Why I stop defending criminals in court

When I started practising years ago, I had been told that practising criminal law is exciting. You get to spar with your opponent. You get to convince judges that your client is innocent. You get to mix around with other lawyers and prosecutors in various court hearing war stories. You basically have a very active social working life. Why? Where else would you meet people from all side of the spectrum? From the cream of the society (for those white collar crime) to the scum of the earth. You meet them in court, in prison, in their office and in their homes. They will welcome you and tell you intimate things that only their wives/husbands or maybe their doctor will know about..

I actually did not choose to stop practising criminal law. I mean, there were circumstances which had made me changed direction. Law has other type of businesses which does not require you to be too social with the scum of the earth or those who are label as such and I have decided after some times that enough is enough.

Why you ask? 

In Malaysia, the easiest crime which get you having to face a judge has to do with drugs. People get on the wagon and get off it every other day. They need not have to have a high dosage or quantity of drugs to get you caught and being send to the rehab centre. Some do being held responsible for having a high quantity and then as Malaysia has recognised quantity determines your intention of having it in your possession, it is considered as a capital crime. You get death if found guilty of having even just a few hundreds grams. That is how serious it is. So, when you practise criminal litigation, you keep on having to take these type of cases. That is until you get to be a lawyer who can demand more money and is in demand for better crime (if there is such a thing)

All these people who uses drugs and are addicted to it, if they had known website such as this Wiki Meeting List which has a list of all the meetings for you to get support for whatever addiction you have, it would have been helpful for them. There are meetings for those who have alcohol, narcotics or gambling addictions, just to name a few. This is the real way for addiction to be efficient and not throws them into some rehab which might or might not be effective. After all, as much as we have been trying to 'cure' people from these various addictions, we know in our hearts of hearts that without friends and those in the same boat, they will never be really off the wagon. Trust me, from a former criminal law practitioner. That is free advice you can take to the bank.