When I first join law school, I told myself that I would want to join the prestigious legal service after graduation. Seeing the likes of judges like Justice Shankar who heard and disposed of cases with charm and grace but with a firmness in court, further encouraged me to realise my dream.

Alas, after graduation, the infamous trials of the former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim were sprung on us and the verdicts delivered. I was shocked, angry and felt I had been cheated. I told myself that I would not join a department or service that has made a mockery of the law. Almost everything that I'd learnt in law school seems to be 'irrelevant'. The gap between the bar and the bench seems to be drifting further.

However, when the appointment of the new Chief Justice late last year was very well received by the Bar Council, the Attorney-General's chambers (under the new AG, of course) and surprisingly by the government, but most importantly by the people, the judiciary seemed to be on the road to recovery.

Announcement after announcement about reforming the judiciary and promises of transparency were made by the new chief. However, ever since the elevation of the former infamous AG, Mohtar Abdullah, to the Federal Court, all seems to be quiet on the judiciary front.

Reading Ex-Jalsoa's letter, [#1]Silencing the legal service[/#] (April 3), I was surprised and taken aback. Upon making enquiries with my seniors and contemporaries who had earlier joined the AG's chambers and the judicial service, I was further jolted; the writer's revelations truly describe the state of the legal service. Nothing has changed and for the second time I felt let down.

I thank my lucky stars that I was spared what was termed by the writer as the politics of the legal service. I shudder to think what I might have become had I joined the legal service then.

Hopefully the next chief of the judiciary will be truly transparent and a worthy guardian of justice.