APRIL 29 — On April 24, the Court issued directions through the Bar Council via a circular to all Law firms informing us that certain uncontested civil cases namely ex-parte application extension of times, leave application for enforcement of Judgement, and other applications as per Annexure  1 of the said directions including inter-parties applications for amendments, setting aside Judgements, and conducting certain others civil cases may be carried out by conducting such cases through telephone and video conference.

It is my humble view that it is impossible for Law firms to operate during MCO, for the following reasons:-

a) Firstly, the Affidavits of clients and/or Solicitors need to affirmed by the Commissioners for Oaths who must also be in operations, and as such movement of all parties including of clients and despatch attendances is also required;

b) Secondly, some of the above application such as in the case of Bankruptcy Notices (BN), once extension is obtained there is a need to serve the BN on the Judgement Debtor and this also requires the movement of process servers;

c) Thirdly, legal clerical works need to be carried out by staff, and since the operations of all Legal firms are closed for civil litigation cases because of ongoing MCO, and in the event firms request their staff to come into the office to carry out such work, again movement of staff is involved. There is also the increased risk resulting from a scenario where a staff member or client is found to be Covid-19 positive; then, the firms involved will be responsible for the medical bills of staff, and the firm must also then ensure that the office is properly sanitised;

d) Fourthly, it is virtually impossible for such work to be conducted from home as all files and computers are kept in the office premises;

e) Fifthly, conducting cases through telephone is also not practical and/or suitable. It would be exceeding difficult to communicate/connect as lines will surely be busy because of quantum of cases that are pending; and

f) Furthermore, conducting of cases through video conferencing may also be difficult for small or medium sized Law firms who do not already possess the requisite infrastructure. Besides being burdened with the additional costs, these firms are going to find it difficult to find suitable vendors at the present time.

In order to make it POSSIBLE for Law firms to operate smoothly, the present MCO conditions needs be amended by the government so as to allow for the movement of a multitude of parties connected to the smooth operations of the legal system, including the Commissioner for Oaths, Land offices, LHDN/stamp office, SSM, government valuation departments, clients, Company Secretaries, auditors, accountants, valuers and another relevant associated services. On top of these, selected directors and staff of the clients might also be required to access their office premises, thus risking the spread of Covid-19. 

Based on the above reasoning I humbly opine that it is IMPOSSIBLE for Law firms to operate during the present MCO because it would involve the “legalised” movement of many groups of persons connected with the proper operations of Law firms in Malaysia. 

To allow Law firm to operate would surely defeat the main aims and purposes of MCO i.e. to minimise the movement of people. It is hard to fathom how the directions of the Court can be successful implemented without risking greater spreading of the Covid-19 virus, which would only extend the length of the MCO. 

*This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.