Syamsuriatina “Tina” Ishak, MiArb

Syamsuriatina “Tina” Ishak, MiArb is a Malaysian Civil Litigation Lawyer, Senior Counsel and Proprietor at Messrs. Syamsuriatina Ishak & Co., Doctoral Researcher at Faculty of Law, Maastricht University, Author of Fiction and Non-Fiction literature, and a Fiction Writing Instructor.

Tina works jointly with the Institute for Globalization and International Regulation (IGIR) and the Maastricht Law and Tech Lab for her Doctoral Research in Law and Literature. Through her research, Tina aims to formulate normative guidance for using Science Fiction Literature as a tool for Pro-Active Law- and Policy-making about Frontier Technologies such as robotics, connectomics, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, biotech, and genomics.

As Senior Counsel since 2019, Tina has been handling all stages of the civil litigation process including, researching the law and attending Court hearings before Judges and other personnel at all levels of Malaysian courts. She works in various areas of law, such as Arbitration and other ADR proceedings, Corporate Advisory, attending as supervising solicitors for execution of Anton Piller and other Discovery Orders, Commercial and contractual disputes, Construction Law, Company law, Industrial Relations, HR & Employment law disputes, Property & Real Estate disputes, Estate Planning, inheritance & probate, and Intellectual Property licensing.

Tina with her pen name Tina Ishak-Dagoe, previously writing under the pen name Tina Isaacs, began her fiction writing career in 2014. She writes literary fiction on social issues and the examination of humanity, often with a touch of the speculative.

In 2015, she published short fiction in the anthologies Cyberpunk: Malaysia and Hungry in Ipoh by Malaysia’s successful pulp fiction imprint Fixi Novo and in the Southeast Asian literary magazine, Anak Sastra. Her story Undercover in Tanah Firdaus in Cyberpunk: Malaysia, went on to be chosen for the Short Story Collection of the 2015 SciFi Film Festival in Parramatta, Australia.

In November 2015, she was awarded the Runner-Up Prize for the inaugural D.K. Dutt Memorial Award for Literary Excellence for her short story Dash published in the anthology Champion Fellas in March 2016. Read Intriguing Afternoon Tea with Author Tina Isaacs.

Listen to her audio drama Pontianak Part 1 – (Un)Welcomed to Kampung Pinang and Pontianak Part 2 – Embrace Of The Pontianak.

Tina is the founder of the Malaysian Writers Society, which is dedicated to the professional development of writers hailing from Malaysia (citizens, PRs, and expats), spanning across genres, languages, mediums, functions, and experience levels, and seeks to foster and raise critical interest in creative writing by Malaysian writers.

Read Understanding Human Character – Literature Panel Discussion.

Tina earned her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Fiction from the University of Tampa, Florida in 2016.

She is also a translator of literary, legal, and political works between English and Malay, and other languages through English, and is a lifetime member of the PPM, Society of Malaysian Translators.

Since 2020, Tina has been working as a Course Instructor at The Language House Malaysia where she is Teaching, Coaching, and Training English Language, Business English, and Corporate Training.

Tina earned her Bachelor’s Degree of Laws (LL.B.) in Law from the University of London in 1998. She earned her Certificate of Legal Practice from Brickfields Asia College in 2000 and her Diploma in Syariah Law and Practice (DSLP) from the International Islamic University of Malaysia in 2001. In 2019, she earned her Professional Diploma in International Arbitration from the Malaysian Institute of Arbitrators. (MiArb).

Tina began her career as an IP and Trade Marks Supervisor at Shearn Delamore & Co. in 1993.

In 2001, she became the Advocate and Solicitor at the High Court of Malaya for Gideon Tan Razali Zaini, Advocates & Solicitor. In 2006, she continued her work at the High Court of Malaya for Nor Azmi & Co., Advocates & Solicitor.

In 2010, Tina became a Council Member of the Bar Council, Malaysian Bar. In the same year, she was the Founder and Director of White Words Transcription Sdn Bhd, providing and preparing, on a commission, a full and accurate typewritten transcript of digital audio recordings of proceedings. Read YL Personality: Syamsuriatina Ishak and Lawyers unanimously against the ISA.

In 2011, she became the Head of Litigation and Senior Counsel at Khairul, Suhaila & Hazlina, Advocates & Solicitors, and in 2016, continued as Practice Area Lead and in 2017 as Practice Area Manager at LexisNexis before founding her office Messrs. Syamsuriatina Ishak & Co. in 2019.

Tina is also the co-organizer with Henrique Marcos of a call for papers/conference titled Narratives, Frontier Technologies & The Law for 2024/2025 under the banner of Maastricht University Faculty of Law, Institute for Globalization and International Regulation – IGIR, Globalization and Law Network Maastricht, and Maastricht Law & Tech Lab, in collaboration with Law, Technology and Humans journal.

Read Year of Champions Bringing a community together. Read Do Essential Services Workers need to be paid ‘double-pay’?

Visit her Homepage, LinkedIn profile, Goodreads Profile, and Facebook Page. Follow her on Sotwe, Facebook, Instagram, Exsentrika, and Twitter.