Expert-ea 🍵

By Charmiane Foo and Tay Khye Vern

On the 13th of November 2019, Taylor’s Mooting Society had their final meeting session for 2019; in commemoration of this event, guest speakers from the law firm of Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill were invited to share their professional experience with the students.

The session kicked off with an introduction by the current Captain of Taylor’s Mooting Society, who introduced the guest speakers. The session lasted for an hour, with the remaining hour being used for a Q & A session.

The session as a whole was a valuable learning experience for both the students and the speakers, as the students gained insight into the legal world whilst the learned guests also learned much from being speakers.

When asked how the experience was like, one of our guest speakers - Ms Nicola Tang, shared that the experience for her as a speaker was “humbling and in many ways, nostalgic”. She reflected on her days as a student where she had the opportunity to obtain advice and how quickly she found herself now being the one to dispense advice. This entire experience left her with the feeling that the legal profession is “one filled with comradery and is truly a profession where the learning and sharing never stops”.

Mr Arthur Ng (guest speaker) further shared how his perspective has shifted when transitioning from a law student to a law practitioner. “You have expectations before practicing but in reality there’s a lot more behind the scenes work”, he said while adding that the work is “hard but rewarding”. He went on to describe in detail on why he believes it is a “noble profession”, as there are not many people who can say they “played a part in making the law”, and in doing so “affecting people’s lives.”

Some of the students also shared how much they learned from these speakers. One of our student mooting mentors - Ong, shared how the talk was “especially insightful” with regard to the topic of becoming a lawyer. He believed their advice provided “a clear picture” of how a future as a law practitioner would look like and the “right direction” one should work towards.

Furthermore, Jazmine from semester 3, shared how the session was beneficial as it was held in a smaller lecture theatre, thus making it a “rather interactive session” where the students were “more willing to ask questions as the atmosphere was less intimidating”. Additionally, Yoong Earn from semester 1 found it interesting as the speakers were able to share aspects of the ‘legal practicing world’ that are not necessarily learned in normal lectures. She hopes that there will be more talks, perhaps on the area of law and technology that would be carried out alongside the normal trainings.

As this guest speaker session was a break from the usual training meetings, there were some mixed feelings towards it. Stephanie from semester 2 shared how although the talk was “good for us as students to gain more experience,'' she also personally preferred more “regular trainings to enhance our mooting skills”.

As for possible future guest speaking sessions, the committee of Taylor’s Mooting Society were open to the idea as long as the students themselves believed it would help them. “We received different opinions from many students, some positive and some negative,'' said the Captain of Taylor’s Mooting Society. “To ensure our members get the most out of this society, we always strive to ensure whatever we do during meetings is something that is truly worthwhile”

Here are the top 10 tips from our guest speakers: