Vietnam: What is the hourly remuneration of lawyers participating in criminal proceedings as agreed with clients?
What is the hourly remuneration of lawyers participating in criminal proceedings as agreed with the client in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 55 of the Law on Lawyers in Vietnam 2006 stipulates as follows:
Article 55.- Grounds and modes of calculating remunerations
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2. Remunerations are calculated by the following modes:
a/ Working hours of lawyers;
b/ Cases or affairs with package remunerations;
c/ Cases or affairs with remunerations calculated in percentages of the threshold costs of lawsuits or the value of contracts or projects;
d/ Long-term contracts with fixed remunerations.
Accordingly, the remuneration of lawyers participating in criminal proceedings may be paid according to the hours worked by lawyers.
Pursuant to the provisions of Article 18 of Decree 123/2013/ND-CP stipulates as follows:
Article 18. Ceiling rate of remunerations for lawyers who participate in legal proceedings in criminal cases
1. Ceiling rates of remuneration for lawyers who participate in legal proceedings in a criminal case shall be agreed in the legal service contract signed between the client and the lawyer’s office or the law firm, based on grounds as specified in Clause 1 of Article 55 of the Law on Lawyers. The lawyer’s remuneration is counted based on hour or full package of the case, but the highest rate for 01 working hour of the lawyer may not exceed 0.3 times of the basic wage rate set by the Government.
Working hours of the lawyer shall be agreed between the lawyer and the client.
2. Lawyers’ offices and law firms are encouraged to exempt or reduce remunerations for the poor and the beneficiary of social welfare.
According to the above regulations, the maximum remuneration for 01 hour of working of lawyers must not exceed 0.3 times the base salary stipulated by the Government.
The working time of a lawyer is agreed upon by the lawyer and the client.
In particular, the base salary as prescribed in Article 3 of Decree 38/2019/ND-CP is as follows:
Article 3. Statutory pay rate
1. The statutory pay rate is the basis for:
a) Determining the levels of salaries in payrolls, allowances and other benefits as per the law with regard to individuals as defined in Article 2 hereof;
b) Determining subsistence allowances as per the law;
c) Determining contributions and benefits concerning the statutory pay rate.
2. From July 1, 2019, the statutory pay rate is VND 1,490,000 per month.
3. The Government shall request the National Assembly to consider adjusting statutory pay rate in conformity with the capacity of the state budget, consumer price index and national economic growth rate.
Accordingly, the base salary applied until the end of June 30, 2023 is VND 1,490,000/month.
Thus, the remuneration of lawyers participating in proceedings as agreed with clients shall be agreed upon by clients and law offices and law firms, but must not exceed 0.3 times the base salary per 01 hour of work of lawyers, corresponding to the maximum remuneration that lawyers can receive is VND 447,000/hour.
At the same time, according to Article 3 of Resolution 69/2022/QH15, from July 1, 2023, the base salary will be increased to VND 1.8 million/month.
From July 01, 2023, the remuneration of lawyers participating in proceedings as agreed with clients shall be agreed upon by clients and law offices and law firms, but must not exceed 0.3 times the base salary per 01 hour of work of lawyers, corresponding to the maximum remuneration that lawyers can receive is 540,000 VND/hour.
Vietnam: What is the hourly remuneration of lawyers participating in criminal proceedings as agreed with clients?
On what basis is the remuneration of a lawyer calculated in Vietnam?
According to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 55 of the Law on Lawyers in Vietnam 2006 stipulates as follows:
Article 55.- Grounds and modes of calculating remunerations
1. Remuneration levels are calculated on the following grounds:
a/ Contents and characteristics of legal services;
b/ Time and labor spent by lawyers on the provision of legal services;
c/ Experience and prestige of lawyers.
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According to the above provisions, the remuneration of lawyers participating in proceedings in criminal cases shall be agreed upon by clients and law offices and law firms in legal service contracts based on the following grounds:
- Contents and characteristics of legal services;
-Time and labor spent by lawyers on the provision of legal services;
- Experience and prestige of lawyers.
How are the rights of lawyers in criminal cases regulated in Vietnam?
According to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 72 of the Criminal Procedure Code in Vietnam 2015 stipulates as follows:
Advocate
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2. An advocate may refer to:
a) Lawyers;
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Accordingly, Lawyers can be advocates in criminal cases in Vietnam. As an advocate, lawyers have rights under Article 73 of the Criminal Procedure Code in Vietnam 2015, specifically as follows:
- Meet and inquire about persons facing charges;
- Be present during the extraction of statements from arrestees and temporary detainees or the interrogation of suspects, and question arrestees, temporary detainees and suspects with the consent of individuals authorized to acquire statements or conduct interrogation. After authorized individuals end a session of statement extraction or interrogation, defense counsels may raise questions to arrestees, temporary detainees and suspects;
- Engage in the activities of confrontation, identification, recognition of voice and other investigative activities as per this Law;
- Be informed by competent procedural authorities of timing and location for taking statements or interrogating, and schedule and venue for other activities of investigation as per this Law;
- Read the records of legal proceedings, in which they have participated, and decisions on legal procedure against persons whom they defend;
- Request the replacement of persons given authority to institute legal proceedings, expert witnesses, valuators, interpreters and translators; and request the changes or termination of preventive and coercive measures;
- Petition for legal proceedings according to this Law; for summoning of witness testifiers, other participants in legal procedure or authorized procedural persons;
- Gather and present evidences, documents, items and request;
- Inspect, assess and confer on relevant evidences, documents and items and request authorized procedural persons to check and evaluate such;
- Request competent procedural authorities to collect evidences, add or repeat expert examinations or revaluate property;
- Read, transcribe and photocopy documents from case files related to their activities of pleading upon the end of investigations;
- Engage in debates and questioning sessions in court;
- File complaints about competent procedural authorities and persons’ decisions and legal proceedings;
- Lodge appeals against the Court’s judgments and rulings if defendants are less than 18 years old or have mental or physical defects as per this Law.
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