This blog is originally co-founded by 10 different lawyers, hailing from different backgrounds (UKM, UUM, BPTC, CLP), though we all converge at one common rendezvous point called BrainyLaw. The core of BrainyLaw lies behind its 13 current members, also joined by fellow guest writers from time to time.
The blog will write about study tips, discussions on various topics of law, and our personal experiences in and out of the legal profession. Since it’s inception, this blog is gradually expanding through the introduction of special guest writers and also new passionate writers from different institutions. As of June 2021, we went on to have 14 members in the family, with 3 past members contributing behind the scenes as part-time contributors.
Harvinder Singh Sidhu
Harvin graduated with a Second Upper LL.B from University of London. He also works closely with a prominent family lawyer, and is on his way to make a mark for himself in the Malaysian Legal Realm. Harvin is currently practicing as a Legal Associate at Vin Law Co, handling various Civil & Criminal matters. A brilliant individual to have a discourse with, he loves talking about paradoxes of the legal profession and life itself. Weera still disagrees with his interpretation of s.17 of the Evidence Act 2005 till today.
Ivan Fredric Yun
The latest and final addition to the team of writers at BrainyLaw, Ivan’s sense of humour and charisma is almost certainly a thing that readers and people who knew Ivan personally draw inspiration from. Ivan was admitted to the BAR in UK (Lincoln’s Inn) and was admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya.
Till today, Ivan and Weera still could not remember how exactly their paths crossed each other, but rest assured the twist of fate in the legal profession had brought the two close together. The 2 are now best friends.
Ivan is currently practicing as a Legal Associate at Chooi & Company + Cheang & Ariff.
Justin Bryann Jarret
Justin Jarret graduated from the University of London with an LL.B (Hons) and went on to obtain his Certificate in Legal Practice in 2018. He is currently undergoing his pupilage at Messrs Dorairaj, Low & Teh. He joined Brainylaw with the hopes to impart some insight as well as helping those seeking a career in the legal profession. Justin loves the outdoors and is an avid movie buff in his free time.
Kee Hui Yee
Hui Yee is the latest member to join the BrainyLaw family. A very active member in the KL Bar sub-committees, Hui Yee is a very proactive and tenacious member of KL Bar (and now BrainyLaw included!). She chambered at Kanesalingam & Co, under the tutelage of Mr. Shanmuga Kanesalingam himself before going on to be admitted to the Bar as an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya.
She has vast experiences and is a regular figure in KL Bar events, and had given talks at BFM Radio station, sharing her insights on the legal field.
Hui Yee’s accolades both in and out of the legal field is surely an invaluable asset to the legal profession, and with those knowledge in hand, BrainyLaw is proud to have her as part of the drive to contribute back to the Malaysian Legal scene.
Kimberly Teoh
The latest member of the BrainyLaw team, Kimberly graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a LLB (Hons). Aside from reading books/articles, she also enjoys catching up with friends and listening to BFM podcasts. She is an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya by day, an enthusiastic writer by night. Ending this bio by quoting of one her favorite quote by Winston S. Churchill, “success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts“.
Lee Mei Xian
Mei Xian was one out of three (3) Malaysians who graduated with First Class Honours LL.B from the University of London in 2016. Now a Barrister at Law (Middle Temple), she has a great flair in writing and has championed numerous moot competitions, including the 11th International Humanitarian Law Moot Competition (2014) and the 10th LawAsia International Moot Competition (2015).
Mei Xian was admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 2018 and is currently practicing as a Legal Associate at Messrs Gregory Ling, right after her move from Messrs Ranjit Singh & Yeoh. Mei Xian’s area of practice is rooted in various areas of law, focusing particularly on commercial and corporate litigation, and matters pertaining to civil, contractual, and administrative law disputes.
Lee Yoke Shan
At a tender age of 18, her dream of becoming a lawyer began its realization when she received a prestigious award – Outstanding Advocate Award in the Bond University Mooting Competition 2012. Through the stint of chasing after her dreams, she has served as a past Law Society President in her time of college (Taylors Law Society) and university (KDU Law Society) which earned her an expansive experience in her student life. In this, she has been moulded to possess great flairs in leadership, advocacy and writing. Besides being one of the few candidates who managed to achieve a Second Lower in CLP on her first attempt, she is also a truly inquisitive mind, particularly towards the reading of law. Yokes chambered with Mr. Chris Lim Su Heng and is currently an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya, practicing as a Legal Associate at the same firm.
Nathan Hew
With a twist of fate, Weera and Nathan first met at the KL Bar – Lincoln’s Inn Alumni Moot Competition, with the former as a Coach and the latter as a mooter in opposing teams. Now, the duo is BrainyLaw’s powerhouse and mastermind behind BrainyLaw’s Youtube Educational Series.
A former legal tech journalist and a full-time comic geek, Nathan seeks to empower young law students through his passion for writing. He graduated from Queen’s University Belfast and passed his Certificate in Legal Practice. He also contributes various articles at different sites, covering different content types.
Nathan also broke BrainyLaw’s records by being the first member to join the team as a Law Student and potentially as a future lawyer.
Fun fact: Nathan first travelled to Japan alone at 19. Since then, he’s been on several more solo trips to countries around Asia and the United Kingdom.
Phoon Wai Weng
A University of London graduate with a big vision and with the most experience working in a law firm amongst the BrainyLaw writers, he boasts a wide knowledge on how the legal profession works, including the in-and-outs of court procedure. Much of this man’s generosity still echoes within the buildings of ATC.
Still a prominent member of the St John Ambulance Malaysia and currently volunteering at the noble instution since 2007 till now, Phoon has been involved in countless humanitarian missions. Rest assured he is the right man to go to in times of dire working or studying periods (as once vouched Mei Xian herself), Phoon will go an extra mile to share his insights and help. Till to this date both him and fellow friend Weera are on a continuing mission to build their fleet.
An exceptional advocate in the making, Phoon is currently practicing at the firm of Lee Oliver & Gan, under the wing of his beloved and experienced mentor, Mr. Lee See Loon, of which he had been working with for the past 4 years to date. Phoon will be admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya on 16th August 2019!
Yap Mei Yan
A brilliant writer and an intelligent woman, Mei Yan has decided to join the panel of writers and co-found the blog for a noble cause. A Law Graduate from Cardiff University, Mei Yan’s great discourse on various topics of law and life in general makes her a great writer to be reckoned of. Mei Yan is currently a practicing at Rahmat Lim & Partners.
Yeoh Kai Shin
A good friend of Weera’s, Kai is a recent BPTC graduate from BPP Law London. He is also an ADR Group UK accredited Commercial/Civil Mediator, as well as a 2:1 LLB graduate from Oxford Brookes University along with consecutive bursary awards under his belt.
Kai is also known as an outspoken and passionate individual who is actively in constant pursuit of the aficionado/connoisseur lifestyle. Apart from his interest in Law, he also possesses an interest for all things beautiful and tasteful, some of which relate to whiskies, photography, art, coffee, Haute Horlogerie (watches) and cars. He is also known to be quite active in the luxury watch industry as he founded Malaysia’s very own home-grown online wristwatch journal (thematick.blog) during his time in London.
Kai possesses vast insights concerning several aspects relating to the BPTC, mostly consisting of study methods and the mental aspect of being a BPTC student. That said, he is grateful to be able to utilise this platform to share his personal experiences during his time pursuing his undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications, in hopes of helping those who are currently undertaking a similar career route. On a lighter note, he is currently working as a part time barista (oh the irony..) while waiting to be called to the Bar in UK in March 2018.
Kai Shin chambered at Thomas Philip Advocates & Solicitors under the tutelage of Mr. Mathew Thomas Philip himself, and was admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya. Kai Shin had conducted a trial during his pupilage, in which the decision ended in the firm’s favour. He served as a Corporate Lawyer at Shearn Delamore for over a year, before deciding to pursue his passion in watches.
Weera Premananda @ Weera Soon Jin Xue
The mastermind and founder of BrainyLaw. A persistent individual by day, a tenacious writer by night. Weera obtained a LL.B ( Hons) from University of London in 2016, and with divine intervention manage to pass CLP in one go. Seeing his legal idols having numerous qualifications, he pursued the Professional Diploma in International Arbitration, with hopes to emulate (or even surpass?) their successes one day. He represented KDU at the annual ICRC IHL moot competition in 2013. Without relying on his DreamCatcher, he embarked on a journey to become the Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya.
Weera was admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 2018 at the Ipoh High Court (though he practices in KL!). From Justin Faye & Partners, Terrence & Randy and now Ahmad Deniel Ruben & Co.
At the time of writing, Weera is a Legal Associate, commonly appearing humbly at the Magistrates Court, Sessions Court and High Court of KL, Shah Alam, Selayang and Ipoh.
Gerard Tang Lian Qian (GT)
Gerard is a sports enthusiast and an international sports lawyer.
Born in Malaysia, Gerard received his early education in Kuala Lumpur. At the young age of 15, he was awarded the prestigious ASEAN Scholarship by the Singapore’s Ministry of Education. As an ASEAN Scholar, he spent 4 years in Singapore, where he completed his secondary and pre-university education. Thereafter, he obtained his legal education and training in the United Kingdom, and was later admitted as a barrister (England & Wales).
Upon returning to Malaysia, Gerard commenced his pupillage at Skrine. Under the tutelage of Dato’ Lim Chee Wee, Mr. Lee Shih and Ms. Sharon Chong, he gained invaluable practical knowledge and experience in corporate & commercial litigation, fraud & asset recovery and international arbitration.
After a short stint at Skrine, Gerard decided to pursue his interest and love for sports law. His passion brought him to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), where he is now serving as a legal counsel in the Sports Legal Services, Disciplinary and Governance unit.
In the span of one year as legal counsel, he has appeared before all the AFC judicial bodies and has commenced more than 100 disciplinary and regulatory proceedings. Gerard has also appeared as counsel before the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Lausanne, being one of the youngest lawyers in the history to argue before the ‘Supreme Court of Sports’.
Carmen Lai
Carmen and most of the BrainyLaw members had come a long way back since the inception of BrainyLaw. Carmen had wrote few articles for BrainyLaw during for the past 4 years as a Guest Writer, before permanently joining us on February 2021, making her the 14th and latest active member of BrainyLaw to date. She started her practice in the area of litigation, before going on to find her passion in the area of conveyancing and corporate.
In her free time (or even when she’s busy), she’ll squeeze some time to pen her thoughts down in a form of an article, for the benefit of the younger blood of the profession.
Carmen is currently practising as corporate / conveyancing lawyer at Messrs Koh Dipendra Jeremiah Law.
Part – Time Contributors
Bell Wong Chia Pei
Bell’s passion and commitment in the legal field is unquestionable. A well-accomplished individual and brilliant writer, Bell graduated with a LL.B from University Utara Malaysia and has been admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya, bracing through the legal profession with Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill as a Legal Associate during her tenure as a Pupil.
Bell is currently practising as Legal Associate at Jason Ng & Partners.
Lee Suke Mune
A passionate mooter and an accomplished student, Suke Mune have left a lot of mark at University Kebangsaan Malaysia. Currently practicing as a Legal Associate at Christopher & Lee Ong, Suke Mune was one of the co-founders of BrainyLaw, with hopes to deliver a paradigm shift to the legal world, no matter how small or big it may be.
Yeoh Ann Jill
Yeoh Ann Jill was the former president of ATC Penang Law Society. Apart from having a well-established academic background, she was also an excellent mooter. An intelligent woman boasting a second upper in her LL.B from University of London, she also has a reputation as an excellent tutor. After a successful spell as a former Pupil-in-Chambers at Shearn Delamore & Co, she currently pursuing her passion in lecturing as a Criminology Lecturer at ATC. Ann Jill was also admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya at the Penang High Court in 2019.
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