“By All Means, Please Do.” How Datuk Megat Munir built ZMM by trusting people to grow
“By All Means, Please Do.”
How Datuk Megat Munir built ZMM by trusting people to grow.
When I started this firm in 2001, I was not thinking about size. I was not thinking about rankings, awards, or which practice areas would be the most profitable. What I was thinking about was culture.
I wanted to build a firm where people genuinely looked forward to coming to work. A place where lawyers could grow, thrive, and realise their full potential.
I had seen enough of the alternative. In many firms, there is constant internal competition. Lawyers spend their energy trying to outshine one another, climb the ladder, and outmanoeuvre their own colleagues. In the process, everyone loses. Talent is suppressed, relationships become strained, and the firm never achieves what it truly could.
That was never my vision.
From the very beginning, my intention was to build a firm where every member of the team, from the most senior partner to a pupil in their first week would have the resources, encouragement, and opportunity to reach greater heights. Not by stepping on others, but by being lifted by those around them.
Twenty-five years later, I would no longer describe that as a vision. It has become the culture of ZMM.
It has become who we are.
On the People Who Built It With Me
When I look back on what we have achieved over the last 25 years, it was never about cases or accolades. I think about people.
Haji Zain and Haji Murad, our Founding Partners, have been with me since our university days. For their wisdom, trust, and understanding, I am and will always be deeply grateful.
Alan has become, and I say this with immense pride, one of the leading young counsel in Malaysia. He is highly respected in the profession and remains very much a part of our journey.
Andrew joined us as a general litigator and went on to establish and lead our Construction and Energy Practice. He has built an outstanding reputation in that field, and I take great pride in seeing how far he has come.
Roger is another general litigator; meticulous, diligent, and loyal for almost two decades and is now a budding expert in construction law.
Ashraf has carved out his own niche in land-related matters and general litigation, and now heads our Alor Setar branch.
Shahir continues to build an impressive profile in industrial relations and general litigation with boundless energy.
Hidayah has brought in new clients through both skill and relationships, and today leads our Corporate Department with confidence and distinction.
Then there is Linda, my wife—whom everyone at ZMM knows is the real boss.
She joined us in 2010 after serving as Head of Legal at MIDF. Her arrival brought a different dimension to the firm. For many clients, seeing someone of her corporate and financial institution background choose ZMM gave them confidence that they were in capable hands.
What is the common thread among all of them?
The first word that comes to mind is amiable.
We work well together. We communicate openly. We support one another.
It feels like a family and I mean that in the truest sense of the word, not as a corporate slogan.
Our longest-serving staff member, Kak Liza, has been with us from the very first day all 25 years of it. Dollah has been with us for more than 22 years, and Emma for 20 years.
These are not merely statistics.
They are people who chose to stay.
And that tells you more about a firm than any award ever could.
The same applies to our clients.
Many have been with us for decades. The clients we value most are those who appreciate the work, honour their commitments, respect professional relationships, and continue to place their trust in us year after year.
Those relationships have sustained this firm for 25 years.
On What We Refused to Become
There is a saying I have often quoted:
In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
In some organisations, leaders preserve their position by ensuring that nobody else develops beyond a certain point. They keep others dependent. They suppress talent. They hold people back because it makes them feel secure. It is a destructive cycle.
That does not happen at ZMM.
When a junior lawyer is ready to take conduct of a matter, my response has always been simple:
By all means, please do.
I have never viewed growth as a threat.
On the contrary, growth creates capacity.
When others step forward, the firm becomes stronger. That philosophy has allowed us to expand organically while building genuine depth across every level of the organisation. Even our pupils are entrusted with meaningful responsibility.
We make it a point that every pupil completes at least one full litigation file during their pupillage.
When they leave us, they should leave better than they arrived.
On Being Bold
Our brand ethos—Being Bold—is sometimes misunderstood.
Being bold does not mean being arrogant. It does not mean being reckless.
It means having the courage to propose solutions that are innovative, carefully considered, and strategically sound.
We are problem-solvers.
Where others focus on why something cannot be done, we focus on finding a way that it can.
I remember a shareholders’ dispute where a client came to us after years of being outmanoeuvred. He had started as the majority shareholder but, through a series of corporate manoeuvres, found himself reduced to a minority position. Previous solicitors had attempted various approaches without success.
My proposal was straightforward.
Let’s file a winding-up petition.
The moment the petition was filed, the dynamics changed entirely. The company effectively came to a standstill. Assets could no longer be moved freely, and the room for manoeuvre disappeared.
It was a calculated move.
A bold move.
Most importantly, it was the right move.
The client had the courage to proceed, and the matter was settled within six months.
Without that decision, the dispute might have dragged on for years.
That is what being bold looks like in practice.
On What Nearly Broke Us—And Didn’t
COVID-19 was undoubtedly the greatest test we have faced as a firm. When the lockdowns began, work stopped almost overnight. And when work stops, cash flow stops.Many businesses faced difficult decisions.
So did we.
But throughout that entire period, we made one commitment to our people:
We will not reduce a single salary.
Not for our lawyers. Not for our staff. Not for anyone.
We honoured that commitment. It came at a cost. It significantly depleted our reserves, and there were moments when the uncertainty weighed heavily on all of us. But we endured. We emerged intact.
And I told the team then what I still believe today:
If we can survive this, we can survive anything.
Fortunately, the construction industry was among the first sectors to reopen. That gave us the opportunity to regain momentum. We came through that dark period stronger, more resilient, and more united than ever before.
The Change in the Industry That Surprised Me Most
Over the past 25 years, the legal profession has undergone tremendous change.
Digital filing. Court technology. Real-time transcription. Remote hearings.
All of these developments have improved efficiency and accessibility. Yet the change that has surprised me most is artificial intelligence. AI has transformed legal practice—for better and for worse.
It accelerates research. It enhances productivity. It allows lawyers to accomplish tasks in a fraction of the time previously required.
But there is an important caveat.
You must first understand the law.
You must know the principles.
You must know the authorities.
You must know the context.
Only then can you ask the right questions and evaluate the answers critically.
As I often say:
The tool only works in the hands of someone who knows what they are looking for.
At ZMM, every piece of work undergoes multiple levels of review.
If a lawyer submits something generated by AI without proper verification, we know.
Not because we oppose technology.
But because we use it ourselves.
We understand both its strengths and its limitations.
Technology should enhance legal work, not replace judgment.
Accuracy, integrity, and sound legal reasoning must always remain paramount.
On the Next 25 Years
Recently, when I spoke about joining an international legal alliance, someone remarked that such an ambition should not take 25 years to achieve.
Perhaps they are right.
In today’s interconnected world, ten years may be enough.
So what, then, is the 25-year goal?
The ambitious one.
The seemingly impossible one.
It is this:
That no matter how much ZMM grows, expands, or evolves, it remains a closely-knit firm.
That despite becoming larger, it never becomes distant.
That despite becoming more successful, it never loses its humanity.
That it continues to operate with the warmth, trust, and camaraderie of a family.
Most firms grow and lose exactly that.
I want ZMM to be the exception.
The Greatest Reward
The biggest surprise of the last 25 years was not a case.
It was not a victory.
It was not a crisis.
It was discovering that the people I work with every day—the Senior Partners, Alan and Andrew, our junior partners, and the rest of my senior legal associates, associates, and staff—are no longer merely colleagues.
They have become my brothers and sisters.
I did not expect that when I started this journey.
And of everything we have built over the last quarter century, that is what I treasure most.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Datuk Megat Abdul Munir co-founded ZMM in 2001 on a simple principle, give people the resources and trust to grow, which is why partners here grew from within and clients keep coming back. He leads the Kuala Lumpur branch and the Corporate & Commercial practice, backed by 30+ years at the Malaysian Bar, and serves as Deputy President of The Malay College Old Boys Association and the Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws Alumni Association.
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.