Legal Counsel

Provide legal advice and represent clients in legal matters.
Job opportunities
Jobs on JobStreet right now
Job growth
Projected job growth in 5 years
Salary
-
Typical monthly salary
Job satisfaction
-

What's it like to be a Legal Counsel?

A Legal Counsel is also known as a Lawyer. In Malaysia, Lawyers are officially recognised as Advocates and Solicitors of the High Court of Malaya. However, when not participating in litigation or drawing up legal documents for the court, lawyers can act as Legal Counsels to clients. A Legal Counsel can provide services independently or they can be employed by a company to act as an official in-house Legal Counsel and the range of clients can differ from corporations to individuals.
Legal Counsel

Tasks and duties

  • Advising company executives or clients on legal topics, such as labour law, partnerships, corporate finance, taxation law and more.
  • Proactively identifying and mitigating legal risks while identifying and leveraging legal rewards.
  • Overseeing internal governance policies and regularly monitoring compliance and risk policies.
  • Drafting contracts, agreements and other legal documents pertaining to a company or client.
  • Participating in talks with government agencies, vendors and contractors and evaluating legal documents with third parties.
  • Explaining and clarifying legal language to executives to ensure transparency.
  • Keeping up to date on the latest amendments or changes to the law.

How to become a Legal Counsel


SEEK Learning
Before becoming a Legal Counsel in Malaysia, you must first become a Lawyer. A Lawyer’s career path can lead to many specialisations, and a Legal Counsel career is just one of them.

  1. Attain the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and complete a pre-university course recognised by the Legal Profession Qualifying Board of Malaysia (LPQB). These include: A-Level, STPM, Australian Matriculation, International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, Foundation, Matrikulasi and Diploma.
  2. Pursue a law degree at an institution recognised by the LPQB. There are two types of degrees available: A three-year law degree and a four-year law degree. A three-year law degree only covers course work, after which you must complete a certificate of Legal Practice (CLP) offered by the LPQB. While a four-year law degree includes one year of professional experience.
  3. After taking the degree, you will undergo what is commonly known as chambering which requires law school graduates to commit at least nine months under the tutelage of a senior counsel.
  4. Be called to the Bar and admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya.
  5. Gain work experience. Most Legal Counsel positions will require experience practising laws that pertain to a particular field. An accounting firm may seek lawyers with experience in corporate tax laws, while a tech company may seek lawyers familiar with intellectual property law.

Compare your salary

Find out how your salary compares with the average salary for Legal Counsels.
Enter your monthly salary
RM
Compare your salary

Latest Legal Counsel jobs on JobStreet

Be one of the first to discover these recently listed jobs, or browse all Legal Counsel jobs on JobStreet right now.
Location
LocationMalaysia
Next

Skills and experience employers are looking for

Litigation
Data Protection
Professional Legal Practice
Private Practice
Common Law
Commercial Contracting
Commercial Law
Corporate Law
Strategic Thinking
Admissions
Communication Skills
Commercial Acumen
Time Management
Autonomy
eCommerce
Multitasking
Critical Thinking
Resilience
English
Thoroughness
info
Source: JobStreet job ads and JobStreet Profile data

Is Legal Counsel the right role for me?


Job market trends for Legal Counsels

Location
LocationMalaysia

Job opportunities

Legal Counsel jobs on JobStreet
211
Jobs on JobStreet right now

Job growth

11.4% increase in jobs ads in the last year
11.4%
2022
2023
Comparing job ad data from the last 3 months with the same period last year
info
Source: JobStreet job ads and JobStreet role reviews

Latest Legal Counsel reviews

Latest review from 1 Legal Counsel surveyed on JobStreet.

All
Positive
Negative
Nov 2022
fulfilling
Reviewer's Qualification
Bachelor of Law
Experience
1 – 4 years
Organisation size
Large (200+ employees)
The good things
I get to take on new challenges everyday - work is never the same.
The challenges
Having to constantly be up-to-date with latest legislative changes and/or deadline sensitive issues.
Read more
info
Source: JobStreet role reviews

Subscribe to Career Advice

Get the latest expert career guidance delivered to your inbox
You can cancel emails at any time. By clicking ‘subscribe’ you agree to JobStreet’s Privacy Statement.