Vietnam: Procedures for protection of the rights of lawyers infringed upon during practice

Vietnam: Procedures for protection of the rights of lawyers infringed upon during practice (Illustrative photo)

1. Identifying the power to process the requests for protection of the rights of lawyers in Vietnam

To request protection of a lawyer's rights, the affected party must first identify the competent authority to process the protection request, including:

Bar Association

The Bar Association has power over requests for the protection of the lawful rights and interests of lawyers and law practice organizations during their practice.

For cases where the above-mentioned parties send protection requests directly to the Vietnam Bar Federation (without sending or concurrently sending them to the Bar Association), the Association will forward the request to the Bar Association for resolution according to its authority.

The Committee for Protecting Lawyers' Rights under the Vietnam Bar Federation (referred to as the Protection Committee)

The Protection Committee will process:

- Requests where the Bar Association has issued a document protecting the lawful rights of the lawyer but has not received a resolution from the infringing party or the resolution is inconsistent with legal regulations;

- Requests to protect lawful rights and interests of affected parties related to policies and laws that impact lawyers' right to practice;

- Requests involving complex details, urgent, serious nature, or cases involving multiple individuals, central agencies, or state organizations.

2. Procedures for the protection of the rights of lawyers infringed upon during practice in Vietnam

Submitting a request for protection of lawyers' rights when infringed in practice

When acts infringing upon the lawful rights and interests of lawyers occur, the lawyer and law practice organizations have the right to send a document to the Bar Association of which they are a member to request protection of their lawful rights and interests.

The Bar Association issues a document to the infringing party. If the case is not resolved within the timeframe or the resolution outcome is inconsistent with legal regulations, the Bar Association continues to issue a document to the infringing party and simultaneously requests the Vietnam Bar Federation to resolve it.

Note: The affected party does not need to send a document to the Association.

If the affected party is not under the jurisdiction of the Vietnam Bar Federation but sends a request to the Association, the Association will notify the Bar Association.

Process of receiving protection requests at the Bar Association

For cases under the authority of the Bar Association, after receiving the written request for protection of the lawyer's rights, the Bar Association will proceed as follows:

- Receiving protection requests:

The Bar Association receives requests to protect the lawful rights and interests of lawyers infringed during practice; the Bar Association's office records into a book and submits it to the Executive Committee of the Bar Association for review.

The Executive Committee assigns the case file for protecting the lawyer's rights to a specialized committee or the person responsible for protection work at the Bar Association.

The person responsible for protection work may invite the affected party to clarify the case, request the provision of documents and evidence; take verification measures; and make assessments and evaluations of the case before reporting to the Executive Committee of the Bar Association to determine resolution measures.

- Processing protection requests:

For simple cases with clear evidence, the person responsible for protection work drafts a document for the Bar Association's Chair to review and send to the competent authorities and the party that infringed the lawful rights and interests of the lawyer.

For cases involving complaints, denunciations, appeals, or procedural violation acts, the Bar Association guides the lawyer or law practice organization to exercise their rights according to the Complaint Law, Denunciation Law, or procedural codes. If the affected party has already sent the types of applications mentioned above to the competent authorities, they are required to wait for the resolution outcome according to legal regulations.

If the Bar Association sends documents multiple times to the infringing party without resolution or the resolution outcome is inconsistent with legal regulations, the Bar Association may send a report to the Association for review and resolution and inform the affected party.

For complex cases, urgent in nature, seriously affecting the health, life, reputation, honor, and dignity of the lawyer, the Bar Association shall immediately notify the Association upon receiving the lawyer's request for timely collaboration, support, and protective measures by the Protection Committee.

For cases occurring in one locality but infringing the rights and interests of lawyers from different Bar Associations, the Bar Associations should actively collaborate with the Bar Association where the infringement occurred to resolve the case. The local Bar Association is responsible for facilitating and assisting other Bar Associations in the case resolution process.

For lawyer trainees, if the guiding lawyer infringes upon their lawful rights and interests, the Bar Association guides them to file a complaint according to the Lawyers Law and the Complaint Law. If the infringing party is an individual, agency, or state organization, the provisions of Clause 5, Article 3 of the regulation issued with Decision 139/QD-BTVapply.

Procedures for receiving and processing protection requests at the Vietnam Bar Federation

For cases under the Vietnam Bar Federation's authority, the Vietnam Bar Federation executes the following:

- Receiving requests:

Upon receiving the protection request from the affected parties, the Office of the Vietnam Bar Federation records it into a book, and then submits the request and accompanying documents to the Association's Standing Committee to assign the Protection Committee to perform its functions and duties.

- Processing requests:

The Office of the Vietnam Bar Federation transfers the entire case file (scanned copy) to the Chair of the Protection Committee and its members via registered email for members to study and propose opinions on the content, method, and manner of resolving the case or cooperate with the Bar Association. Depending on the nature and details of the case, the Chair of the Protection Committee may set a deadline for members to send their proposals to ensure promptness in protection activities. In complex cases, the Chair may assign some members of the Committee to cooperate with the local Bar Association to verify, collect evidence, organize meetings, and solicit expert opinions during the case resolution process.

Members' opinions in the Protection Committee must be independent, objective, legally based, and prompt.

After consolidating members' proposals, the Chair of the Protection Committee communicates the final opinion on the case to the members, while the administrative division drafts a document for the Association's Vice Chairman in charge of the Committee, the Chair, and Committee members to review and approve. If there are no further comments from the members, the Protection Committee submits the document to the Vice Chairman in charge of the Committee for signing and issuance.

Above are procedures for the protection of the rights of lawyers infringed upon during practice in Vietnam. Clients and members can view more on this regulation at Decision 139/QD-BTV.

Thuy Tram

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