Report

The “Writing Better Judgments” Course was held on 17th - 19th September 2020 at the Zenith Hotel, Putrajaya. The course objective is to improve the quality of judgment writing using 5Cs concept; Clear, Concise, Comprehensive, Coherent and Convincing.

This 3-day course consists of 11 sessions. The details of all 11 sessions are as follows:

17 September 2020
Session 1 “Why Good Judgments Matter?”	The Rt. Hon. Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Azahar bin Mohamed Chief Judge of the High Court in Malaya The Rt. Hon. Dato’ Abang Iskandar bin Abang Hashim Chief Judge of the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak
Session 2 “Issues Based Approach to Judgment Writing: The Conceptual Framework”	The Hon. Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan Federal Court Judge The Hon. Datuk Vazeer Alam bin Mydin Meera Judge of the Court of Appeal
Session 3 “The First Page and Creating Headings”	The Hon. Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat Federal Court Judge
Session 4 “Individual Feedback Session and Exercise on Re-writing the First Page and Creating Headings”	All facilitators
Session 5 “The Structural Construct of an Issues Based Judgement”	The Hon. Dato’ Lee Swee Seng Judge of the Court of Appeal The Hon. Datuk Vazeer Alam bin Mydin Meera Judge of the Court of Appeal
18 September 2020
Session 6 “The Road to Judgment”	The Rt. Hon. Tan Sri Rohana binti Yusuf President of the Court of Appeal
Session 7 “Workshop on Practical Issue Identification”	All facilitators
Session 8 “Workshop – Review of the Re-written First Page and List of Headings”	All facilitators
Session 9 “Writing Under Tight Time Line – a Journalist’s Experience”	Mr. Jahabar Saddiq The Malaysian Insight (has been cancelled)
Session 10 “Managing Procrastination and Competing Priorities”	The Hon. Datuk Seri Haji Mohd Zawawi bin Salleh Federal Court Judge
19 September 2020
Session 11 “Workshop – Review of the Re-written Submitted Judgment”	All facilitators

Each participant was given the task to re-write their sample of ground of judgment based on the principles that have been suggested in this course and then submit the judgment to the facilitators of their respective groups. In order to fulfill this purpose, the participants were divided into four groups consisting of four or five members in each group. Participants in each group were guided by three facilitators consisting of Federal Court Judges and Judges of the Court of Appeal.

A total of 19 High Court Judges participated in the course The Rt. Hon. Tun Tengku Maimun binti Tuan Mat, Chief Justice of Federal Court, Malaysia was also present. The facilitators of this course were The Rt. Hon. Tan Sri Rohana binti Yusuf, President of the Court of Appeal, Malaysia; The Rt. Hon. Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Azahar bin Mohamed, Chief Judge of the High Court in Malaya; The Rt. Hon. Dato’ Abang Iskandar bin Abang Hashim, Chief Judge of the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak; The Hon. Datuk Seri Haji Mohd Zawawi bin Salleh, Federal Court Judge cum the Chairman of the Training Committee of Malaysian Judicial Academy; The Hon. Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan, Federal Court Judge; The Hon. Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat, Federal Court Judge; The Hon.Puan Sri Zaleha binti Yusof, Federal Court Judge; The Hon. Dato’ Sri Hasnah binti Dato' Mohammed Hashim, Federal Court Judge; The Hon. Datuk Nor Bee binti Ariffin, Judge of the Court of Appeal; The Hon. Dato’ Lee Swee Seng, Judge of the Court of Appeal; The Hon. Datuk Hajah Azizah binti Haji Nawawi, Judge of the Court of Appeal; and The Hon. Datuk Vazeer Alam bin Mydin Meera, Judge of the Court of Appeal.