Reinstate open court hearings to improve advocacy skills, says lawyer

The Palace of Justice’s prestige diminishes when one sees empty courtrooms, a lawyer said.

PETALING JAYA: A lawyer has called for the civil courts to return to physical hearings so that newcomers to the legal profession can pick up advocacy skills from more senior members of the bar.

Fahri Azzat said the present preference for online hearings has deprived new and inexperienced lawyers the opportunity to learn how matters are conducted by observing their peers and more senior practitioners in action.

“Many young lawyers do not have the benefit of watching court proceedings in physical proximity. The feel is as different as that between attending a live concert in situ and watching it on video,” he said.

Fahri, a member of the Bar Council, said one must be wary of convenience and too much efficiency because these are not the qualities of justice or by which justice is done.

“Justice is slow, difficult and involves much effort. It is wrong to think these can be compressed like data,” he told FMT.

Fahri said the courts are still conducting proceedings online, a practice introduced at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic after the government imposed a movement control order designed to check the spread of the virus in 2020.

Since 2021, most civil cases have been conducted online, while physical proceedings for criminal trials and appeals have been restored.

Fahri said lawyers would also lose out on personal engagement with their colleagues, court staff and witnesses.

Lawyer KA Ramu said more physical hearings should be held at the majestic Palace of Justice which houses the Federal Court, the Court of Appeal and a legal museum visited by many law students.

“Apart from getting a rare glimpse of watching senior lawyers in action, these law students also had the opportunity to be photographed with legal eagles like the late Karpal Singh, Gopal Sri Ram and Raja Aziz Addruse,” he said.

Ramu said key advocacy skills, like respectfully addressing a bench comprising members of both genders, disagreeing with a judge, mitigation pleas and oral submissions are part and parcel of the legal tradition.

Newcomers would be unable to pick up the art without observing the doyens in action, he added.

Farhan Haziq Mohamed said online hearings can be maintained for efficient disposal of interlocutory applications.

However, everything else should be conducted in open court, he said.

“The prestige of the Palace of Justice diminishes when one sees empty courtrooms,” said the member of the Bar Council’s national young lawyers and pupils committee.