Is the law practicing certificate revoked when the lawyer is prosecuted or detained? What is the order of revocation of law practicing certificates in Vietnam?
What are the criteria of lawyers?
According to the provisions of Article 10 of the 2006 Law on Lawyers of Vietnam, the criteria of lawyers are as follows:
- Be Vietnamese citizens who are loyal to the Fatherland
- Observe the Constitution and law
- Have good moral qualities
- Possess a law bachelor diploma
- Have been trained in legal profession
- Have gone through the probation of legal profession
- Have good health for law practice.
Is the law practicing certificate revoked when the lawyer is prosecuted or detained? What is the order of revocation of law practicing certificates in Vietnam?
If a lawyer is prosecuted or detained, will his/her law practicing certificate be revoked?
According to the provisions of Article 18 of the 2006 Law on Lawyers of Vietnam (amended by Clause 9, Article 1 of the 2012 Law on Amendments to Law on Lawyers) on cases in which lawyers have their law practicing certificates revoked include:
Revoking the law practicing certificates
1. The law practicing certificate shall be revoked in one of the following cases:
a) No longer being qualified as a lawyer as prescribed in Article 10 of this law;
b) Being recruited or appointed as an officer, official, professional soldier or commissioned officer, national defense worker in an agency belonging to the army; a commissioned or non-commissioned officer, a worker in an agency belonging to the Police;
c) No longer residing permanently in Vietnam;
d) Not joining a Bar association within 2 years as from the date of issue of the law practicing certificate;
dd) Not establishing, participating in the establishment, or working under a labor contract for a law-practicing organization, or working as an independent lawyer within 03 years as from the day of joining the Bar association;
e) Voluntarily stopping practicing as a lawyer;
g) Being eliminated from the list of lawyers of a bar association;
dd) Having the law practicing certificate temporarily revoked, being taken into detoxification centers or educational institutions;
i) Being convicted and the sentence has taken effect;
k) Being incapable of civil acts;
2. The Minister of Justice is entitled to revoke law practicing certificates, and shall specify the procedure for revoking law practicing certificates. The Decision on revoking the law practicing certificate of the Minister of Justice shall be notified to the Vietnam Bar Federation for revoking the Lawyer’s card.
Thus, in case a lawyer is prosecuted or detained by the police, there are not enough grounds to revoke his/her law practicing certificate.
When the court announces the legally effective judgment, then the lawyer will no longer be qualified to practice law and there are enough grounds for the competent authority to revoke the law practicing certificate and lawyer’s card.
What is the order of revocation of law practicing certificates in Vietnam?
According to the guidance in Article 5 of Circular No. 05/2021/TT-BTP, the order of revocation of law practicing certificates in Vietnam is as follows:
- If there are grounds to determine that a lawyer falls into one of the cases specified in Clause 1, Article 18 of the Lawyer Law, the Minister of Justice shall issue a decision on revocation of the law practicing certificate.
- When there are grounds to determine that a lawyer falls into one of the cases specified at Points a, b, c, d, dd, e, h, i and k, Clause 1, Article 18 of the Lawyer Law, the Bar Association to which that person is a member or other agencies or organizations shall request the Minister of Justice, in writing, to revoke such person's law practicing certificate, enclosed with papers proving that the lawyer falls into the case of revocation of the law practicing certificate.
In case a lawyer is disciplined by removing his/her name from the list of lawyers of the Bar Association as prescribed at Point g, Clause 1, Article 18 of the Lawyer Law, within 07 working days from the date on which a decision to discipline the lawyer is issued, the Executive Board of the Bar Association shall send a written request to the Minister of Justice to revoke the law practicing certificate enclosed with the decision on disciplining the lawyer. The person whose law practicing certificate is revoked must cease practicing law from the date of issuance of the decision on discipline against the lawyer by removing his/her name from the list of lawyers of the Bar Association.
On the annual basis, the Vietnam Bar Federation and the Department of Justice shall review the persons who fall into the cases specified in Clause 1, Article 18 of the Lawyer Law to propose the Minister of Justice to revoke their law practicing certificates.
- Within 15 days after receiving a written request for revocation of the law practicing certificate, the Minister of Justice shall issue a decision on revocation of the law practicing certificate, except for the case that the disciplinary decision by removing the name from the list of lawyers of the Bar Association is complained and being resolved in accordance with law.
The decision on revocation of the law practicing certificate shall be sent to the person whose law practicing certificate is revoked, the Bar Association of which he is a member, the Vietnam Bar Federation, the presiding agencies at central level, the Department of Justice, and the presiding agencies in the localities where the Bar Association of which that person is a member is located. In case a person has his/her law practicing certificate revoked because he/she does not join the Bar Association as prescribed at Point d, Clause 1, Article 18 of the Lawyer Law, the decision on revocation of the law practicing certificate shall be sent to that person and the Department of Justice where he/she submitted his/her application for a law practicing certificate. The decision on revocation of the law practicing certificate is posted on the website of the Ministry of Justice.
- Within 07 working days of receiving the decision on revocation of the law practicing certificate, the Vietnam Bar Federation shall issue a decision to revoke the lawyer's card of the person whose law practicing certificate has been revoked. The decision on revocation of the lawyer's card is posted on the portal of the Vietnam Bar Federation.
- The person whose law practicing certificate has been revoked is responsible for returning the original law practicing certificate and lawyer’s card to the Bar Association of which he is a member. The Executive Board of the Bar Association shall retrieve and invalidate the law practicing certificate and lawyer’s card.
In case a person has his/her law practicing certificate revoked because he/she does not join the Bar Association as prescribed at Point d, Clause 1, Article 18 of the Lawyer Law, the person whose law practicing certificate is revoked shall return the original law practicing certificate to the Department of Justice where the application for the law practicing certificate was submitted. The Department of Justice shall retrieve and invalidate the law practicing certificate.
- Law practicing certificates and lawyer’s cards are invalidated by cutting off the left corner.
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