Malaysia’s flourishing business landscape, brimming with opportunities for expansion and diversification is strongly supported by the services offered by corporate legal advisors. These interpreters of the law help businesses steer through the complexities of the legal system, handling all contentious and non-contentious matters to drive business success. From ironing out key contract details to representing a business in court, these law firms provide a plethora of services, which smoothen the path for businesses.
Within this landscape, Ho Kok Yew Advocates & Solicitors (‘HKY’), a Selangor-based law firm, founded by Ho Kok Yew, stands out as a leading and trusted partner, offering expert legal services spanning contentious and non-contentious works across diverse areas of law. With a small but dedicated team of lawyers, Ho Kok Yew takes bold steps to help businesses attain their goals, legally.
The Saga of Ho Kok Yew
Named after the principal solicitor, Ho Kok Yew is an organization ‘small in stature, but astute in nature', with a tight-knit team driven to ensure client success in every case. Led by its namesake, Ho Kok Yew, the firm specializes in dispute resolution, dedicated to bringing a swift conclusion to the clients’ civil, corporate and commercial disputes, achieving fair and just results. Apart from this, the firm also offers comprehensive legal services across a growing spectrum of processes in non-judicial proceedings such as statutory adjudication and mediation.
HKY’s journey started in 2018, when the principal, Ho Kok Yew ventured to establish his own firm, armed with extensive experience in the legal field both as a litigator, and a former in-house counsel. A qualified mediator accredited under the panel of the Malaysian International Mediation Centre (MIMC) mediators, Ho Kok Yew, like most lawyers of his period, had endured a long path to success, marked by extreme anxiety, stress, self-doubt, sleepless nights, personal introspection, and finally a realization of self-worth.
Asked why he endured, he replied, “In this never-ending cycle, I was hopeless, yet optimistic at the same time. I suppose the reason one is prepared to go through hardship in his/her early years is simply this – beyond the hidden masochistic tendencies that we all seem to possess, is hope; and faith that such hope might one day be rewarded.”
Upon completing LLB (Hons), from the University of Glamorgan (UOG), Wales in 1996 (now known as the
University of South Wales), he passed the mandatory 9-month post-graduate Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) examination, post which he completed a 9-month pupilage in a medium-sized law firm. After working for several years in this firm, followed by another, he quit legal practice in 2005 as a result of great internal struggle, and worked as an in-house counsel. Four years later, he rejoined the legal fraternity and went into partnership with a friend, later separating to form his own firm.
Within his own firm, deriving from his own experiences, Ho Kok Yew aims to foster trust, respect and comfort among team members, to build confidence and accountability. Establishing clear communication channels and leading by example, he collaborates with the team extensively, delegating tasks wherever possible, allowing them the space to complete the job their way. At the same time, he takes on the responsibility to establish the level of excellence and model the kind of behavior expected from the team.
“My daily roles and responsibilities evolve between a 'rainmaker' and a 'technician' – being both accountable for bringing in the business as well as ensuring the quality of the work output. I prepare for the hearing, I draft the written submissions, and I orally argue the matter in court. When not playing the technician, I am responsible for finding clients which is always a challenge in this highly competitive environment. The metamorphosis between the two roles is as unpredictable as the weather”, shares Ho Kok Yew, Founder, HKY Advocates & Solicitors.
What is critical is not just the need to be patient; but to be genuinely kind to the client. Let the client have their chance to tell their story in full
Services & Beyond
With extensive experience, Ho Kok Yew believes in the need to foster a keen understanding of the many diverse perspectives of a client with the goal of nurturing better collaboration and communication in order to arrive at comprehensive and effective solutions. He believes that this same set of skills is equally critical to enable any lawyer to effectively put forward compelling arguments in court.
“It takes a lot for a small outfit to say something this bold but ultimately, that’s what we do. Instead of parading our fancy law degrees and years of experience, our goal is simply to achieve yours. We have been known to accept briefs which others turn away from. We have, within our clientele, individuals that most lawyers would term ‘difficult’ or ‘aggravating’. We succeed in maintaining them as our clients only because we strive to constantly stay above the situation by focusing instead on the solutions, avoiding the negative talk, and quite often, by establishing necessary boundaries”, further adds Ho Kok Yew.
Despite being a small entity, HKY has achieved immense recognition in a short span of time. As the firm plans for its immediate future, the goal, currently, is to retain a small team and continue with a competitive package and flexible working conditions, while focusing on continuing to provide high quality service to their clients, ensuring that the value offered to them exceeds the cost they incur. HKY is keen to grow the firm’s client-base in the coming years, ensuring that its services are extended to people from all walks of life.
Ho Kok Yew, Founder, Ho Kok Yew Advocates & Solicitors
Kok Yew is in his 20th year of private litigation practice. He is the principal of his namesake law firm, which he established in September 2018. He handles various aspects of contentious disputes covering multiple disciplines in civil, commercial, and corporate litigation. Kok Yew also actively engages in corporate practice, bringing together the advantage of prior hands-on experience in the corporate sector during his years as Head of Group Corporate Affairs in a public listed company from 2006 to 2010 (but for these valuable years, he would have been in his 25th year of private practice). Quite the self-opinionated narcissist, he believes he has seen enough badly drafted contracts that become the subject matter of disputes in court, and that ultimately, it takes a litigator to spot the fine print in a commercial contract.
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