Friday 17 November 2006

What the Lawyer Said

Dad brought me to meet his lawyer friend, Robert Ang, the other day, along with a few of his other business partners. More like shareholders la. They're all involved in this big thingy to rescue Ornapaper from crumbling in the hands of Datuk Ting. Since it's supposed to be some big thing, I suppose I can't really talk about it here, and Gary DID tell me that it's pretty easy to bump into the blog of an acquaintance on while blog-jumping. That's how Pei Ling found my blog neway +_=

Back to the lawyer. Well, he's not technically a lawyer la. He went down the same path my dad did (except dad took accountancy) and went to be an apprentice of the lawyers, picking up bits and pieces of law along the way. Since he was too lazy to take the professional law exam, he set up a law firm instead and recruited lawyers to work for him. He drafts out the cases for the lawyers, then sends them to fight the case in court. Dad told me that he's so good at his job that he once turned a bankrupt case alive and won back the guy's assets and cash by highlighting a tiny error in one of the documents.

Ok. So dad told him that I want to take law after form 6, so Mr Robert started talking la (he talks a lot - will I be like that in future? Hmm). I'll organize it for you so that it doesn't look too messy.


To Be or Not To Be? That is the Question.

He used to tell his 2nd son not to be a lawyer. Here's why - His first son's a devil, but his second son's an angel.

Case 1 - Money on the ground
1st son - Takes off with the money and buys something for himself
2nd son - Runs around looking for a charity box and then deposits the money into it

Case 2 - Phone call from client for dad
1st son - Willingly lies that his dad is not home
2nd son - Refuses to lie that his dad is not home and doesn't believe his dad's reasoning that it's not a lie, but a half-truth

So he said that by his assessment, his 2nd son failed as a lawyer. So he's now somewhere out there (Australia, I think), happily married and an animation technician. Hmm.

Mr Rob said:
We don't teach you to tell lies, we teach you to tell half-truths.
I was like, um ok, what's the difference between a lie and a half-truth again? I didn't say that out loud la.

Lawyers, Accountants, and Doctors

He then enlightened me on the difference between lawyers, accountants, and doctors.

Lawyers
We are still ok, cuz we don't tell lies. We tell half-truths.

Accountants
They are worse, they tell lies. They show you what you want to see in your accounts. They set aside the losses first, and present the profit first, especially when they have to meet an important person that day, such as someone from the bank.

Doctors
Lawyers and accountants at least still can double check la. Like if you're not satisfied with their services, or if you found a mistake, then can ask for compensation. But if doctors operate on you, then make a mistake, you have no way of knowing because they'll stitch you up. So you won't know! No knowledge means no compensation!

Mr Rob said:
So if doctors want to argue with you about which career is the best, you just tell them that.
Ok. But I think I'd rather just walk away peacefully ^^;


Towards the end of the meal (we were having lunch), dad asked Mr Rob if I could work for him while waiting for my STPM results. He said ok!

Hmm.

I think I can learn a lot from Mr Rob, but I'm also worried. Cuz all the time he was talking about his 2nd son, I was thinking: Gosh. That's what I would have done also.

=.=" Do I fail then as a lawyer? I refuse to believe that being a lawyer means giving up the attribute of honesty. I refuse to believe that being a lawyer means giving up my testimony as a Christian. I refuse to believe all that!

But somehow I have this feeling - like in the drama series, where this innocent and naive girl thinks the world is so beautiful and refuses to believe that it is evil despite all the evil she sees around her, and refuses to believe that a bad person who keeps sabotaging her can't be good after all. Then one day, she gets the worse hit possible from that person and then her world collapses.

Is my refusal to accept Mr Rob's definition of a lawyer similiar to that of the innocent girl's? Not saying I'm innocent, although I am. Muahahahahah. No la. Serious la please. Ahem.

I foresee a rather difficult time working with Mr Rob. Maybe I'll have to lie about him being in the office to his client or something or do something that a Christian really shouldn't do, but which a non-Christian finds perfectly alright.

Must be strong!

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