05 cases of revocation of law practicing certificate in Vietnam

05 cases of revocation of law practicing certificate in Vietnam​ (illustration)

According to Article 3 Circular 17/2011/TT-BTP, the law practicing certificate in vietnam will be revoked in the following cases:

1. The Minister of Justice of Vietnam decides to revoke the law practicing certificate if the lawyer falls under one of the cases stipulated in Clause 1, Article 18 of the Law on Lawyers.

2. In the case of disciplinary action by means of removing the lawyer's name from the list of the Bar Association, within seven working days from the date of the disciplinary decision, the Lawyers' Association's Executive Committee that disciplined the lawyer shall send a written proposal to the Minister of Justice for the revocation of the law practicing certificate.

   The person whose law practicing certificate is revoked must cease practicing law from the date of the disciplinary decision to remove their name from the list of the Bar Association.

3. When it is discovered that the lawyer falls under one of the cases stipulated in points a, b, c, d, and e, Clause 1, Article 18 of the Law on Lawyers, the Bar Association of which the lawyer is a member, or other agencies and organizations, may send a written proposal to the Minister of Justice to revoke that lawyer's Practice Certificate.

4. Within fifteen days from the date of receiving the written proposal to revoke the law practicing certificate, the Minister of Justice shall issue a decision to revoke the law practicing certificate.

   The decision to revoke the law practicing certificate is sent to the person whose certificate is revoked, the Bar Association of which the person was a member, the Vietnam Bar Federation, central legal proceedings agencies, the Department of Justice, and local legal proceedings agencies where the Bar Association, of which the person was a member, is based. It shall also be published on the Ministry of Justice's electronic portal.

   Within seven working days from the date of receiving the decision to revoke the law practicing certificate, the Vietnam Bar Federation issues a decision to revoke the Lawyer Card of the person whose certificate is revoked. The Executive Committee of the Bar Association, where the person was a member, is responsible for collecting and destroying the law practicing certificate and the Lawyer Card of that person.

5. The law practicing certificate and the Lawyer Card are destroyed by cutting off the top-left corner. The destruction of the law practicing certificate and the Lawyer Card must be documented in a minutes signed by the Chairman of the Bar Association, the Chairman of the Bar Association's Reward and Discipline Council, and a representative of the Department of Justice where the Bar Association is headquartered. Two copies of the minutes are made, one kept at the Bar Association where the person was a member and one kept at the Department of Justice where the Bar Association is headquartered.

   The destroyed law practicing certificate is handed over to and stored at the Department of Justice in accordance with legal archive regulations.

More details can be found in Circular 17/2011/TT-BTP, effective from December 1, 2011.

Thuy Tram

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