For me, it was kind of by accident. Not a fairytale story per se.
I grew up in Miri, where my dad runs a GP/occupational health medicine clinic catering almost exclusively to local O&G companies like Shell and Petronas.
Naturally, I originally planned to do medicine to follow in my father's footsteps. He agreed to enroll me in IMU KL for an MD degree, and I went to Taylor's College for A Levels pre-med.
Then, my high school sweetheart at the time went to England for college. Being the doe eyed lover-boy I was, I didn't want to be separated from her, so I hatched a plan to convince my dad that I needed to go to England to study. Dad said no because medicine in England was insanely expensive at the time. So I convinced him that I wanted to pursue a law degree as it was far more affordable (sold him some story about how I had an epiphany that my true destiny was to become a lawyer, sorry pops.)
Damn man... first year law nearly killed me. I almost flunked. My pre-med mind had no idea what these people were talking about. Cases, statutes, ratio decidendi, essays where every answer was some form of “it depends”. A different world than the physics, bio, chem mathematical equations I was used to.
Then somewhere in second year, something clicked; and I finally figured out how to navigate my way around it. Ended up graduating with a Second Upper, then naturally took the next logical step in a legal career:
I became an air steward for one year with Singapore Airlines.
My rationale was that I needed to take a gap year to do something fun, see the world before I was going to commit myself to the next 50 years sitting behind a desk.
Thereafter I enrolled into Brickfields Asia College for CLP, thankfully passed it on the first try.
Whilst waiting for my CLP results, I was recruited by a senior lawyer to join a company called "Denning" which sold law practice management software to lawyers across Malaysia. He offered me an irresistible package of salary, high sales commissions and 30% equity in the company if I joined him.
After that I spent about 3/4 years working with the Denning company, which gave me a very useful understanding of how law firms actually operate behind the scenes.
Eventually I chambered, got called to the Bar and immediately opened my own law firm (Rule & Co.). Started off doing the usual corporate and commercial work.
Then one day I took on a debt recovery file for a friend, he offered me a "Success Fee" if I managed to get his debt back for him.
I remember thinking, eh, this is actually quite interesting.
You have a real problem: someone owes money, client is stressed, debtor is avoiding. The negotiation, psychology, strategy, pressure, timing part of it felt natural to me. And at the end of it, when money actually comes back into the client’s account, the result is very tangible.
I liked the work; and I loved the fees of course.
One file became more files. More files became a whole practice area.
Looking back, it probably suits my personality perfectly. In BaZi I’m a "Metal" personality. Apparently Metal people are supposed to be quite comfortable with pressure, confrontation, structure, difficult decisions and emotionally challenging situations.
Basically a very polite way of saying I can argue with difficult people every day and somehow still enjoy myself and manage my cortisol levels.
It has been about 10 years now.
Debt recovery was never part of some grand career plan... more or less stumbled into it.
But out of everything I have done, this is the area of law I genuinely enjoy the most.
Every day is different, every debtor has a different story, every negotiation is a little puzzle. And there is something very satisfying about helping a client recover money they had almost given up on.
Funny how life works. I changed from medicine to law because of a girl. Almost failed law. Became cabin crew. Worked for a legal software company.
And somehow ended up exactly where I’m supposed to be.
Rudi Cheu (rudi@rulecolaw.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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