Colleges Offering CLP Courses, and Brickfields

Previously I've talked about the passing rates, and the difficulty of the monster known as CLP. Diverting from the ordeals of CLP, today I'll be discussing a little on the college I attended for the CLP course, i.e. Brickfields Asia College (BAC).

Before I go swarming into the nitty gritties of BAC, for a general idea, there are a few colleges offering CLP courses. There's of course BAC, followed by Advance Tertiary College (ATC); a college BAC lecturers often depict as its arch-rival. It appears where lecturers on either side grow resentment or an enmity with the administration or management, they jump ship. The good side of ATC as opposed to BAC is the availability to undertake the course in Penang, whilst the Penang group as I was told, is also a very small group. Then there's HELP, which BAC couldn't care less about (or so I assume). I'm unaware of any other colleges offering CLP courses as well, though I've heard of small groups taught by some law firms, and some other groups catered for staunch Malay literate candidates. UM used to also provide CLP courses, but have apparently ceased doing so years back. It's also interesting to note that the LPQB is actually meant to provide courses for the purpose of preparing candidates for the CLP exams, though they don't  (see s 5(e) Legal Profession Act 1976). Given that I've only attended BAC, I would do justice by sharing my general experience in BAC. Whilst BAC themselves have often "bad-mouthed" the other colleges, whether it is their business tactics or whatnot, I feel unworthy to comment on other colleges for lack of info, and thus would stick to facts alone in any reference to them. So then...

Why did I Choose BAC?
The answer is simple, I didn't choose BAC, my parents chose it for me, given my interest to practice law in Malaysia (much to their dismay, they actually wanted me to work in NZ). You ask why didn't I register myself? I was busy undertaking my Bar courses in NZ; and BAC had this special early-bird offer (which I think still hasn't change) where you get a big discount for early registration, so it would had been quicker and cheaper if my parents did it for me. But looking back, if I were to choose which college to attend, I would most likely had gone along with BAC, and possibly also along the same line of reasoning with my parents. One thing for the certain is the way BAC promotes its courses, which is definitely attractive & appealing: As I've said, there's an early-bird fee, their posters depict all their champion students who won bookprizes for the CLP; apparently the top dog for CLP came from BAC 8 years in a row from 2005. Of course, they also hadn't resist displaying figures on the total number of 2nd uppers they've produced to date, as well as their ohh..my...f**** number of passing candidates since time immemorial. To top that, their banners are all over Malaysia, you wouldn't miss it if you just drove along popular sites in Malaysia, or if you were a nerd, you wouldn't miss it either, as their adverts are all over the net. So there you go, amazing publicity.

General Facilities in BAC
If you've looked at BAC's website, you'll be like..wao it has this, wao, it has that. (ref: http://www.bac.edu.my/index.php/why-bac/facilities) Now I'm referring to the KL campus, given that, that was were I attended the CLP courses. They've got a PJ campus as well, which I've never visited, hence unworthy to comment on. Bringing your attention to the KL campus:

The entrance of the main building looks dodgy; if you've watched Matrix, it'll remind you of the type of buildings Neo and his Zionist friends roam around as they shoot and dodge really slowwww bullets. As you enter through, behold a guard's desk right up front in a very tiny space. Mr.Fatso will be absent half the time, his baton left hanging along the walls behind the desk (all the time), showing signs our kind guard is probably a pacifist. There's but one useful thing you'll find here: a medium sized screen high above the desk, displaying a general timetable of all courses of the day, what time time such will be held, and where. Over-reliance on the electronic timetable can however be fatal, given timetables do change and office staff are not always as meticulous to follow with their electronic display. This same screen can also be found at the 2nd floor in the reception area.

To the desk on the right is the lift, used by 70-80% of the staff and students, as most people are too lazy (and obese) to use the stairway on the left. Its patronage is especially popular with Mr.Rajasingham, the college CEO and also CLP lecturer for torts/contracts, evidence and land law (yup that's whooping a lot of subjects he's teaching). This is however much understandable, since he well acknowledges his bear-like appearance. On the other hand, there are people whom are utterly detestable over their use of the lift: sexy babes wearing mini skirts who never saw climbing stairs could actually be good exercise. What's more deploring? When one uses the lift and disembark's at second floor, rather than the fourth floor, where most CLP lectures takes place. Of course, with so many using the lift, its peak hours just reminds you of the last time you were squished sardine in the LRT. Here's another trivia of the lift: pressing its [> <] button doesn't always close its doors immediately. Many times, students will foolishly press the [> <] button repeatedly to the bewilderment of other students, that the doors aren't shutting. Finally the doors are shut and the lift's moving; AND... just about when it nearly reaches fourth floor, (sometimes) a bug in the lift's internal electronics cancels the 'stop-at-fourth-floor' command, bringing everyone down to the very first floor again, as some idiot on ground floor had pressed the 'up button'. So down comes a lift filled with 8-10 people, who to the awkward looks of those waiting on ground floor, refuse to come out. How do I get up? I hike all the way up with my damn good o' legs. This is surprisingly faster than the lift.

Enough about the lift, for a quick run through, we'll now go through floor by floor. The 1st floor is void of entry. Then there's 2nd floor, where the reception, staff room and BAC's mini bookstore is. Nothing exceptional on the 2nd floor, except that having toilets on the 2nd floor was an ingenious idea, since CLP break time meant an overflow of 'rushies' to the loo on 4th floor; some hiking down to the 3rd floor toilets too, and the majority of (lazy) people wouldn't bother taking either the lift or stairs down to the 2nd floor, giving leeway to an access-free toilet at all times. Next is the 3rd floor, which consists of small and semi-medium sized lecture rooms. Along its hallway, there are round tables and chairs to sit around. I've only had to use this floor once or twice for CLP mock exams.

Finally, 4th floor. The best thing ever on that floor is the snack shop run by an Indian uncle. Some of my 'overly-grown-friends' accused him of selling some of his goods at excessive prices; apparently he's got to house mortgage to pay. For me, I find his prices reasonably modest and his shop does help a lot in its function as a 'Potion Store' like in RPG games. when you have 'so-no-energy', behold his fridge is a rich supply of Livitas and Redbulls. If you're a conventionalist, he also has coffee or tea for a dollar.

Apart from the snack shop, the main attraction is of course the lecture hall of the fourth floor, which houses around 300-400 students. As opposed to the 3rd floor, the 4th floor only has this 1 big lecture hall, where all CLP subjects are taught. I've however grew an enmity with this hall, and my criticism over it never subsided even after the final lecture. Why? Firstly, I'm a spoiled brat that graduated from a 'real' university, not those shophouse type of university/college; so I draw comparisons to what I previously had, to what I now don't have. Back in New Zealand, my university's big lecture theaters had leveled floors, and desks space was a long stretch, giving enough place to organize all your books comfortably around you. You also never had to worry of getting a bad spot, because even the back was nice and comfy, lecturers will almost always use slide projection and you could even download their slides online in Moodle. Back in BAC, we've got those lecture chairs attached with a very small flip desk. You will find most of them defective one way or another; either the seat would be unbalanced, or the attached desk would be overly loose due to wear and tear, so much so that books have to be placed underneath your lap to make it a "functional" desk and also to prevent it from tilting in a bad position (and yes, sometimes there are fresh chewing gum stuck underneath). Obviously, the  floor is not leveled in BAC, so backbenches will have the sight of 'they're-so-far-away-from-me' effect, when trying to view the lecturer or the whiteboard (yes you heard me, whiteboard! not even 1 CLP lecturer uses slide projection). To be very honest, even middle-benchers like me have difficulty looking at the whiteboard. Above that, ventilation and the air-conditioning system requires a total revamp. In my early days at BAC, I often sat at different spots each time, partly in hopes I'll meet someone new to talk to, and also to find my 'ideal base'. Hell... once I sat right where a wall air-cone was blowing at full blast throughout. For a moment, I thought I had arthritis. On the other extreme end, there were times when there was a total break down of the electrical system. Naturally, the air-cones wouldn't work, nor did it helped that all windows were sealed air-tight: creating an awesomely stuffy hall. At such moments, Datuk Baljit, another CLP lecturer, would cleverly remark that such was also part of CLP exam training. Apparently years back, the air-conditioning of the CLP examination hall broke down, gladly roasting everyone in it. I admit being fortunate that happened not in my own CLP exam; for while my perseverance would have pulled through the heat, my severe-sweating-syndrome would had badly smeared the ink on my answer sheets.

That for you ladies & gentlemen, covers the main building of BAC. BAC also has a separate building about 500m away, where it houses the library, mock courts, gym, as well as an open balcony on the top. I've rarely gone there, possibly twice at the most. I found the gym in good working condition, and there's also a free gym trainer to be abused by all BAC students. I do also recall a coin-operable pool table outside the gym, as well as a cafe, which I've never eaten at before. The mock courts were locked, but from window sighting, it appears to be well furnished (showing a lack of use, and CLP students will never get to use it). I found the balcony to be great, with a canopy over it that sheds you from the sun. You will also find metallic round tables and chairs, which makes for a good quiet study group  place that hardly anyone goes to. There's also a stage, indicating some functions do happen here. If I had any complains of the second building, it's the library which I found really small. It's books are also with restricted access, controlled by librarians by on-request basis. I've also read of bad testimonies from other students with regards to the library and its staff in-charge, as well as bad lockers for students to place their bags outside of the library, though I'll leave you to dig that out somewhere in the wonderful land of Google.

That concludes my overview on the buildings and facilities of BAC. More to come on what a day is like at BAC.

Stay tune~




References:

1. http://www.bac.edu.my/index.php/brickfields-law-school/postgraduate-programmes/certificate-in-legal-practice-clp
2. http://www.atc2u.com/courses/postgraduate-degree/index.html#legal
3. http://www.help.edu.my/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=37:certificate-in-legal-practice-clp&Itemid=276

How difficult is difficult?

So how hard is CLP?

I'm sure almost everyone has heard the CLP examinations has a certain stereotype of difficulty tagged on it. We fret about its passing rate, and as discussed in my last post, the supposedly low passing rate subsequently led to various negative connotations. Whilst various factors affects the passing rate, I opined that the difficulty of the CLP examination was reasonably constant as a whole throughout the years, thus cannot stand as one of its factors.

That does not mean that CLP is not "difficult". I'm phrasing it in such a way, given the subjectivity on what difficulty may mean. To be fair, I will hence discuss in general, what the CLP consists of, the workload it involves and the effort I've had to put in. In consideration of these matters in an amalgamation, would be a yardstick as to its difficulty:

What Does it Involve 
The CLP examinations consists of 5 papers as follows:

1. General Paper (GP) - Tort & Contract law
2. Criminal Procedure
3. Civil Procedure
4. Law of Evidence
5. Professional Practice - Land law, Ethics & Advocacy, Probate law, & Bankruptcy law

So effectively, you actually have around 9 or 10 subjects to prepare. Ethics & Advocacy is usually taught in CLP courses as a separate subject, although I don't see why it should be, given its close relations and reference to the Legal Profession Act 1976.

In terms of time given per paper, it's 3 hours answering time per paper, and if I recall correctly 10 minutes reading time, for all papers except GP, whilst GP is given 15 minutes. During the reading time, you may also draft notes or your 'grand plan' on a spare sheet of paper provided. You may also highlight parts of the question. In addition, there are prescribed statutes books you are allowed to bring in the exam hall for each paper, all except GP where you would be expected to memorize all that is necessary. Sadly under a new ruling from the LPQB, statute books can no longer be highlighted. Apparently some students got too smart in the past by highlighting alphabets from words in a particular section, which then indicated a certain case related to the section, which the LPQB weren't too happy about.

Its Workload

CLP courses usually start somewhere towards the end of September, and all subjects should be taught to completion by around mid-April (I'm using BAC as a reference). That is approximately 7 months, followed by which, revision will immediately commence from mid-April to early or mid-June. And then there's the exam that begins early July. So effectively, a candidate has approximately 9 1/2 months to prepare for CLP. I'm talking about time, given that the time of preparation in proportion to the amount of material to study is tantamount to the workload involved.

From here now, we'll look at the amount of materials you can safely drop. For GP, there would be a single question for both Tort & Contract, hence compelling a candidate to study both areas. Nonetheless, you would possibly find GP to be one of the easier papers to manage with the least materials to study. You would find the scope of topics taught for CLP Torts & Contracts simplified and narrow as opposed to what was taught in LLB. While there are commonly tested areas, I find it risky to neglect studying any area, given the limited options. I believe there should be areas to focus on, but none should be neglected; a mistake I made which thus only allowed me to scrap through with a pass, and a potentially costly F grade. I'll be using 'Stars' to indicate the degree or amount of materials to study'. So for GP, let's put it at: [3/5 Stars]

Then there's Criminal Procedure. After scheming through a few past year papers, I believe a candidate can pass safely by studying 70% of the topics, given that a candidate only needs to answer 4 out of 7 questions provided. On top of that, a lot of the questions can be answered by direct reference to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), [2/5 Stars].

Civil Procedure is a mind wrecking subject, given the vast amount of procedures to understand. Amongst difficulties a candidate might face would be differentiating the application of a certain procedure in multiple circumstances, and knowing which one to apply. Within procedures itself, there can be various exceptions which have to be familiarized. It is also very heavily dependent on memory work with various cases and statutes tied to each procedure. Nonetheless, given the option of answering 4 out of 7 questions, studying 70% of the popular topics should be safe, though even then, there would still be a lot to digest. [5/5 Stars]

Evidence takes a step back from Civil Procedure. It is however heavily tied to understanding and application and a decent degree of case memorization. It's fortunate that the Evidence Act is a thin book that you could bring into the exam hall. Again 4 out of 7 optional questions to answer. I propose studying 80% of the main materials. I've added an additional 10% as opposed to my regular 70%, given that certain questions in evidence can intersect with multiple areas. [3/5 Stars]

Finally there's Professional Practice. While it may seem a lot, most of the final materials to study can again be reduced, which is made easier by the linear way of which the exam questions are set. The paper consist of Part A & B. For Part A, there would be 4 questions, 2 each for ethics and advocacy. You need to answer any 2 out of the 4. While ethics and advocacy can be a hell of a memorizing discourse with over 5-6 sets of regulations to memorize and heaps of cases portraying the variety of instances where poor lawyers were whipped by the disciplinary board; studying 3-4 major areas of each will keep you afloat, given the limited ways the questions are set. Part B on the other hand consist of 3 questions on Land Law, 1 on Probate, and another on Bankruptcy. Any 3 questions out of the 5 must be answered, forcibly ensuring you at least answer 1 question from Land Law. Strategically, most candidates will take the option of forgoing either Probate or Bankruptcy, hence answering 2 Land questions, and 1 of the other. (which was what I did too!). Using that strategy, 80% of Land law topics should be studied, and a 100% of the other sole subject. I found the hardest bit of this paper was answering a question, and then switching to another question of a very different area of law. Given the multidisciplinary area of this paper: [4/5 Stars]

So as you can see, there are concessions that can reduce the total materials to study, but this requires very careful planning and strategy. In areas where I've depicted a % to study, that requires your careful evaluation over popular and important topics that have constantly been questioned in previous years, as opposed to less popular ones. But trust me on this, it would be impossible to study everything to perfection, and I personally find it is better to master a few good topics, than to study everything and flop them all. I believe what a lot of my peers failed to do was to very cleverly select which areas to focus on, and on top of that, nearing exam, even their focus areas weren't in top notch conditions. Its nonetheless a deception, when lecturers or the LPQB accuse candidates of selective learning as a reason for their failures. I would kindly differ, that it is only foolish selective learning that will cause the downfall of a candidate.

My Own Effort

So they say CLP students have no life. Well hmm.. I never really had a life to begin with, so didn't really make a difference to me. Let's just divide my CLP life into days when I had lectures & tutorials, and free days. On lecture/tutorial days, I rarely missed classes (If I recall, my record is an absence of less than 5 lectures/tutorials throughout the whole of 2012/2013 study sessions). I'm also there approximately an hour early to ensure I get my favourite and most strategic seat in class, and I've even got a friend that comes way earlier to entrench my seat with a caveat. During lectures, I am quiet and usually attentive. I also have the habit of selectively jotting down notes which I feel are important. In addition, I'm rarely ever back late to class after breaks. There were times when I however get overly bored. If that happened, I'll whip out my PSP and start gaming, hoping my subconscious mind absorbed all that the lecturer was teaching. Finally the lecture is over, I'll rush home via the KTM, take a quick nap, shower, have lunch/dinner, and turn on my laptop. From there on, I'll be surfing Facebook, pondering about in malaysiakini.com, or even play some online games. In the remaining hours of the day that I have, I'll either be reading back what was taught for the day (especially the parts I'd missed out while playing my PSP), or make/re-make brief notes (at the same time, Skype chat with my girlfriend in full screen would be opened, ensuring I made myself look busy). That would be around 1-3 hours.

On a free day, I'll wake up around 12-2pm, get about my daily business, and start studying, again. The proportion of study and play would usually be around a 50:50 , which I think was attributive as to how I retained my sanity throughout. My studying would usually consist of making more notes, or simplified notes on topics previously taught, before the next lecture day (study time around 4-6 hours). Occasionally I'll attempt some very early pre-mature memorization work. Most of it would be forgotten later, but it does ease recurrence of memory when a serious attempt is made at memorizing near exams. Given that I rarely met up with friends (no, I don't have that many anyway), my routine was reasonably constant, although I occasionally met up with a buddy once or twice a month, and I made sure it usually fell  on a free day.

There's also a difference of study methods that I used during the lecture sessions, and the revision sessions. As depicted, I spent most of the lecture season making notes, and understanding concepts. Memory work was given a low priority at that point. But come revision, the first half of the revision period would be spent finalizing any concepts I have yet to understand. I made it a point to understand fully what I have yet to understand by all means necessary. There was also the analysis of past year questions, attempting a few of them, and familiarizing myself with the fashion of questions posed and what were the hot topics. From such analysis, I cut down on what to memorize. On the second half of the revision period, fewer attempts would be made in answering questions, and more towards memorizing cases and sections from statutes. (average personal revision time at home: 7-9 hours, and for the second half period: 7-10 hours). 

Conclusion

Given all those facts and my share of my experience, was it difficult? Again, difficulty is subjective. For me, CLP is not rocket-science. It is not entirely impossible to understand, rather it is do-able if one just stops whining (even better if you could look at it in a positive light), sits down, read it through, draw some mind-mappings/charts, and perhaps re-read it through once more. Personally, I would say the difficulty in understanding is moderate, so is its application in exam questions. I would in fact rank it equal to what I've done back in my LLB days. There is however very heavy memory workload in certain subjects, which requires good memorization skills & techniques. The other issue is the immense amount of information a candidate is required to absorbed in the short period of study time before the exams. Even with the strategic reduction of materials to study and focus, it still required hard work and great resilience to persevere through. If there was anything difficult about CLP, it would be coming to the ideal strategy which enables one to pass, or to score even better than a pass; and having the will and determination to follow through with this grand scheme, one has designed for himself.

More shall be discussed on studying strategy for each subject in some later post, hopefully for today, this brief overview has helped a little :)