New Lawyer Fee Regulations
From January 1, 2016, the unified Bar membership fee is 200,000 VND/Lawyer/month. The highest fee for practicing as a Lawyer is not more than 5 million VND/person and the fee for joining the Bar Association is not more than 10 million VND/Lawyer. These two fees are decided by the Bar Associations.
At the second meeting held on December 14, the National Bar Council (NBC) passed a resolution on fees for lawyer activities applicable from January 1, 2016.
Previously, lawyers paid two types of fees for membership in the Bar Association and the Vietnam Bar Federation. According to assessments, this is a form of 'fee on fee' that puts lawyers in a situation of 'one neck, two yokes'.
However, revenue from membership fees still cannot cover the regular operating costs of some Bar Associations and Bar Federations. To ensure regular expenses are covered, some Bar Associations charge membership fees of over VND300,000/month.
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| The 2nd session of the National Bar Council passed a Resolution on lawyer membership fees. |
It is estimated that if the VBF membership fee collection rate reaches over 80% in the 3-year period (2012 - 2014), the membership fee revenue will cover the expenditure needs of the VBF. However, from 2009 to present, VBF members still owe over 10 billion VND in membership fees.
Every year, the membership fee collection rate only reaches an average of 45 - 55% because some lawyers do not pay or pay late the two types of membership fees: the Vietnam Bar Federation and the Vietnam Bar Federation. Some do not pay the membership fee of the Vietnam Bar Federation.
Therefore, the International Bar Council has decided that the membership fee (including the membership fee of the Bar Association and the Vietnam Bar Federation) is 200,000 VND/Lawyer/month to ensure fairness for all member lawyers of the Bar Associations. At the same time, the rate of adjusting the membership fee to the Vietnam Bar Federation will be applied based on the number of lawyers of the associations.
Accordingly, Bar Associations with 1,000 or more lawyers pay 50%; Bar Associations with 300 - 999 lawyers pay 30%; Bar Associations with 50 - 299 lawyers pay 20%; Bar Associations with less than 50 lawyers pay 10%.
Such a contribution rate comes from the spirit of solidarity and support among Bar Associations, helping Bar Associations with few Lawyers and insufficient revenue to retain their operating fees. On the contrary, Associations with many Lawyers and high revenue will contribute more to the VBF.
In 2015, 6 Lawyers were disciplined and removed from the Bar Association.
In 2015, the Vietnam Bar Federation received 77 complaints and denunciations related to lawyers. Most of the complaints and denunciations were about lawyers violating ethics and professional conduct, and disputes over fees between lawyers and clients, and were resolved according to their authority. As a result, the Bar Associations took disciplinary action and removed the names of 6 lawyers.
According to the Vietnam Bar Federation, the phenomenon of obstructing the legal practice rights of lawyers in criminal cases still exists in some places and agencies, especially investigation agencies.
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| Lawyers advise people at Nghe An Newspaper Office. |
Therefore, the Federation and Bar Associations have focused on protecting the legitimate rights of Lawyers, along with actively participating in the process of creating a legal environment and perfecting the law to ensure the right to practice of Lawyers.
In 2015, the Federation received 33 cases requesting the protection of Lawyers' rights. Of these, 6 cases were transferred to the Bar Association for representation; 25 cases in which the Federation has sent documents requesting the prosecuting agency to respect the legal practice rights of Lawyers and 2 cases are not under the jurisdiction of the Vietnam Bar Federation.
Apply advanced training model According to the Vietnam Bar Federation, in July 2016, the Vietnam Lawyers Training School will implement the 2016 enrollment and training plan. Lawyer Nguyen Dinh Tho - Chairman of the Committee for Training, Fostering, Building and Dissemination of Law said that the School will provide 12-month training, including 9 months of studying at school and 3 months of professional internship. The target students are law graduates nationwide.The training scale in the first year is 300 students, the following years will gradually increase along with improving the training quality. From 2020 - 2021 onwards, the training scale will be from 800-1,000 students. The training and development of Lawyers at the School is carried out on the basis of applying a combination of advanced training models such as dual training models, online training, etc. to improve the efficiency and quality of training and development of Lawyers, and reduce training and development costs. According to the plan, in December 2015, the Federation will submit to the Minister of Justice for approval the Project on establishment and the School Charter so that by May 2016, the plan for enrollment, training and fostering of Lawyers in 2016 for the first training course of the school is expected to start from July 2016.' |
According to Vietnamese Law
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