A Law-full Life

His happy and carefree childhood was spent swimming in the river and playing a game of ‘police and thieves’ in his playground, in quiet and idyllic Telok Intan, Perak. His most luxurious toy was his bicycle with which he cycled around the town. Hailing from a middle class family, Goh Aik Chew grew up thinking that only Indians became lawyers.

After having had a taste of teaching English in a Chinese school during his pre-university days, Goh decided that he did not want to become a teacher. Although he had no love for the law then, he decided to study law for want of a better academic course. This brought him to Singapore. Describing himself as a playful and happy-go-lucky young man, Goh spent more time performing his duties as social secretary of his student union than on his studies.

Finding a place to do chambering, as pupillage was referred to then, was difficult as vacancies were limited. His chambering allowance was a mere S$100 a month then. It was only when he started his law practice that he fell in love with law. ‘It is a mistress that even crawls into bed with me’, he describes his affair with the law which began in 1966 and has continued for the last 36 years.

Goh runs his sole-proprietorship practice in a large office filled with all kinds of paraphernalia which, to me when I first walked in, looked like a comfortable living room or study of a home. Goh, who was sitting behind a large desk positioned at a certain angle, spoke about his younger days and his law practice. I was mesmerised, listening to this storyteller with his large sunken eyes and white beard, who told me the story of his life in various intonations whilst working his way through a pack of cigarettes. ‘In 1966, top legal assistants earned an impressive salary of S$850 per month.’ He first started his law practice in K S Chung & Co where he picked up invaluable legal experience. Turning down a prestigious career in the elite legal service, he wanted to be his own boss and started his own practice in 1970. ‘Seeing my name board on the wall made me feel high, a feeling which remains with me till today’, he said with a glow in his eyes. Not one to dream of making lots of money, Goh was instead fascinated by how the application of law affected human lives. He enjoyed the professional pride and integrity that law practice instilled in him. ‘I did more civil litigation work as it fetched a steady source of income. I also had no other choice as I had promised my mother that I would not do any criminal litigation work.’

His practice boomed in the 1970s and 1980s. A dapper person, testimonies of his interest in fashion were displayed in photographs behind me. Goh’s favoured style of dress was a full suit. His fascination for clothes led him to indulge in clothes designing for a short period of time.

In 1974, his firm in UOB Centre was burnt down in a fire. Goh, a determined man, had to pick up the pieces and resume his practice again. ‘As a sole proprietor, you only make good money by doing top-end litigation work.’ He believes that small firms are recession-proof and are necessary as they serve the man in the street.

According to him, the solicitor-client relationship has evolved tremendously. ‘We are too worried about our clients, and the corporate hierarchy that exists in some institutions makes it very difficult to take instructions. Generally, the solicitor-client relationship now is weak and a lot of emphasis is given to client management.’ Although the support staff in law firms were very powerful in the past era, he feels that they nevertheless delivered high quality, accurate work. As computers did not exist then, his secretary used a typewriter to type documents and had to exercise great care not to make mistakes. Referring to today’s work style as equivalent to a factory line, he laments that young members of the modern workforce show a lower level of dedication to their work.

Goh is also well known for his ballroom dancing. He became an avid dancer when he was about 46 years old. ‘I didn’t know that you had to learn how to dance.’ To him, ballroom dancing is a form of physical exercise as he has to move a distance of 800m in two and a half minutes. Unfortunately, his health deteriorated and he had to give up ballroom dancing. He then took to painting in the wee hours of the morning, a relaxing hobby which fosters qualities of diligence and perfection within him.

Staying the course as a sole practitioner till this day, Goh does not belittle the hardships he has faced. He learnt to use the computer and is proud that his firm was the first law firm to purchase ‘Dragon Dictate’. At the age of 60, carrying baskets of documents to the High Court and running around to the Electronic Filing Service Bureaus to file documents have become physically challenging tasks. However, his twin great loves, the law as well as his young son, keep the fires burning in him to remain a lawyer.

Rajan Chettiar
E-mail: rajanchettiar@pacific.net.sg