Speakers Biography
Dato’ Syed Ahmad Idid Syed
Abdullah Idid
 |
Former High Court Judge of Malaya
and Borneo
E-mail: justice@syed-ahmad-idid.com
70 years ago Syed Abdullah Idid was blessed with
a boy who is now known as Dato’ Syed Ahmad Idid.
After being called to the English Bar, Dato’
Syed Ahmad Idid served as Circuit Magistrate for
Kedah & Penang and later as Stipendiary Magistrate
in Brunei and as High Court Judge of Borneo and
Malaya.
In the private sector he was with Kumpulan Guthrie,
Dunlop, and Director for the Legal Division of
Public Bank Group.
Dato’ Syed Ahmad Idid is active in the Commonwealth
Magistrates’ & Judges’ Association, the Commonwealth
Lawyers’ Association, LAWASIA, and the International
Bar Association. He is also a Fellow of the Malaysian
Institute of Human Resource Management, the Malaysian
Institute of Bankers, the British Institute of
Management, and the British Institute of Directors.
He is a former Director of the Kuala Lumpur Regional
Centre for Arbitration (KLRCA). Upon retiring
as Director, he returned to industry as consultant,
arbitrator, and negotiator.
Dato’ Syed has addressed the judiciary, lawyers
and others on arbitration and legal matters at
various conferences including in the Kingdom of
Cambodia, the USA, Philippines, Hong Kong, Australia,
Pakistan, Austria, Japan, Singapore, Thailand,
and New Zealand. Among papers presented include
‘On-line Court Proceedings’ and ‘Free Speech and
the Constitution with special Reference to the
Media.’
Dato’ Syed has jointly written several books
including Magistrates’ Court Handbook, Judicial
Decisions Affecting Bankers & Financiers,
and the Borneo High Court Report. He has also
written numerous articles on law, justice, banking,
arbitration, and mediation. Recently he edited
‘The Essentials in Arbitration’ and ‘Internet
& E-Commerce’.
The Asian Institute of Management awarded him
the Triple A Alumni Achievement Award in 2006.
Dato’ Syed Ahmad Idid has a reputation for probity
and integrity – qualities which he believes are
being gradually eroded in the judiciary and society
at large today. |
Professor Peter Butt
 ‘Plain
legal language brings substantial benefits. It would
bring those benefits to the construction industry.
Carefully used, plain language is legally safe;
it saves time and money; lawyers and non-lawyers
alike have a better chance of understanding it;
and most judges prefer it. There seems no substantial
reason to resist it.’ Professor Peter Butt. |
Professor of Law
University of Sydney
e-mail: p.butt@usyd.edu.au
website: www.plainlanguage.org
Peter holds a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Laws,
Master of Laws (First Class Honours) and Doctor
of Laws from the University of Sydney. He is admitted
as a legal practitioner (Australia) and is an
honorary member of the Inner Temple (UK).
Peter was founding director of the Centre for
Plain Legal Language at the University of Sydney
and a former President of Clarity (an international
plain legal language organisation).
He lectures in land law and plain language legal
drafting. He has spoken at conferences in the
techniques of plain language in the United States,
Canada, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Ireland,
and Australia. His clients include law firms and
government bodies. He has drafted plain language
land registration statutes for Dubai, Uganda and
Mongolia. And he was consultant to the Australian
Government on land law aspects of native title
legislation, consultant to New South Wales Law
Reform Commission on property law reforms and
consultant to Mallesons Stephen Jaques, solicitors,
in property law and legal drafting.
Peter's books include Modern Legal Drafting,
The Elements of Drafting (10th edition), Land
Law, Contract for Sale of Land, and a commentary
on the Torrens System of land registration. Peter
is also co-editor of Butterworth’s Australian
Legal Dictionary and a regular contributor to
the Australian Law Journal. He was editor of "Sale
of Land" volumes, Australian Encyclopaedia
of Forms and Precedents and Practical Forms and
Precedents.
He was Visiting Professor at Cambridge University,
Bristol University, and Vanderbilt University.
And he was Inns of Court, London Fellow and Visiting
Fellow at Nottingham University.
Peter is very happily married to Lin and they
live in a home with a view in the North Shore,
Sydney. His hobbies include bushwalking, tennis
and pipe-organ playing. |
Sr Noushad Ali Naseem Ameer
Ali
 |
Registered Quantity Surveyor (M’sia),
Chartered Quantity Surveyor (UK), Chartered Builder
(UK),
Accredited Mediator (M’sia)
E-mail: naseem6864@yahoo.com
Website: www.cicqs.com
Surveyor Naseem was director of the Malaysian
operations associated with two international consultancies
of British origin – the Beard Dove and High-Point
Rendel Groups. He is now director of CIC-QS Services
Sdn Bhd. His experience over 22 years includes
quantity surveying, project management, construction
contracts consultancy, expert witness work, and
dispute resolution in Malaysia and the UK. He
has also had training in adjudication in New Zealand
and the United Kingdom.
He was President of the Institution of Surveyors
Malaysia in 2006/07 and former Vice-Chairman of
the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Malaysia
Branch and Vice-President of the Chartered Institute
of Building, Malaysia Branch. Naseem also serves
on the Advocates and Solicitors’ disciplinary
committee in Malaysia.
He was appointed Adjunct Associate Professor
to the MSc programme in Construction Contract
Management at University Technology Malaysia.
In 1992, he initiated the MSc programme in Construction
Law and Arbitration at Leeds Metropolitan University,
UK. He has presented at over 100 seminars in the
UK, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, and New Zealand.
Naseem is now doing research on adjudication at
the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Naseem is critical of legalese in construction
contracts. He drafted the plain language ‘CICC
Model Terms Of Construction Contracts For Sub-Contract
Works’. Naseem hopes, in time, all construction
contracts around the world will be in modern plain
language, logically structured, and easily administered.
As Chair of the Malaysian Construction Industry
Working Group on Payment (WG 10), he proposed
a ‘Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication
Act’. He hopes the Act materialises and improves
efficiency in construction dispute resolution.
He also hopes the current industry draft remains
in plain language when parliamentary drafters
take over, as plain language legislation is more
effective and efficient.
Naseem married Nazimah on 8.8.98. They have four
young children - all boys except three. |
Judge Mark Philip Painter
 "Cases
are about people. Shouldn’t they be able to read
what is happening to them?" Judge Painter asks
in his seminars. In The Legal Writer, he expands
on that theme, and offers 40 rules for lawyers to
follow in improving their writing style. |
Judge, Professor - University of
Cincinnati College of Law
E-mail: JugPainter@aol.com
Website: www.judgepainter.org
Judge Mark Painter was elected to the Court
of Appeals since 1994, after serving on the Hamilton
County Municipal Court. At 34, he was among the
youngest judges ever in Hamilton County.
At University of Cincinnati, he was elected Student
Body President in 1969. He received a BA in 1970,
and a Juris Doctor degree in 1973. He practiced
law for nine years before becoming a judge.
Judge Painter is an outstanding legal scholar.
With over 375 decisions published, he is among
the most-published judges in Ohio history. His
opinions have been cited as precedent more than
2,500 times in legal writings and other cases.
One opinion was named among the six best in the
USA for 2006.
Judge Painter wrote ‘The Legal Writer: 40 Rules
for the Art of Legal Writing’ and ‘Write Well’
and is co-author of Ohio Appellate Practice. He
has also written law reviews and other articles.
As an Adjunct Professor of Law at the U.C. College
of Law, Judge Painter has taught agency, partnership
and advanced legal writing. He was named the Chesley
Distinguished Visiting Professor for 2008. He
has also lectured on legal writing, ethics and
appellate practice to judges and lawyers throughout
the USA at more than 200 seminars.
Judge Painter was a Trustee of the Cincinnati
Bar Association and is a Master of the Bench Emeritus
of the Potter Stewart Inn of Court. He is a member
of various Bar Associations, the American Society
of Writers on Legal Subjects (Scribes), the Plain
Language International Network (Plain), the Legal
Writing Institute, Clarity, and the American Judicature
Society.
Judge Painter has lived in the Clifton Heights-Fairview
neighborhood of Cincinnati for 43 years. He married
Sue Ann Painter in 1986. Sue always walks on the
Judge’s left. Ask the Judge why at the conference. |
Ms Tan Swee Im
 |
Partner, Lawyer
E-mail: swee@tsi.net.my
Tan Swee Im, PY Hoh & Tai, Advocates &
Solicitors is a result of a merger of two established
law practices, Tan Swee Im & Co and PY Hoh
& Tai.
The practice focuses on construction and commercial
practice and acts for developers and contractors
in dispute resolutions including arbitrations.
The practice also acts as construction industry
consultants and advises on project procurement
strategies, drafting contracts, advising on contract
administration and on contractual claims.
Clients include international companies and
public listed groups as well as private companies.
International clients include Bauer, Zublin International,
Shinryo and Obayashi. Malaysian clients include
the Sunway Group and Encorp Group and LFE Engineering.
Among the projects involved include various
developments in the Middle East, the privatisation
of 10,000 units of teachers quarters, various
core and privatised facilities at the Kuala Lumpur
International Airport (KLIA), KLCC, the Westport
slag terminal, a large water project in Johor,
the Sungei Prai bridge project, various petrochemical
and cogeneration plants, and numerous commercial
and residential projects.
Swee Im chairs the drafting committee and leads
the drafting of the new Standard Terms of Design
and Build Construction Contract initiated by the
Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia.
She was also a member of the Contracts Committee
of the Master Builders Association of Malaysia.
Swee Im lives in Kuala Lumpur and is a keen
sailor seeking to escape the landlocked urban
built environment that she lives in. |
Dr Robert Eagleson
 |
Former Associate Professor of
Modern English Language
Former Commissioner-in-Charge of the Victorian
Law Reform Commission
Address:
2 Greendale Street Greenwich
New South Wales
2065 Australia
Tel: 61 (0) 2 9438 5106
E-mail: rdeagleson@primusonline.com.au
Dr Robert Eagleson is a former Associate Professor
of Modern English Language at the University of
Sydney. He is a recognised world authority on
plain English.
Robert has directed numerous projects for private
and government organisations in rewriting documents
in plain English in Australia and overseas. Chief
assignments include the following:
1976 : First plain language insurance policy
in Australia
1983-85 : Special Adviser to the Australian Government,
establishing plain language programs within government
departments
1986 : Commissioner-in-Charge of the Victorian
Law Reform Commission reference Plain English
and Legislation
1987-2001 : Consultant to Mallesons, 1 of the
top 5 law practices in Australia
1993-97 : Member of the Task Force directing
the redrafting of the Corporations Law into plain
language for the Australian Government
He has published widely on modern English language
and particularly plain English.
Robert is happily married to Muriel and they
live on the North Shore, Sydney – a cricket ball’s
throw from the home of Peter Butt, his co-conspirator
against legalese.
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