07/08/2026

What We Look For in a Pupil

07/08/2026
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What We Look For in a Pupil

Every pupil who walks through our doors already has the credentials. The degree, the CLP, the references — that part is a given. What we’re really watching for is something a transcript can’t show us.

A problem-solver, not a problem-repeater

We don’t want a pupil who reads the facts, spots the legal issue, and stops there. We want someone who digs into why the problem exists in the first place, and works towards a clear answer — not a menu of possibilities. That means commercial curiosity as much as legal instinct. The law is the starting point, not the whole picture. A good answer accounts for what the client is actually trying to achieve commercially, not just what the law permits.

And when we ask for that answer, we want it straight. No hedging, no burying the point in six paragraphs of qualification. Grounded, direct, and clear about what we think.

Someone we can rely on without having to chase

This is less glamorous, but it matters more than most pupils expect. If a partner texts you, respond — don’t leave them hanging. If you’re given a deadline, come back with the work on time, without the partner having to follow up to find out where it stands. It sounds basic. It is basic. But it’s also one of the clearest signals of how someone will handle a live matter, under real pressure, with a client watching.

This matters even more on urgent, time-sensitive matters. Our clients don’t wait, and neither can we — if a partner needs an answer quickly, staying reachable isn’t optional. Leaving someone hanging on an urgent matter risks letting the client down, and that’s the kind of professional instinct we’re looking for from day one.

None of this means we expect pupils to get everything right. Mistakes are a normal part of learning here. What matters is owning them, and making sure the same one doesn’t happen twice.

Depth over shortcuts

We don’t dismiss alternatives — thorough research often uncovers valid alternative routes, and that’s something we want to see. What we’re not expecting is a pupil to direct the strategy on a matter; senior partners have far more experience, and that isn’t realistic in someone’s first year. What matters is how a pupil treats the matter they’re given — with the diligence, depth, and care of an actual lawyer, not as a mechanical exercise, and not as a list of raw possibilities dumped on a partner’s desk.

We don’t want work completed just to clear it off a to-do list. We’d rather wait a little longer for something well-thought-through than get something back quickly that’s rushed and surface-level.

And, simply, someone who respects time — theirs, ours, and the client’s.

Red flags we watch for

Just as clearly, there are patterns that tell us someone won’t last here:

  • Going quiet on a partner — especially on an urgent matter — leaving a text or question unanswered.
  • Needing to be chased for a deadline, rather than flagging early that it’ll slip.
  • Delivering surface-level work, rushing through instructions, or treating a task as a checkbox exercise.
  • Staying silent when something looks wrong, rather than raising it with reasoning behind it.
  • Treating other people’s time as less valuable than their own.

None of these are fireable offences on their own. But they’re the early signals of someone who won’t grow into the kind of lawyer who runs their own matters — and that’s what pupillage here is for.

None of this is about finding the loudest or most confident person in the room. It’s about finding someone who takes ownership of the work the way our partners do, from day one. That’s how a firm grows its own, rather than renting talent it never really keeps.

By the numbers

  • 4 lawyers at founding in 2001 — grew to 23 by 2026.
  • 3 of our current partners started as pupils here, and were made partners in the same year, 2023.
  • Staff tenures running up to 25 years — people who joined and stayed.

25 years in, this is still how we build the next 25.

The content of this article does not constitute legal advice. It is intended to provide general information. Specific advice should be sought in relation to your particular circumstances.

Zain Megat & Murad
 D2-5-1 to D2-5-3A, Block D, Solaris Dutamas No.1, Jalan Dutamas 1, 50480 Kuala Lumpur
 +603 6207 9331 | zmm@zainmegatmurad.com

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mohd Shahir Md Tahir

SHAHIR TAHIR

Partner

LL.B IIUM

shahir@zainmegatmurad.com

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