Burhanudeen bin Abdul Wahid

On the court record

A hybrid practice combining drug-defence advocacy with succession, probate and trusts litigation in the High Court.

Burhanudeen bin Abdul Wahid practises across both crime and civil work, appearing mainly in the High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi) with some Court of Appeal (Mahkamah Rayuan) matters. The reported decisions are unusual in spanning two quite different fields. On the criminal side he appears largely in the defence of the accused, in charges of possessing and trafficking in dangerous drugs under "seksyen 39B(1)(a) Akta Dadah Berbahaya 1952" (section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952), read with the lesser-offence provisions in "seksyen 12" and the mitigation provisions in "seksyen 39A" of the Act.

On the civil side the reported work reaches succession and probate, trusts and equity, and contract, together with family-law questions such as custody. There he appears variously as plaintiff, defendant, appellant and respondent, handling the administration of estates, the validity of dispositions, and the equitable obligations that attach to property held on trust. This combination of serious-crime defence with private-client and estate litigation is a distinctive feature of the practice.

The criminal matters turn on the familiar architecture of a drug prosecution — proof of possession and knowledge, the operation of the statutory presumptions, and the choice between the trafficking charge and a lesser possession count. The civil matters turn on the construction of wills and instruments, the rules governing the devolution of estates, and the equitable principles that govern trustees and fiduciaries. The two strands share little doctrinally but both are document- and evidence-intensive.

The overall profile is a hybrid practice combining drug-defence advocacy in the criminal courts with succession, probate and trusts work on the civil side, conducted principally at first instance in the High Court. The matters turn on the Dangerous Drugs Act presumptions in the criminal work and on succession and equity in the civil work, rather than on public-law or regulatory questions, marking a practice with an unusually broad base.