4As Malaysia expands benefits to include free legal advice for agencies

Members of The Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As) will now have access to free legal advice after it formed an alliance with several leading Malaysian legal firms. Following this alliance, each member agency will be able to consult with a lawyer about issues including intellectual property issues, advice about unfamiliar contract terms, contract reviews, employee matters, late payment disputes and other legal matters.

According to 4As CEO Khairudin Rahim, the move was triggered by repeated questions that some 4As members had about legal issues.

"That gave us the clue there is an unmet need of getting our members connected to lawyers. That was the inspiration to reach out to legal firms on whether they could assist and we managed to find good, leading firms," said Khairudin. when A+M reached out. 

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The initial consultation will be free of charge for up to 60 minutes for the first session, after which the agency can choose whether to proceed with the legal matter, with a fee quote from the legal firm.

"The problem started with an agency that was going to be sued for constructive dismissal. The employee complained he had been unfairly dismissed. The agency believed they had done the dismissal as per procedures. Another was when a member agency lost a pitch and later saw the advertiser had brazenly stolen their entire pitch idea, using the exact same slogan presented - so how do we deal with that?" added Khairudin. 

"These were how we got inspired to provide help. Answering an unmet need."

The introduction of access to free legal consultations is the newest of nine benefits provided by the 4As to its members. Other benefits include subsidised entry fees for awards, partial cost reimbursements for pitch presentations, salary and charge out rates survey, access to IPA UK trainers and qualifications, scholarships for employee training, subsidised registration fees for training, networking, and best practice guides. These will be enjoyed by all the 4As member agencies.

“When faced with a potential legal dispute, many agencies are unsure about where they stand, or even if they are in the right. They may not know how to proceed, and what legal routes exist for them to seek justice or protect their business," said the 4As CEO in a statement. 

“Agencies, particularly home-grown agencies, may be hesitant to see a lawyer because of the perception of high fees involved, or whether a leading lawyer will have time to see them. This latest 4As alliance overcomes this hurdle,” added Khairudin.

Earlier this February, the 4As wrote to the heads of the Malaysian Takaful Association (MTA) and the Persatuan Insurans Am Malaysia (PIAM) after it introduced a clause in its pitch conditions that takes ownership of all materials submitted by agencies for a pitch.

The clause, clause 2.14, states: “All supporting materials and other documentation submitted with the response will become the property of the associations unless otherwise requested by the proposers at the time of submission.”

The clause was introduced as part of MTA and PIAM's 2023 advertising agency pitch conditions for a consumer education campaign on the "Phrased Liberalisation of Motor and Fire Tarrifs".

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