Circular No. 02/2019/TT-BTP dated March 15, 2019 of the Ministry of Justice on prescribing lawyers’ obligation to participate in compulsory professional retraining

CIRCULAR

Prescribing lawyers’ obligation to participate in compulsory professional retraining^[1]

Pursuant to June 29, 2006 Law No. 65/2006/QH11 on Lawyers, which was amended and supplemented under November 20, 2012 Law No. 20/2012/QH13 Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Lawyers;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 96/2017/ND-CP of August 16, 2017, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Justice;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 123/2013/ND-CP of October 14, 2013, detailing a number of articles of and measures to implement the Law on Lawyers, which was amended and supplemented under Decree No. 137/2018/ND-CP of October 8, 2018;

At the proposal of the Director of the Agency of Judicial Support;

The Minister of Justice promulgates the Circular prescribing lawyers’ obligation to participate in compulsory professional retraining.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of regulation and subjects of application

1. This Circular prescribes trainees, time, forms and contents of
professional retraining for lawyers (below referred to as retraining); responsibilities of lawyers, law-practicing organizations, lawyers’ socio-professional organizations, lawyer-training institutions, and state management agencies in charge of lawyers and law practice to fulfill the obligation to participate in retraining; and handling of violations and settlement of complaints and denunciations.

2. This Circular applies to Vietnamese lawyers, Vietnamese law-practicing organizations, lawyers’ socio-professional organizations, lawyer-training institutions, state management agencies in charge of lawyers and law practice, and related agencies, organizations and individuals.

Article 2. Principles of providing retraining

1. Ensuring retraining period, contents, programs and quality as prescribed.

2. Ensuring the responsibility for and effectiveness of the fulfillment of the obligation to participate in retraining.

Chapter II

PROVIDING RETRAINING

Article 3. Contents and forms of retraining

1. Depending on requirements of annual compulsory retraining, retraining contents may include one or more of the following:

a/ Professional ethics and conduct of lawyers;

b/ Updated legal knowledge;

c/ Skills in law practice and skills supporting law-practice activities;

d/ Administration skills of law-practicing organizations.

2. Retraining shall be provided in the form of professional refresher courses for lawyers or exchange of law-practice experience.

Article 4. Organizations providing retraining

1. The Vietnam Bar Federation (Vietnam Bar Federation Training Center and Vietnam Business Lawyers Club).

2. Bar associations.

3. Lawyer-training institutions.

The retraining must comply with the contents prescribed in Article 3 of this Circular.

Article 5. Period of retraining and conversion of period of retraining

1. The period of retraining must be at least 8 hours per year.

2. A lawyer may have his/her period of retraining in a year converted in one of the following cases: 

a/ Having a legal studies article published in a domestic or foreign law journal; having a book or textbook on professional ethics and conduct of lawyers or law-practice skills published;

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