Operating funds of legal consultancy centers in Vietnam

Operating funds of legal consultancy centers in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. Conditions on establishing a legal consultancy center in Vietnam

According to Article 5 of Decree 77/2008/ND-CP, the conditions on establishing a legal consultancy center include:

- Having at least two legal consultants, or one legal consultant and one lawyer working as a law practitioner under a labor contract, or two lawyers working as law practitioners under labor contracts.

- Having.a.working office.

2. What are the operating funds of legal consultancy centers in Vietnam?

Specifically, in Article 9 of Decree 77/2008/ND-CP, the legal consultancy centers shall operate under the self-financing mechanism. Operating fund sources of legal consultancy centers include:

- Fund for conducting legal consultancy activities incorporated in regular operating funds of socio political organizations and allocated by these organizations to legal consultancy centers they have established;

- Fund allocated for providing legal aid by legal consultancy centers that have registered for participation in legal aid under the law on legal-aid:

- Charges collected for providing legal consultancy to individuals and organizations defined in Article 11 of Decree 77/2008/ND-CP;

Article 11. Charged legal consultancy

1. Apart from providing free-of-charge legal consultancy to entities specified in Article 10 of this Decree, legal consultancy centers may collect charges for legal consultancy they provide toother individuals and organizations in order to cover their operation expenses.

2. The collection of charges by legal consultancy centers shall be decided by their managing organizations. If legal consultancy centers are allowed to collect charges, their managing organizations shall prescribe charge rates.

3. Legal consultancy centers shall publicly post up applicable charge rates at their head offices and comply with legal provisions on finance.

- Supports provided by socio-politico-professional organizations, socio-professional organizations, training establishments and research institutes specialized in law and set aside from their non-business revenues; and financial supports of individuals and organizations at home or abroad for legal consultancy activities under law.

3. Rights and obligations of legal consultancy centers in Vietnam

Rights and obligations of legal consultancy centers are specified in Article 8 of Decree 77/2008/ND-CP, specifically as follows:

- Legal consultancy centers have the following rights:

= To handle cases within the scope specified in Article 7 of Decree 77/2008/ND-CP:

(i) Legal consultancy centers may provide consultations on legal matters; designate lawyers working under contracts for them to participate in legal proceedings to defend, represent, protect rights and legitimate interests of individuals and organizations that have requested legal consultancy in cases in which they undertake to provide legal consultancy: provide legal aid under the law on legal aid.

(ii) Legal consultancy centers may accept and handle cases in all legal domains.

= To request agencies and organizations to supply information on matters related to rights and legitimate interests of individuals and organizations that have requested legal consultancy;

= To propose to state agencies matters related to rights and legitimate interests of individuals and organizations that have requested legal consultancy.

- Legal consultancy centers have the following obligations:

= To comply with the provisions of this Decree and relevant legal documents on lawyers and legal aid;

= To take responsibility for employing their legal consultants, lawyers, legal consultancy collaborators;

= To send to Justice Services of provinces or centrally run cities (below referred to as provincial-level Justice Services) where they are headquartered and to their managing organizations annual reports or extraordinary reports on their organization and operation when requested by these services or organizations;

= To pay compensations for damage caused by faults of their legal consultants, lawyers or legal consultancy collaborators while providing legal consultancy.

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