Post by Khoo Boon Han

𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐲 Old school always assume this: If a lawyer is doing BD, their work must suck. They cannot fathom the idea that some motivated young lawyer actually sacrifices their Netflix, Instagram, karaoke or massage parlour time to sharpen another equally important skill : getting clients. Yes, lets not state the obvious like a secret formula. Of course you still need to impress clients with quality work. Even a 4-year-old or my golden retrievers knows that. But here’s the reality: before you can “do a good job” for a client, you need to actually have clients. With more than 23,000 lawyers in Malaysia (plus AI now in the mix), do you really think there’s a shortage of decent brains or people out there to do the work? No shortage. The real bottleneck is whether you can stand out and win in this rat race. And here’s the hidden cost: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐃, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫. 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐲… 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤. Truth is, a BD lawyer doesn’t even need to be the one handling all the files. Pinky & The Brain, remember? Charm + Execution = Partnerships. Find a brainy person to do so. Or perhaps the old school can never fathom the idea of junior lawyers bringing in files and passing them to seniors for execution. Totally foreign, unbelievable, demeaning, unhealthy, or rather salty. 𝐒𝐨 𝐲𝐞𝐬. 𝐃𝐨 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐛. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞 “𝐝𝐨 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐛” 𝐚𝐬 “𝐝𝐨 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐫.” 𝐃𝐨 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞. 𝘗.𝘚. 𝘋𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘮 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘎𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘬𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘢. #kbhsays