MADAM CHOONG SHAW MEI

EXPERIENCE
APRIL 1987 – OCTOBER 1990
ASSOCIATE, M/S MAH WENG KWAI & ASSOCIATES
I was primarily handling a wide litigation portfolio ranging from commercial and corporate matters, conveyancing and even family law matters. I frequently attended court, conducting full trials and hearings as well as interlocutory matters, and had the opportunities to appear in Subordinate Courts, High Court as well as in the Appellate Courts. Of special note, among the corporate matters I handled was a listing exercise in the KLSE.

DECEMBER 1990 – APRIL 1993
ASSOCIATE, M/S ADNAN, SUNDRA & LOW
As I developed a deeper interest in corporate matters I decided to move to a fully corporate and commercial portfolio in the above firm where I gained valuable experience in diverse practice areas including handling housing development projects, banking as well as aviation financing. The nature of work included negotiations, rendering legal opinions, legal research and drafting documentation for a number of banking and financial institutions. In particular, the area of aviation financing (dealing with complex issues in the sale and leaseback of aircrafts) often involved dealing with government organisations such as the Department of Civil Aviation, multinational companies and foreign legal firms.

APRIL 1993 – OCTOBER 1994
LECTURER, UNIVERITY OF EAST LONDON (UEL) LLB TWINNING PROGRAMME AT STAMFORD COLLEGE
At this stage, I wanted to pursue my Master in Laws (LLM) in University of Malaya and explored teaching law in the above UEL Malaysian Campus (Twinning) at the same time. I taught the law of contract as well as set examination papers for that first year subject under the direct supervision of the UEL Head of Law in UK. In the same programme, I was asked to prepare the syllabus and teach an elective module on certain aspects of Malaysian Land Law to give the UK-bound students some exposure to relevant aspects of Malaysian law.
Of particular note, I was also involved in a number of educational projects/committees under the direction of the Director of Studies, Stamford College in both administrative and advisory capacity. With UEL’s approval, I was also tutoring at the Faculty of Law, UM at this time on a part-time basis.

OCTOBER 1994 – SEPTEMBER 1995
SENIOR ASSOCIATE, M/S SKRINE & CO
As I felt I could I cope well with the LLM course in its second year, I decide to go back to legal practice by joining M/S Skrine & Co as a senior associate in their Corporate and Commercial Department at their invitation (having regard to the fact that I had done my pupillage there). I independently handled a number of top corporate clients of the firm in a wide spectrum of matters. Of interest, I often mentored and gave guidance to junior associates who sought my help in dealing with complicated issues they were facing in their work.

SEPTEMBER 1995 – SEPTEMBER 1997
LEGAL ADVISOR, CORPORATE BANKING DIVISION, MALAYAN BANKING BERHAD, FOLLOWED BY
HEAD OF LEGAL DEPARTMENT, MALAYAN BANKING BERHAD
I joined Maybank when the Head of its Corporate Banking Division wanted a dedicated full time in house counsel for his Division, separate from the general legal department. My skill and experience matched this requirement and I joined that Division as its first such in-house counsel and provided legal advice and support relating to corporate loans, syndicated financing, bonds issues and other corporate financing projects undertaken by the Bank. My responsibilities included giving legal advice and written opinions as well as the drafting and vetting of legal documentation and assisting the officers in negotiations and working with various law firms. The work required fast-paced responses to legal queries and short turnaround times in the vetting of legal documents.
I was subsequently promoted to Head of Maybank Legal Department. I hired a new person for my previous role and focussed on the supervision of the entire in-house legal department of the Bank consisting of eight legal officers. The team handled all legal matters for the Bank.
Being the top legal personnel in the Bank equipped me with a wealth of experience of what was required of an in house corporate lawyer.

JUNE 2001 - JUNE 2017
PART-TIME LAW TUTOR AND LECTURER IN THE LAW FACULTY OF UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA
After a four-year hiatus due to the birth of my two children, I wanted to resume working life and chose a teaching career. Hence for the above period I have been teaching on a part-time basis at the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya. I have been tutoring contract law almost continuously for 15 years from June 2001 to 2016. Other than contract law, I was also invited by the pioneer of the final year subject of Remedies, Dr Cheong May Fong, to tutor in this new course from its inception circa 2006. I took over the teaching of the Remedies course from Dr Cheong after she left the faculty and continued to teach the subject when it was offered as an elective subject. In 2008, I began assisting Dr Farah Nini to tutor in the Legal Method course for about 6 years. I have also had the opportunity to tutor in the final year Drafting course in 2017 as well as to give several annual guest lectures in Equitable Remedies to second and third year students.
Besides teaching in the Law Faculty, I have had the opportunity to be involved in various aspects of academic life in the Faculty of Law as follows:
 training mooters and judging Moots competitions
 training a team for the National Client’s Interview and Negotiation Competition
 arranging for judges in Moots Competitions and speakers for seminars and other events
 as supervisor in the Legal Clinic programme from its inception
 serving on the Law Faculty Curriculum Committee (Jawatankuasa Kurikulum Fakulti - Izajah Dasar)
 organised a 3-day seminar on “Civil Remedies” conducted by leading law practitioners for final year students in April 2017

EDUCATION
1982-1986, LL.B (Hons) UNIVERSITI MALAYA
1993-1995, LL.M UNVERSITI MALAYA
For the LLM programme, I chose to specialise in commercial law subjects and took the following courses: Advanced Company Law, Law relating to Securities Regulations, Copyright Law and Construction Law.