him, I would never be in a prison cell in Thailand like I am now...
The firm informed the Bar Council on my status as a partner of the firm and I was officially a partner but the name of the signboard only had my partner's name. It was okay as he was the founder of the firm and I came in later. It would also be harder to explain to all those that we applied for panelship to explain the change in such a short period that the firm was form.
I thought I now could go around town and people would fell head over heel trying to give me cases. I thought all I have to do was go to the office, sit around and the cases would come to me.
I was so excited that I had a heart to heart talk with a few of my friends and even my mother about whether I was moving to fast in the world by taking a partnership stake with someone. They thought I was just checking whether I was doing the right thing by just winging it and started to manage a business without learning about law properly. They actually encouraged me as most of my friends were working with other people.
What they did not know was deep down I was so excited at my prospect that I thought in no time I would be driving a big car and having things that people rarely achieved in such a young age. This was in 1998 when Malaysia was coming back from a recession and young entrepreneurs are non-existence.
How wrong was I. How so very wrong.
That was when I was forced through a baptism of fire. My partner approached me two weeks after I was installed as a partner and told me that I need to contribute to the monthly expenditure as I would also be using the staff, the office with its electricity and other overhead. I was a bit put-off but he explained that this was what sharing a partnership really means.
I only had one file then and it was introduced by a relative of mine. As our modus operandi in opening a file was just a payment of RM500-00, I had squandered all of the money to celebrate on my status as a partner upon receiving it from the client. I asked for a few days from my partner and had a discussion with my parents. My parents agreed to give me an allowance of RM1,000-00 until I manage to stand on my own two feet.
So much for all of their sons not needing them anymore.
Actually, I had to thanks my parent quite a lot. I was living in their house. I was given the full usage of their second car. I still had the supplementary credit card given to me when I was a student. I was not given another RM1,000-00 allowance before I could really make money on my own.
All these were the push factor for me when I was a young lawyer, still trying to make a mark for myself in the world and was trying to impress quite a few girls. These was also the time I was juggling 8 girls at once in various stage of relationship (read http://kruel-legalcat.blogspot.com/2008/09/sold-soul-fiction-of-epic-proportion_29.html)
When I realised my shortcomings, I quickly went around looking for cases with all the contacts that I could exploited. I used my parent's contacts in town. The association that my father was a part of. My friend's client whom they don't want to refer to their firm who wasn't giving them any commission, unlike me, for case referral. My relatives. I was like a whore. If you pay me, I would be willing to do anything.
I learned a lot in that one year I was in Seremban but it was never a bed of roses. Until I agree to go to Petaling Jaya and had a meeting with this one guy who was looking for someone who could work from morning till midnight and with a promise of big things to come.
If not for him, I would still be stuck in Seremban.
If not for him, I would never be in a prison cell in Thailand like I am now...
1 comment:
Hi kruel.. your story has deeply touched me.. anyway congratulations to you.. coz u manage to overcome obstacles in your life…
I bet you that not all young people can face challenges in their life… but you have proved it..
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