Dato’ Dr Manjit Singh Sachdev: Exemplary Leadership & Creating a Legacy

Exemplary Leadership & Creating A Legacy

An air force pilot turned lawyer, Dato’ Dr Manjit Singh Sachdev, the winner of the ASEAN Lifetime Achievement Award for CSR in Legal Advisory, is a shining example of successfully nurturing a legacy of sowing seeds of goodwill into society. He is the founder of Messrs Manjit Singh Sachdev, Mohammad Radzi & Partners in Kuala Lumpur.

or Dato’ Dr Manjit, it all F began when he left his job as a pilot at the Singapore Air Force, due to tympanic membrane perforation, and returned to Malaysia. Not long after, he left to read law in England and returned to Malaysia slightly more than two years later.

His career as a lawyer took off at one of the largest law firms in Malaysia, where he served as a chambering student. He went on to spend six years in that firm after which he realised his passion for the legal profession which led him to move on to set up his own firm.

Despite many offers, Dato’ Dr Manjit has other plans and set his sights on creating his own niche in the legal industry. “I think what really made me set up my own legal practice was the passion for it because I had that passion from very young,” he reminisces. He set up his legal firm 37 years ago at Jalan Tiong Nam, off Jalan Raja Laut in Kuala Lumpur. Going solo and appreciating the freedom to explore other areas in the legal practice, this passionate legal eagle started off doing criminal litigation which meant he was in and out of the courts.

“If you love a profession and have a passion for it, you may find yourself wanting to practice different areas,” explains Dato’ Dr Manjit, who is one of the legal advisors of MRCA.

Hard work paid off and his firm was

“Whether you’re working for someone, or doing your own business, it is always important to be principled – that is, responsible, disciplined, honest, and to carry yourself with integrity. These precepts have guided me for a long time, and I believe that they can only lead you on the right path.” – Dato’ Dr Manjit Singh Sachdev, Founder of Messrs Manjit Singh Sachdev, Mohammad Radzi & Partners

soon growing from one lawyer to five lawyers and then to 10. Today, Dato’ Dr Manjit has a team of 48 lawyers and 130 staff in his firm.

One thing led to another – from criminal litigation, he went on to civil litigation, corporate practice, and conveyancing. As he made a name for himself with his excellent work ethics, humility and hard work, Dato’ Dr Manjit rose in the legal circle. “Just ‘good’ is never good enough. You must have the grit to serve clients in challenging cases and advise on unpopular positions with ingenuousness,” he explains.

According to this legal veteran, producing outstanding work for clients is key to achieving success not only in the legal profession but in all other professions as well. Practising this theory, Dato’ Dr Manjit soon received an overwhelming referral of clients who had heard about his excellent work and sought his services.

Not resting on his laurels, Dato’ Dr Manjit expanded his services to include listing services for companies, corporate services, project development, loans, joint ventures, the list goes on – creating a onestop legal advisory for clients. The firm’s clients include national and multi-national corporations, financial institutions, developers, entrepreneurs, management consultants, as well as the ordinary man on the street.

Nothing stops Dato’ Dr Manjit in his tracks – as digitalisation swept across all industries, including the legal industry, and as paperless transactions were rampantly being introduced, he developed a paperless digital reporting system that gave his clients immediate access to updates on cases at just the click of a button.

With a good grasp of the legal industry, Dato’ Dr Manjit is constantly seeking to expand his reach. With one main office in Kuala Lumpur and four branches – in Johor, Kota Damansara, Subang and Bukit Tinggi in Klang – he is set to explore his options in other states such as Penang. However, he notes that this calls for engaging with the right partners in order to continue delivering excellent services.

He has also set his sights for overseas expansion such as Singapore. His practice also has associates in Vietnam, Hong Kong, China and the United Kingdom.

ON LEADERSHIP

As a corporate leader, Dato’ Dr Manjit firmly believes that leaders need to build people and reward them well. Under his leadership, people are constantly provided with development opportunities to improve their skills and updates on the latest developments, as well as the monitoring of productivity and encouraging strong team spirit, aside from good monetary rewards.

“You have to have proper management of the staff and every department in our office has its own chief. There is a double check system (checking and reporting and KPI) on the productivity of each department. The KPI is not only for producing work but also in their income level,” he adds.

He notes that most of his staff are over 25 years old, have been with him for many years and have become pillars of his firm. He quips that one of his staff who has been with him for several years, having started off with only RM650 as his basic pay, now owns four houses at just 28 years old. This is just one example of personal and professional successes experienced by his capable and highly professional team of employees.

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS IN BUSINESS

Dato’ Dr Manjit offers his deep-seated recipe for success that has guided him

all these years. He notes that in offering business services, one needs to create awareness among target audiences on offerings provided, one’s capabilities, and one’s success stories.

Simply put, apart from awareness, success also requires proficiency, production, and to be results-oriented. In the legal profession, he explains that it is important to act according to the client’s best interest as they would want you to win the case for them.

“It’s a lot of hard work, being humble and doing the best for the clients. When you go into practice you really have to work in the interest of your clients. That’s the bottom line. When you do your best for a client, that client can introduce you 10, and that 10 can introduce you to a 100,” he says.

SOWING SEEDS OF GOODWILL

While charting successes, Dato’ Dr Manjit stresses that contributing to needy causes is a given priority. Over the last 32 years, Dato’ Manjit and the Sachdev family have been financially supporting a free medical clinic in Jalan Tiong Nam in Kuala Lumpur, administered by his nephew, Dr Sukhbir Singh, a hardworking doctor whose greatest passion is to serve the poor and needy.

His firm also provides aid to orphanages, churches, and old folks’ homes. He also undertakes legal work for many developers and his generosity is reciprocated by discounts offered by the developers to his staff for the purchases of property.

A SHINING LEGACY

With two sons, a daughter and a niece following in his footsteps as lawyers, Dato’ Dr Manjit is set to create a longlasting and shining legacy in the legal profession.

“I think that the legacy that we’d like to leave is that we have a good legal firm and we do our best for clients, to achieve the best results,” he shares. “As a legal practitioner, you must be honest, humble and never mislead or cheat clients,” he advises.

According to Dato’ Dr Manjit, his biggest achievements are the successes of his children – three of whom are lawyers and three doctors – and that his staff has done well.

For all his efforts, contribution to society and to the legal profession, Dato’ Dr Manjit was recently awarded the ASEAN Lifetime Achievement Award for CSR in Legal Advisory.

Dato’ Dr Manjit said that winning the award “is recognition for the passion I have in what I am doing. This award also belongs to my dedicated staff of the firm who have grown with me.”

He hopes that it will in turn inspire and motivate young lawyers and entrepreneurs to “always love what you do and do what you love; live the way you want to live and do not live the way other people want you to live.”

As a leading expert in the legal field, Dato’ Dr Manjit lectures at several banks and institutions, and holds various non-executive directorships and legal advisory positions in many major organisations and associations such as Malaysia Retail Chain Association, Malaysia Franchise Association, Kuala Lumpur, and Selangor Car Dealers and Credit Companies Association, The Federation of Malaysia Hardware, Machinery & Building Materials Dealers’ Association and Malaysia Steel and Metal Distributors’ Association, among others, in Malaysia and the Asia Pacific region. He is also adviser and board member of charitable organisations in Malaysia.

About Dato’ Dr. Manjit Singh Sachdev

He first started as a military pilot with the Singaporean Air Force, flying for 5 years until a tympanic membrane perforation ended his career prematurely, and which also resulted in him having to be treated in England, where he would read law and develop a great passion for the legal practice... a love that carries on today. Dato’ Dr. Manjit Singh has over 40 years of legal practice experience, and is legal advisor to more than 70 charities, temple and associations in Malaysia.

He also speaks 12 languages, among them are many Chinese dialects – Hokkien, Mandarin, Cantonese and Teochew. His skills as a multilinguist is enhanced by the fact that his mother speaks Chinese dialect and conversational Mandarin, and his wife is of Hakka descent. He says there isn’t a language too difficult to learn, and it only takes determination to learn a new one.

His principles for success?

Be responsible, disciplined, honest and act with integrity.

Describe yourself.

I am a family oriented person and always take the opportunity to spend quality time with my family.

What is your motto?

Love what you do, and do what you love. Live the way you want to live, and do not live the way other people want you to... and be great!

How do you spend quality time with your family?

I have 5 boys and 1 girl. My daughter and two sons are legal practitioners, whereas my three other boys are all doctors – one is finishing his course in rheumatology, the other is completing his course in dermatology, and the third is a GP.

I have a happy, honest wife to share this good family with, and I love them all. There’s nothing else I would have sacrificed more for than if weren’t for my family’s happiness.

I started my legal career in 1974, and up until establishing my own practice since 1980, my Saturdays and Sundays have always been family time. I make sure my wife and children are well looked after, and we spend a lot of time outdoors – going hiking, swimming, go-kart, you name it!

Every year, we as a family go overseas for at least 7-10 days so that we can have quality time with each other. Another weekend ritual is during Saturday and Sunday mornings, we have breakfast... usually at a coffee shop. At other times, we are together in the house.

How do you relax?

Occasionally, I play a little bit of golf, and I also read a lot. My free time is dedicated to my passion for the law...I spend a lot of time reading on the legal aspects of Malaysia and the legal aspects in the Commonwealth countries.

I basically enjoy reading, jogging and watching television. You’ll be surprised that one of my biggest hobbies is helping people, and I have a family clinic in Jalan Raja Laut where we only charge RM1 for medical necessities, It’s my love for contributing to the society that makes it fulfilling.

What do you think of food?

I’m very particular about food. I don’t eat everything but I do eat enough to survive. My favourite food is bread, and bread with anything! As you grow older, you’d want to keep away from rice because it’s carbohydrate and has sugar or glucose in it.

What is your favourite colour?

Blue and red. Why? Because blue, to me, is a very corporate colour, and red, I just find it very attractive to look at.

To what do you attribute your success in life as or as a businessman?

My success basically stems from the passion for the profession. I always look at it this way: if you love something, you will do well in it; and if you work hard, you put your effort in, you will never fail.

As a barrister who’s achieved much and respected by many, how do you stay humble and grounded?

You just need to remember that everyone is equal. Don’t discriminate... communicate! It’s important to not be a poser. When I meet with Ministers, people with titles, and decades-old friends, we don’t compare titles, instead, we stick to being our true selves.

When you are successful, always give back. I’ve been involved with a lot of religious associations and temples, and when we are helping them, whether it’s in the form of donations or charity work, we do our best. Our contributions make lives easier for many others. If you give, give willingly. Do not expect anything back when helping others, and you’ll be happy. Don’t think of it as a loan, think of it as a gift.