Chapter III
LAWYER’S PROFESSION- PRACTICING ORGANIZATIONS
Article 17.- Forms of lawyers profession - practicing organization
1. The lawyer’s office.
2. The law partnership company.
The lawyers may select either of the two forms prescribed in this Article to practice their profession.
Article 18.- Lawyer’s office
A lawyer’s office may be set up by one or several lawyers.
If a lawyer’s office is set up by a lawyer, such lawyer is the head of the office and has to bear the responsibility with his/her entire property for all obligations of the office.
If a lawyer’s office is set up by several lawyers, the member lawyers shall have to jointly bear responsibility with all their property for all obligations of the office. The member lawyers shall reach agreement on the appointment of a lawyer to be the head of the office. The office’s head is the office’s representative at law.
2. The lawyer’s offices are entitled to provide legal services in the fields of legal proceedings, legal consultancy and other legal services.
3. The appellation of the lawyer’s office shall be selected by the lawyer or member lawyers, which, however, must include the phrase "van phong luat su" (lawyer’s office) and ensure that it is not identical to, or does not cause confusion with, the name of another lawyer’s office already registered for operation, does not breach the historical, cultural and moral traditions as well as fine customs and practices of the nation.
4. The lawyer’s office has its own seal under the regulations of the Government.
Article 19.- The law partnership company
1. The law partnership company is a form of the lawyer’s profession- practicing organization, set up by at least two lawyers who jointly bear responsibility with their entire property for all obligations of the company. The law partnership company consists only of the partnership members.
The establishment, organization, management and operation of the law partnership company shall comply with this Ordinance; where this Ordinance does not prescribe them, the provisions of the Enterprise Law shall be complied with.
2. The law partnership company may provide legal services in the fields of legal consultancy and other legal services but must not provide legal services in the domain of legal proceedings.
3. The appellation of the law partnership company shall be selected under the joint agreement of the member lawyers, which, however, must include the phrase " Cong ty luat hop danh" (Law partnership company) and neither is identical to nor cause confusion with, the name of another law partnership company, and must not breach the historical, cultural and moral traditions as well as fine customs and practices of the nation.
4. The law partnership company has its own seal under the regulations of the Government.
Article 20.- Registration for operations of lawyer’s offices, law partnership companies
1. A dossier of registration for the operation of a lawyer’s office or a law partnership company shall include:
a) The application for operation registration;
b) The contract on establishment, for the lawyer’s office set up by a number of lawyers, or the charter, for the law partnership company;
c) The list of founding member lawyers;
d) The copy(ies) of the certificate(s) of lawyer’s professional practice of the lawyer or founding member lawyers;
e) The papers certifying the office.
2. The lawyer’s offices and law partnership companies shall register their operations at the provincial/municipal Justice Services of the localities where they are headquartered.
Within 15 days after the receipt of the dossiers, the provincial/municipal Justice Services shall grant the operation registration certificates to the lawyer’s offices or the law partnership companies; in case of refusal, they must notify the applicants in writing of the reasons therefor. The persons denied the granting of operation registration papers may lodge their complaints according to the provisions in Article 41 of this Ordinance.
The lawyer’s offices and law partnership companies shall commence their operations as from the date they are granted the operation registration papers.
3. When there are any changes in the appellations, head-offices, fields of occupational practice, lists of member lawyers, the lawyer’s offices and the law partnership companies shall, within 10 days before the changes are effected, have to notify such in writing to the provincial/municipal Justice Services of the localities where they have registered their operations.
Article 21.- Publishing on newspapers the establishment of lawyer’s offices, law partnership companies
Within 30 days as from the date of being granted the operation registration paper, a lawyer’s office or a law partnership company shall have to publish on a central daily or a newspaper of the locality where it has registered its operation or a specialized law newspaper for three consecutive issues the following major contents:
1. The name and address of the head-office;
2. The field of professional practice;
3. The name of the lawyer or the names of founding member lawyers;
4. The name of the lawyer as representative at law;
5. The serial number of the operation registration paper, the issuing agency, the date of issuance.
Article 22.- The rights of the lawyer’s offices, law partnership companies
1. To provide legal services in the domains inscribed in the operation registration papers.
2. To receive remuneration from clients.
3. To hire Vietnamese lawyers and employees to work for the offices or companies.
4. To hire foreign lawyers, to cooperate with foreign lawyers’ organizations under the provisions of law on foreign lawyers’ professional practice in Vietnam.
5. To set up domestic branches under the provisions in Article 24 of this Ordinance.
6. To open professional practice establishments overseas under the regulations of the Government.
7. To exercise other rights as prescribed by law.
Article 23.- The obligations of the lawyer’s offices, the law partnership companies
1. The law partnership companies have the following obligations:
a) To operate within the fields of professional practice inscribed in the operation registration papers;
b) To strictly abide by the contents already contracted with clients;
c) To pay compensation for damage caused to clients by their lawyers while providing legal consultancy and/or other legal services;
d) To buy occupational liability insurance for their lawyers;
e) To post up the charge rates at their head-offices;
f) To abide by the law provisions on labor, tax, accounting, statistics;
g) To accept probationary lawyers and appoint lawyers to instruct the probationary lawyers upon the recommendation of the Managerial Boards of the bar associations.
h) To meet the requests of competent State bodies regarding the reporting, examination and inspection;
i) To fulfill other obligations as prescribed by law.
2. The lawyer’s offices have the following obligations:
a) The obligations prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article;
b) To appoint lawyers to participate in the legal proceedings for cases as requested by the agencies conducting the legal proceedings, according to the assignment of the bar associations.
Article 24.- Branches of lawyer’s offices, branches of law partnership companies
1. Branches of lawyer’s offices and branches of law partnership companies are dependent units of such lawyer’s offices or law partnership companies, which operate under the authorization of the lawyer’s offices or the law partnership companies in accordance with the fields of professional practice inscribed in the operation registration papers of the offices or the companies.
The lawyer’s offices and the law partnership companies shall have to bear responsibility for the operations of the branches they have set up.
2. Branches of lawyer’s offices and branches of law partnership companies must register their operations at the provincial/municipal Justice Services of the localities where they have been set up. The dossier of registration for a branch’s operation shall include:
a) The application for the branch’s operations;
b) The copy of the operation registration paper of the lawyer’s office or the law partnership company;
c) The decision on the setting up of the branch;
d) The copy of the branch head’s certificate of practice of the lawyer’s profession;
e) The papers certifying the branch’s headquarter.
Within 10 days as from the date of receiving the dossiers, the provincial/municipal Justice Services shall grant the operation registration papers to the branches; in case of refusal, they shall have to notify the applicants in writing of the reasons therefor. Persons who are denied the granting thereof may lodge their complaints as provided for in Clause 1, Article 41 of this Ordinance.
Branches may commence their operations as from the date of being granted the operation registration papers.
3. Within 30 days as from the date of being granted the operation registration papers, the branches shall have to publish their establishment on central newspapers or newspapers of the localities where they have registered their operations or specialized law newspapers for three consecutive issues.
Article 25.- Legal service contracts
The legal service contracts concluded between lawyer’s offices or law partnership companies and clients are civil contracts, which must be made in writing and contain the following principal contents:
1. The names and addresses of the clients or their representatives, the lawyer’s offices or the law partnership companies;
2. The service contents; the contract-performance duration;
3. The rights and obligations of the parties;
4. The mode of calculation and specific level of charges, expenses (if any);
5. Liability for breach of the contract.
The contract must be notarized if either party so requests.
Article 26.- Termination of operation of lawyers offices, law partnership companies and/or of their branches
1. Lawyers offices and/or law partnership companies and/or the branches thereof shall terminate their operation in the following cases:
a) They terminate their operation by themselves;
b) Their operation registration papers have been withdrawn.
2. The Government shall stipulate the order and procedures for termination of operations of lawyers offices, law partnership companies and/or branches thereof.
Tìm kiếm
Pháp lệnh luật sư năm 2001 (Bản Word)