The Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) has often been criticised as being too academic centered and insufficient practical exposure is given to the candidates to prepare them for the rigours of legal practice. The CLP programme at ATC has always sought to give its students the wholesome experience thus providing its students a glimpse into the realities of their chosen profession.

This has been achieved in many ways including field trips to police stations, the courts and also the inclusion of senior practitioners in the faculty for all the subjects taught.

The latest in the series of effort undertaken by the CLP team at ATC was to organise a dinner with members of the judiciary and senior legal practitioners in Malaysia. This dinner was held on the 20th of February 2009 at the Bankers Club, Kuala Lumpur. It was styled after the dinners that are compulsory for all students seeking to become a barrister in the United Kingdom.

The event was organised in conjunction with the Malaysian Inner Temple Alumni Association (MITAA) and was attended by close to 50 people. Everyone who attended the dinner looked resplendent in their robes. The dinner followed closely the traditions of dining at the Inner Temple.

Datuk James Foong and Datuk Sulong Matjerai, both Justices of the Court of Appeal, were the judicial personages in attendance and many other legal luminaries from MITAA were also present to give the CLP students at ATC advice on embarking their journey into legal practice. The speech after dinner was presented by Datuk N. Chandran, a lawyer for 43 years who spoke about how the bar and the bench in Malaysia were in the 60’s.

M. Gandhi Mohan, a student at ATC was quoted as saying that the entire experience was a wonderful chance for him to learn more than what was in his textbooks. It was also indeed a memorable night for him as he was seated in between the two judges throughout the night.

As the evening drew to a close, it was clear that the students had benefited tremendously from the experience and both ATC and MITAA have agreed that this dinner will continue being part of the CLP calendar at ATC with greater frequency in the coming years. This together with the stellar academic results produced by ATC students in the CLP examinations (2008) are indications of more good things to come for ATC in the future.