Chương II Thông tư 17/2011/TT-BTP hướng dẫn quy định Luật sư, Nghị định hướng dẫn Luật: Tổ chức hành nghề luật sư

Chapter II

LAW-PRACTICING ORGANIZATIONS

Article 5. Provision of legal services by lawyers

1. A lawyer shall provide legal services under a legal service contract or written agreement on legal service provision, except when he/she participates in judicial proceedings at the request of a procedure-conducting agency or he/she is an independent law practitioner working under a contract with an agency or organization.

2. For a case or job with a charge of VND 200,000 (two hundred thousand dong) or higher, a law-practicing organization or an independent law practitioner shall sign a written legal service contract. This contract must contain the details specified in Clause 2, Article 26 of the Law on Lawyers. When liquidating this contract, the law-practicing organization or independent law practitioner shall make an invoice and give it to the client under Article 15 of the Government’s Decree No. 51/2010/ND-CP on invoices on goods sale and service provision, and other laws on finance and accounting.

3. For a case or job with a charge of under VND 200,000 (two hundred thousand dong), a law-practicing organization or an independent law practitioner shall make a written agreement on legal service provision with the client according to the form provided in Clause 22, Article 36 of this Circular, and make an invoice under Article 16 of the Government’s Decree No. 51/2010/ND-CP, on invoices on goods sale and service provision, and other laws on finance and accounting.

Article 6. Method of numbering operation registration certificates of law- practicing organizations and law practice certificates of independent law practitioners

Operation registration certificates of law-practicing organizations and law practice certificates of independent law practitioners shall be numbered as follows:

The first two digits are the provincial code (Appendix 1 to this Circular, not printed herein); the next two digits are the code of type of law practice (Appendix 2 to this Circular, not printed herein); and the following four digits are the serial numbers of registration commonly used for law- practicing organizations, branches of law-practicing organizations and independent law practitioners.

When a law-practicing organization changes its form, the registered serial number of that organization will remain unchanged upon grant of a new operation registration certificate.

Article 7. Change of at-law representatives of law-practicing organizations

1. The at-law representative of a limited liability law firm with two or more members or a law partnership must be a lawyer and a member of the law firm.

When changing its at-law representative, a limited liability law firm with two or more members or a law partnership shall, within 10 working days after issuing a decision on such change, send a notice of the change and its operation registration certificate to the provincial-level Justice Department at which its has registered operation.

The procedures for changing registered operations comply with Article 36 of the Law on Lawyers.

2. The at-law representative of a lawyer office or a one-member limited liability law firm must be the owner that office or firm.

A lawyer office or one-member limited liability law firm wishing to change its at-law representative shall submit a dossier to the provincial-level Justice Department at which it has registered operation. A dossier comprises:

a/ A written request for change of the at-law representative;

b/ Operation registration certificate of the lawyer office or one-member limited liability law firm;

c/ Written agreement between the former and new at-law representatives on the performance of rights and obligations of the lawyer office or law firm;

d/ List of unfulfilled contracts and written agreements between the former at-law representative and clients on the transfer of those contracts to the new at-law representative of the lawyer office or law firm.

The procedures for changing the at-law representative of a lawyer office or law firm comply with Article 36 of the Law on Lawyers.

3. Within five working days after receiving a complete and valid dossier, a provincial-level Justice Department shall re-grant an operation registration certificate to a law-practicing organization, which clearly states change of the at-law representative.

Article 8. Change of form of law-practicing organizations

1. A lawyer office may be transformed into a limited liability law firm on the basis of taking over all the rights and obligations of the former under law.

A dossier of change of form of a law-practicing organization shall be sent to the provincial-level Justice Department at which the law-practicing organization has registered its operation. A dossier comprises:

a/ A written request for operation registration of a limited liability law firm;

b/ A written commitment to taking over all the rights and obligations of the lawyer office, made by the head of the limited liability law firm;

c/ Notice of change to clients;

d/ Draft charter of the limited liability law firm;

e/ Operation registration certificate of the lawyer office;

f/ List of members or lawyers owning the law firm; copies of law practice certificates and lawyer cards of member lawyers, for transformation into a limited liability law firm with two or more members;

g/ Copy of the paper proving change of head office, in case of change in the head office.

Within seven working days after receiving a complete and valid dossier, the provincial-level Justice Department shall grant an operation registration certificate to a limited liability law firm.

2. The procedures for notifying operation registration of a limited liability law firm comply with Article 38 of the Law on Lawyers.

Article 9. Heads of branches of law-practicing organizations

1. The head of a lawyer office or the director of a law firm may concurrently act as the head of a branch of that office or firm. The head of a lawyer office or the director of a law firm may act as the head of only one branch of that office or firm.

2. A lawyer office or law firm may appoint a member lawyer or a lawyer working under contract to act as the head of its branch, except foreign law practitioners in Vietnam.

Article 10. Establishment of transaction offices of law-practicing organizations

1. A law-practicing organization wishing to establish a transaction office shall submit a dossier to the provincial-level Justice Department at which it has registered operation. A dossier comprises:

a/ A notice of establishment of a transaction office;

b/ Decision on establishment of the transaction office, which clearly specifies the person assigned by the law-practicing organization to permanently work at the transaction office to receive clients’ requests, enclosed with a copy of that person’s identity card;

c/ Operation registration certificate of the law-practicing organization;

d/ Copy of the paper proving the headquarter of the transaction office.

2. Within seven working days after receiving a complete and valid dossier, the provincial-level Justice Department shall include the address of the transaction office in the operation registration office of a law-practicing organization.

Article 11. Withdrawal of operation registration certificates of law- practicing organizations and their branches

1. The operation registration certificate of a law-practicing organization shall be withdrawn when:

a/ It terminates its operation under Clause 1, Article 47 of the Law on Lawyers;

b/ It suspends its operation for more than one year after the deadline stated in its report on operation suspension without reporting on extension of such suspension.

When a law-practicing organization has its operation registration certificate withdrawn under Point b, Clause 1 of this Article, the provincial-level Justice Department shall carry out procedures to terminate the operation of that law-practicing organization under Clause 3, Article 47 of the Law on Lawyers.

2. Operation registration certificates of branches of law-practicing organizations shall be withdrawn under Clause 1, Article 48 of the Law on Lawyers.

3. When withdrawing the operation registration certificate of a law- practicing organization or its branch, the provincial-level Justice Department at which the law-practicing organization has registered its operation shall issue a decision on operation registration certificate withdrawal and send it to the concerned bar association and the tax office of the locality in which the law-practicing organization has registered its operation.