Can a lawyer establish two law firms in Vietnam? How much is fine for a lawyer to establish two law firms in vietnam?

Can a lawyer establish two law firms in Vietnam? 

In Article 32 of the Law on Lawyers 2006, as amended by Clause 15, Article 1 of the Law on Lawyers, amended in 2012, forms law-practicing organizations, the conditions for establishing law-practicing organizations are as follows:

1.  Law-practicing organizations include:

a) Lawyer’s offices;

b) Law firms

2. Law-practicing organizations are organized and operated as prescribed in this Law and relevant laws.

3. Conditions for establishing a law-practicing organization:

a) The lawyers that establish or participate in the establishment of a law-practicing organization must work for at least two consecutive years under labor contracts for a law-practicing organization, or work as independent lawyers under labor contracts for a organization as prescribed in this Law;

b) The law-practicing organization must have an office.

4. A lawyer may only establish or participate in the establishment of a law-practicing organization. When lawyers from various bar associations participate in the establishment of a law firm, that law firm may be established and registered at one of the locality in which the bar association of one of these lawyers is situated.

5. Within 30 days as from the date of issue of the certificate of registration, the lawyers that establish or participate in the establishment of the law-practicing organization, that are not members of the bar association where the law-practicing organization is situated, must join the such bar association as prescribed in Article 20 of this Law.

Thus, according to the above provisions in Vietnam, a lawyer can only establish one law firm. If a lawyer establishes two law firms, he will be administratively sanctioned.

How much is fine for a lawyer to establish two law firms in vietnam?

According to Clause 3, Clause 8 and Clause 9, Article 6 of Decree 82/2020/ND-CP stipulates violations of regulations on law practice activities as follows:

3. A fine ranging from VND 7,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for one of the following acts:

a) Providing legal services to agencies, organizations and individuals other than the agency or organization with which the lawyer has signed a labor contract, unless requested by a state agency or participate in criminal proceedings at the request of a procedure-conducting agency or provide legal aid as assigned by the Bar Association of which the lawyer is a member;

b) Establishing or participating in the establishment of two or more law-practicing organizations;

c) Working under a labor contract for another agency or organization in the form of a lawyer practicing law as an individual outside the law-practicing organization that the lawyer has established, participated in or signed a contract with; labor contract;

d) Practicing law in contravention of the prescribed practice form;

dd) Practicing law as an individual without buying professional liability insurance in case the labor contract has an agreement;

e) Failing to notify clients of their professional rights, obligations and responsibilities in the performance of legal services;

g) Signing legal service contracts with clients without going through a law-practicing organization or without a written authorization from a law-practicing organization;

h) Practicing law without being granted a law practice registration certificate as an individual or still practicing when the law practice registration certificate has been revoked.

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8. Additional sanctions:

a) Deprive the right to use a law practicing certificate or a foreign law practicing certificate in Vietnam for between 01 and 03 months, for violations specified at Points a, b, c, d, dd and g Clause 3, Point a Clause 5 of this Article;

 

9. Remedial measures:

b) Forcible return of illegal profits obtained from committing violations specified at Points a, b, c, d and h, Clause 3, Points b and c, Clause 4, Clause 5, and Points a, b, d and dd Clause 6, Points d and e Clause 7 of this Article.

Therefore, lawyers who establish two law firms will be fined from VND 7,000,000 to VND 10,000,000. In addition, the lawyer will be deprived of the right to use the law practicing certificate from 01 to 03 months and force the lawyer to return the illegal profits from the establishment of two law firms in Vietnam.

What acts are prohibited for lawyers to perform during their practice in Vietnam? 

Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 9 of the Law on Lawyers 2006, as amended by Clause 3, Article 1 of the Law on Lawyers, amended in 2012, it is strictly forbidden for lawyers to perform the following acts:

1. Lawyers are prohibited to commit the following acts:

a) Providing legal services for clients that have conflicting interests in the same criminal, civil, administrative lawsuit, civil cases, or other cases as prescribed by law (hereinafter referred to as cases);

b) Deliberately providing, or guiding clients to provide, fake exhibits and documents; induce the detainees, suspects, defendants, litigants to provide false information, or induce clients to file illegal complaints, denunciations, or lawsuits;

c) Reveal information about the cases and the clients that they know during their practice, unless such clients concur in writing, or otherwise prescribed by law;

d) Harassing or deceiving clients

dd) Receiving or requesting any amount of money or benefit from clients apart from the agreed amount in the legal service contracts;

e) Cooperate with other presiding officers, litigants, officers, or officials, to violate laws when resolving cases;

g) Misusing the lawyer’s practice to negatively affect the national security and social order, to infringe the interests of the State, the public interests, and the legal interests of other organizations and individuals;

h) Receiving or requesting any amount of money or benefit when giving legal supports to the clients entitled to legal supports by statute; refusing to resolve the cases requested by legal support organizations, by the presiding agencies, except for force majeure as prescribed by law;

i) Insulting or assaulting other organizations and individuals during the proceedings;

k) Committing or helping clients to commit violations of law to delay or obstruct the activities of the presiding agencies and other State agencies.

The above are prohibited acts during the practice of a lawyer in Vietnam.

Best regards!