Vietnam: What is the remuneration of a lawyer in a criminal case? What are the rights of lawyers in criminal cases?
- What is the remuneration of lawyers participating in criminal proceedings under the agreement with the client in Vietnam?
- What is the remuneration of lawyers participating in criminal proceedings at the request of the agency conducting the proceedings in Vietnam?
- How are the rights of lawyers in criminal cases regulated in Vietnam?
What is the remuneration of lawyers participating in criminal proceedings under the agreement with the client in Vietnam?
According to the provisions of Article 55 of the Law on Lawyers 2006 of Vietnam, the remuneration of lawyers participating in criminal proceedings 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.
According to the provisions of Article 18 of Decree 123/2013/ND-CP and Article 19 of Decree 123/2013/ND-CP, the remuneration is calculated by the hour or the package according to the case, but the highest rate for 01 working hour of lawyers must not exceed 0.3 times the base salary prescribed by the Government.
The working time of the lawyer is agreed upon by the lawyer and the client.
In particular, the base salary as prescribed in Clause 2 Article 3 of Decree 38/2019/ND-CP, applies until the end of 30/06/2023.
Thus, the remuneration of lawyers participating in legal proceedings as agreed with clients agreed upon by clients and law offices and law firms must not exceed 0.3 times the base salary per 01 working hour of lawyers corresponding to the maximum remuneration that lawyers can receive is 447,000 VND/hour.
Vietnam: What is the remuneration of a lawyer in a criminal case? What are the rights of lawyers in criminal cases?
What is the remuneration of lawyers participating in criminal proceedings at the request of the agency conducting the proceedings in Vietnam?
According to the provisions of Article 2 of Joint Circular 191/2014 / TTLT-BTC-BTP on the Remuneration of lawyers participating in proceedings at the request of the agency conducting the proceedings as follows:
- The remuneration paid for 01 working day of lawyers participating in the proceedings in the case requested by the agency conducting the proceedings is 0.4 times the base salary.
The lawyer's working day is calculated on the basis of 08 working hours.
In case, the lawyer works for many days, but each day does not fulfill 08 hours, the number of working days of the lawyer is calculated on the total actual working hours of the lawyer. The remaining odd working hours (if any) are calculated as follows:
If the odd working hours are not enough 06 hours, it will be counted as 1/2 working day.
If the number of odd working hours is 06 hours or more, it will be counted as 01 working day.
- The lawyer's working time is calculated including:
+ Time to meet people arrested, detained, detained, prosecuted, investigated, prosecuted and tried: Determined by the actual time the lawyer meets the person arrested, detained, detained, prosecuted, investigated, prosecuted and tried at the detention center, detention center, detention center of the agency conducting the proceedings as permitted;
+ Time for collecting documents, objects and circumstances related to the defense: Determined based on the written agreement on the number of days of collection of documents, objects and circumstances related to the defense between the agency conducting the proceedings and lawyers depending on the complexity of each case;
+ Time to study dossiers and prepare documents at the agency conducting the proceedings: Determined according to the timesheet certified by the place where the lawyer came to study the dossier;
+ Time to participate in the trial: Determined according to the time of the trial; in case the trial is postponed not at the request of the lawyer and the lawyer is not notified in advance, the agency conducting the proceedings shall be responsible for paying the lawyer's remuneration equal to 1/2 working day of the lawyer;
+ Other reasonable time required by the agency conducting the proceedings to participate in the proceedings.
In case a lawyer meets a person arrested, detained, detained, prosecuted, investigated, prosecuted or tried according to a schedule that allows to meet the person arrested, detained, detained, prosecuted, investigated, prosecuted, tried at a detention center, detention center, detention center or time to participate in the trial outside office hours, On holidays and public holidays, working time is calculated according to the principle of paying wages for working at night and overtime for cadres, civil servants and public employees, specifically as follows:
+ 150% rate applies to overtime on weekdays.
+ 200% rate applies to overtime on weekly holidays.
+ The 300% rate applies to overtime on public holidays or compensatory holidays if the public holiday coincides with a weekly holiday.
The working time of the lawyer must be confirmed by the agency conducting the proceedings, the person conducting the proceedings directly handling the case on the basis of the aggregate working time at Points a, b, c, d, dd of this Clause, as a basis for paying remuneration to the lawyer.
- In addition to the remuneration, in the process of preparing and participating in the defense at the trial, if the lawyer has to go on a business trip, he/she shall be paid the work fee in accordance with the current regulations on the fee regime for state officials and civil servants traveling for domestic work according to the level applicable to civil servants who do not hold leadership positions.
The time and place of the lawyer's business trip must be confirmed by the agency conducting the proceedings.
- In addition to the above remuneration and expenses, lawyers may not demand any additional money or benefits from the person arrested, detained, detained, prosecuted, investigated, prosecuted, tried or their relatives.
In particular, the base salary as prescribed in Clause 2 Article 3 of Decree 38/2019/ND-CP, applied until the end of 30/06/2023, the temporary remuneration of lawyers participating in the proceedings at the request of the agency conducting the proceedings is 596,000 VND/day.
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 of Vietnam 2015:
Article 72. Defense counsels
…
2. Defense counsels may be:
a) Lawyers;
…
Accordingly, the Lawyer can be the defense in a criminal case. As a defenseman, lawyers have rights under Article 73 of the Criminal Procedure Code of 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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