Est. 2009 · Kota Kinabalu
The Practice & Its People
A civil and commercial advocacy practice operating from Jalan Stadium, Kota Kinabalu. The firm's senior practitioners bring sustained experience before the courts of Sabah and the superior appellate courts in Putrajaya.
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Founded in Kota Kinabalu
Daulat Advocates was established in 2009 by practitioners who had worked within litigation departments at firms in Kuala Lumpur and who wished to build a practice exclusively dedicated to advocacy in the courts of Sabah and to written advisory work on Malaysian civil and commercial law.
The founding intention was straightforward: to provide instructing solicitors and, on appropriate occasions, lay clients with access to experienced court advocates based in Kota Kinabalu rather than requiring them to instruct practitioners from the peninsula whose knowledge of Sabah court practice was necessarily more limited.
Over sixteen years the firm has appeared regularly in the High Court at Kota Kinabalu, in the Court of Appeal sitting in Putrajaya, and before the Federal Court on referral. The firm's practitioners hold practising certificates issued by the Bar Council of Malaysia and maintain active membership of the Sabah Law Society.
The practice does not seek volume. Instructions are accepted selectively, and the firm's stated position is that it will decline to accept a brief if the matter does not fall comfortably within the firm's existing competence or if the preparation required cannot realistically be completed to a standard the firm is satisfied with.
Mission & Values
How the Firm Conducts Its Work
Written Instructions First
The firm's practice at the outset of any engagement is to take written instructions and confirm in writing the question or task it has been asked to address. Verbal instructions are followed up in writing before work begins.
Fees Quoted at Outset
No substantive work commences until a fee has been agreed in writing. Advocacy fees are quoted following brief review; opinion and conference fees are set at a stated rate with any premium for urgency agreed separately.
Delivery on Agreed Terms
Written opinions and post-conference notes are delivered on the date agreed at the outset. Where circumstances prevent delivery on time, the firm notifies the instructing solicitor without delay.
The Practitioners
Senior Members of Chambers
Datuk Ahmad Rashdan
Senior Advocate & Founder
Called to the Malaysian Bar in 1996. Practice confined to civil appellate work before the Court of Appeal and Federal Court. Appears regularly in Sabah High Court commercial matters and has argued several reported appeals on questions of contract and administrative law.
Nurul Zahira bt Sulaiman
Advocate · Opinions & Advocacy
Called 2007. Principally engaged in the preparation of written opinions on civil and commercial questions and in advocacy at first instance before the Kota Kinabalu High Court. Takes procedural conference instructions from firms across Sabah.
Mohd Faris bin Talib
Associate Advocate
Called 2015. Supports advocacy preparation and assists with interlocutory applications. Focus on procedural matters in High Court civil proceedings and the drafting of written submissions for appellate work.
Standards of Practice
Professional Protocols
Bar Council Registration
All practitioners hold current practising certificates issued annually by the Bar Council of Malaysia and comply with continuing professional development requirements under the Legal Profession Act 1976.
Professional Indemnity
The firm maintains professional indemnity coverage in accordance with Bar Council requirements. Details of coverage are available to instructing solicitors on request.
Client Confidentiality
All matters handled by the firm are treated as strictly confidential. The firm does not discuss the affairs of any client, past or current, without express written consent.
Written Engagement Terms
Every engagement is confirmed in writing before work commences. The written confirmation sets out the scope of the instruction, the fee, and the agreed delivery or hearing date.
Continuing Legal Education
Practitioners attend Bar Council and Sabah Law Society seminars and maintain current awareness of developments in Malaysian civil and commercial jurisprudence through regular review of reported decisions.
Sabah Law Society Membership
The firm's practitioners are members of the Sabah Law Society and participate in its professional activities. The firm observes the Society's professional conduct guidelines applicable to Sabah-based practitioners.
The Practice in Context
Advocacy Before the Malaysian Superior Courts
The Malaysian court system maintains a clear distinction between the roles of solicitor and advocate. At the High Court level and above, it is common practice for solicitors who conduct litigation to retain specialist advocates — often described as counsel or barristers — for the hearing of contested applications and for the conduct of appeals. Daulat Advocates operates within this professional arrangement as a chambers that accepts instructions from solicitors practising across Sabah and, on referral, from the peninsula.
The firm's geographic base in Kota Kinabalu is material to the work it does. The High Court at Kota Kinabalu serves Sabah's civil and commercial litigation, and practitioners familiar with that court's procedural conventions, the expectations of its bench, and the practical realities of preparing a matter for hearing there are better placed to assist instructing solicitors than practitioners appearing from elsewhere on limited notice. The firm regards its permanent presence in Sabah as central to its value.
Written opinions prepared by the firm address questions arising in Malaysian civil and commercial law — questions of contractual construction, of statutory interpretation in a commercial context, of procedural entitlement, and of the appropriate legal characterisation of a factual situation that a solicitor's client has encountered. The firm does not prepare opinions on criminal law, family law, or areas outside its civil and commercial practice.
Procedural conferences at chambers are a practical tool for solicitors who are conducting litigation and who would benefit from an experienced advocate's perspective on a specific procedural decision — how to approach an interlocutory application, whether to seek further particulars, how to sequence the preparation of evidence. The two-hour format is deliberate: it is sufficient for a focused discussion and the production of a written note, without incurring the cost of a broader engagement.
Begin an Engagement
The Firm Accepts Instructions by Arrangement
Solicitors wishing to instruct the firm are invited to contact chambers by telephone or by email with a brief description of the matter and the service required. The firm will confirm availability and provide a fee indication promptly.