Monday August 6, 2012
The Penang Bar Committee is urging more young lawyers to give the area of family law serious consideration in view of the few professionals available in this area over the past 15 years.
Committee chairman E. Gnasegaran said less than 5% of lawyers practising in the state were specialised in family law.
“In Penang, we’ve seen a shortage of young lawyers in this area for the past 15 years.
“Although the majority of lawyers may have one or two family law cases in their workload, only about 50 out of the state’s 1,100 lawyers specialised in this area,” Gnasegaran said after attending the recent 4th LAWASIA Family Law Conference opening ceremony in Traders Hotel.
He believed that the complexity of family law and emotional issues it encompassed were a deterrent for lawyers to choose it as a speciality.
He said: “Family law often involves a lot of emotional issues, which is why I think lawyers prefer to go into other areas like commercial law.
“I feel this is the main reason there are so few family law specialists, rather than the perception that other areas of law are more lucrative.”
Chief Federal Magistrate of Australia John Pascoe said family law gave lawyers the opportunity to help people on a daily basis.
Article extracted from The Star Online (Monday August 6, 2012)