Vietnam: Supplementing and significantly increasing the level of penalties for violations committed by lawyers in the practice

13:35, 10/07/2024

Decree 82/2020/ND-CP of Vietnam's Government stipulating the sanctions for administrative violations in the fields of judicial support; judicial administration; marriage and family; civil judgment enforcement; bankruptcy of enterprises and cooperatives came into effect on September 1, 2020. This Decree has supplemented and significantly increased the sanctions for violations committed by lawyers in their practice.

To assist Customers and Members in conveniently tracking and comprehending new regulations, LAWNET has compiled the penalties for violations in the practice of law starting from September 1, 2020, with a comparison against the current regulations under Decree 110/2013/ND-CP of Vietnam's Government in the table below:

No.	Violation	Provision in Decree 82/2020/ND-CP	Provision in Decree 110/2013/ND-CP
1	Failure to participate or fully participate in the mandatory professional and vocational training obligations	A fine of VND 1,000,000 - VND 3,000,000	Not regulated
2	Failure to notify the Lawyer's Association of the registration of practice or changes in the registration on time	A fine of VND 1,000,000 - VND 3,000,000	Not regulated
3	Failure to provide complete notification to clients about their rights, obligations, and professional responsibilities in the provision of legal services	A fine of VND 3,000,000 - VND 7,000,000	Not regulated
4	Failure to register changes in the registration of practice with the competent state authority or failure to notify the Lawyer's Association of the registration of practice or changes in the registration of practice	A fine of VND 3,000,000 - VND 7,000,000	Not regulated
5	Providing legal services for other agencies, organizations and individuals in addition to agencies and organizations with which he/she has signed labor contract, unless otherwise required by the state agency or involved in the proceedings in criminal case as required by the procedure conducting agency and performing legal aid as assigned by the bar association in which the lawyer is a member	A fine of VND 7,000,000 - VND 10,000,000	A fine of VND 3,000,000 - VND 7,000,000
6	Establishing or participating in establishment from two lawyer practicing organizations or more		A fine of VND 3,000,000 - VND 7,000,000
7	Working under a labor contract for another agency or organization as a practicing lawyer in an individual capacity outside of the lawyer's professional organization that the lawyer has established, participated in establishing, or has signed a labor contract with		Not regulated
8	Practicing law in a manner that does not conform to the prescribed form of practice		Currently, it is only regulated that a fine of VND 10,000,000 - VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed to a foreign lawyer practicing in improper form and scope of practice prescribed for foreign lawyer in Vietnam.
9	Practicing law as an individual without purchasing professional liability insurance in cases where the labor contract allows for such an agreement		Not regulated
10	Failing to inform clients of the rights, obligations and responsibilities of his/her profession in the performance of legal services to clients		A fine of VND 1,000,000 - VND 3,000,000
11	Signing a legal services contract with a client without going through a lawyer's professional organization or without having written authorization from a lawyer's professional organization		Not regulated
12	Practicing law without being granted a personal lawyer's professional registration certificate or continuing to practice law after the revocation of a lawyer's professional registration certificate		Currently, it is only regulated that a fine of VND 10,000,000 - VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for performing practice before having been issued with registration certificate for lawyer practice and lawyer practicing permit in Vietnam
13	Modifying, erasing and falsifying the content of lawyer practicing certificate, registration certificate for lawyer practice, lawyer practicing permit in Vietnam, notification of registration for defense counsel and notification of registration for the protection of rights and legitimate interests	A fine of VND 10,000,000 - VND 15,000,000	A fine of VND 7,000,000 - VND 10,000,000
14	Foreign lawyer is still practicing in Vietnam when his/her certificate of practice has expired		A fine of VND 7,000,000 - VND 10,000,000
15	Practicing as an individual without registration of practice at the competent authority		A fine of VND 7,000,000 - VND 10,000,000
16	Foreign lawyer practicing in improper scope of practice prescribed for foreign lawyer in Vietnam	A fine of VND 15,000,000 - VND 20,000,000	A fine of VND 10,000,000 - VND 20,000,000
17	Letting other person use lawyer practicing certificate, registration certificate for lawyer practice or lawyer practicing permit in Vietnam for lawyer practice		A fine of VND 7,000,000 - VND 10,000,000
18	Using lawyer practicing certificate, registration certificate for lawyer practice or lawyer practicing permit in Vietnam of other persons to perform the lawyer practice		A fine of VND 10,000,000 - VND 20,000,000
19	Performing lawyer practice without lawyer practicing certificate or joining bar association	A fine of VND 20,000,000 - VND 30,000,000	A fine of VND 20,000,000 - VND 30,000,000
20	Providing legal services to clients or displaying signage while the lawyer's professional organization established or participated in establishing has not been registered for operation		Not regulated
21	Using language or engaging in behaviors that insult individuals, agencies, or organizations during litigation proceedings; personally or assisting clients in committing illegal acts to delay or prolong proceedings or to obstruct the activities of the prosecuting agency and other state authorities		Currently, it is only regulated that a fine of VND 20,000,000 - VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for deliberately delaying and extending time or causing difficult, hinder the operation of state agencies
22	Harassing customers, receiving, requiring any other amount or material benefits in addition to remuneration and costs agreed in the legal service contract; deceiving clients without reaching the level of criminal liability		A fine of VND 20,000,000 - VND 30,000,000
23	Practicing law in Vietnam in the absence of practicing conditions; practicing law without being licensed in Vietnam or continuing to practice law after the revocation of the license to practice law in Vietnam		Currently, it is only regulated that a fine of VND 20,000,000 - VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed to foreign lawyer practicing in Vietnam in the absence of practicing conditions
24	Behaving, speaking, or engaging in actions that impact the image and reputation of the legal profession or cause harm to the legitimate rights and interests of agencies, organizations, or individuals without reaching the level of criminal liability		Not regulated
25	Providing or instructing clients to provide false documents, false evidence, or misinformation	A fine of VND 30,000,000 - VND 40,000,000	Depriving the right to use lawyer practicing certificate, registration certificate for lawyer practice or lawyer practicing permit in Vietnam from 06 to 12 months for intentionally providing false documents and exhibits
29	Engaging in enticing, inciting, bribing, or coercing others to gather in large numbers to disrupt public order, committing acts that violate the law without reaching the level of criminal liability		Not regulated
30	Providing legal services, engaging in legal consulting activities under the guise of a lawyer or impersonating a lawyer to practice law; displaying signage without being issued a lawyer's professional certificate or without joining the Lawyer's Association		Currently, it is only regulated that a fine of VND 20,000,000 - VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for impersonating lawyer to practice law in any form

Besides strengthening, increasing the penalties for a number of the behaviors mentioned above, Decree 82/2020/ND-CP of Vietnam's Government also changed the main form of sanctions from revoking the lawyer practice certificate, practice registration certificate, or permit to practice law in Vietnam from 06 months to 12 months to fines from 30,000,000 VND to 40,000,000 VND for the following actions:

- Inciting clients to provide false statements or inciting clients to make illegal complaints, denunciations;

- Disclosing information about the case, or clients known during professional practice unless the client consents in writing or the law provides otherwise;

- Colluding, engaging in relations with legal proceeding personnel, proceeding participants, officials and public employees to act against the provisions of law in resolving the case.

Nguyen Trinh

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- This translation is generated by OpenAI's GPT-4o model;
- The legal regulations in this article are according to Vietnamese Law;
- This English translation is for reference purposes only and not a definitive translation of the original Vietnamese texts;
- Articles may be compiled from a variety of sources;
- Applicable Terms may have expired at the time you are reading;
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