Building Bridges: Legal Insights into Construction
A Collaboration by
BAC Law Society and ALSA BAC
with Young Society of Construction Lawyers
"Construction law requires engineering knowledge",
"You need to know how to build a house to get into construction law",
"Construction law is a male dominated industry".
These are just some of the stereotypes that have developed over the years about the practice of construction law.
However, none of these are actually true!
That's what BAC Law Society and ALSA BAC sought to prove when they organised "Building Bridges: Legal Insights into Construction." This event was a collaboration with the Young Society of Construction Lawyers (YSCL) to expose students to the basics of construction law and show them what a career in construction law entails.
Some of the guests invited from YSCL were Mr. Eric Gomez, Senior Associate in the Construction and Engineering practice, Mr. Chong Hong Kiat, an associate in the Construction and Engineering practice, Mr. Nimalan Devaraja, commercial litigator, and Shamrin Ariffin, a pupil, all from Skrine.
The event started with a brief ice-breaker with the invited guests so that everyone could loosen up and get to know the guests a little more. Once the game was over, they got into the nitty gritty.
Through the event, the speakers shared their experiences and career growth in Skrine. Perspective was shared from different points in their career as well as what the current experience for a pupil in the practice of construction law would be like. Mr. Nimalan and Mr. Eric also shared the qualities that they would expect to see in pupils and interns, information necessary to any student who would want to pursue their career in Skrine, or even other law firms.
It was an insightful panel discussion, with many students given a chance to ask questions to industry professionals.
"The session was very interesting as the lawyers went beyond the topic of arbitration and gave us their personal insights into their legal journeys from law school to practice. I got to deepen my understanding of the trials and tribulations young lawyers go through to attain success in a prestigious law firm," said Joshua Tan, a member of the Law Society and participant of the event.
"A very insightful session on a niche area of practice, as we had the opportunity of gaining perspectives of lawyers of different seniority, from pupils to partners in the practice of construction law. The guest lawyers were also very friendly as they shared their experiences and some advice for juniors pursuing the law as a career," said Brian Haw, a member of Law Society and participant of the event.
After the panel discussion, a networking session was held for participants to speak to the guests from Skrine personally and learn more about the questions they had regarding construction law.
If you missed this event by Law Society and ALSA, don't fret! They will have more events like this one after the exam season! Stay tuned via their Instagram pages, or click the button below to register for either club!
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