WHY YOU SHOULD INVEST IN PERIODIC LEGAL CONSULTING SERVICES

In addressing legal issues within business operations, companies often establish an internal legal department. For those without such a department, or in cases where the existing legal team lacks the expertise and experience to handle specific issues, many companies frequently turn to legal services offered by law firms or lawyer offices on a case-by-case basis. However, this traditional approach comes with certain limitations. Recognising these limitations, law firms and lawyer offices have developed periodic legal consulting services as a more optimal solution for companies. This article explores why you should invest in periodic legal consulting services.

1. What is periodic legal consulting services?

Periodic legal consulting services, also often referred to as regular legal consulting services, generally involve providing regular legal advice without limitations on the scope of consultation, in order to assist clients in resolving various legal issues that arise in their day-to-day business operations with a single payment for such services. With regular legal consulting services, lawyers do not assist with highly complex cases that require extensive research, documentation, or long-term monitoring. Instead, lawyers will provide advice on quickly resolvable matters, serving as a basis for companies to make decisions and carry out necessary tasks. The packages for periodic legal consulting services are diverse and flexible, depending on the characteristics of each law firm or lawyer office. Typically, these services are billed on a monthly basis. Additionally, depending on the service provider, the packages may be further divided based on the number of consultation hours, the quantity of tasks performed, and so forth.

2. Why you should invest in periodic legal consulting services?

Vietnam’s legal system encompasses not only one or a few legal documents but extends across numerous legislations regulating various legal sectors. Additionally, there are numerous guidelines aimed at interpreting laws or legal codes, often with content that may overlap and lack consistency, posing challenges for companies in correctly applying legal provisions. Consequently, during their business operations, many companies face inherent risks and may unintentionally breach legal regulations due to a lack of legal understanding.

To mitigate legal risks, many companies often establish an internal legal department to ensure compliance with legal requirements throughout their operations. However, these legal teams typically handle straightforward and repetitive legal matters. They may lack the necessary expertise to address more complex issues requiring specialised knowledge and extensive experience in specific legal sectors. Moreover, some small and medium-sized enterprises opt for a simplified operational structure to optimise costs, leading them to forego having a legal department. As a result, when legal issues arise, companies tend to seek legal services from law firms or lawyers offices on a case-by-case basis. Nevertheless, this approach may not be optimal, especially for companies seeking advice on legal issues arising in their daily operations. Recognising the clients’ needs, law firms and lawyer offices have introduced a new type of service known as periodic legal consulting. While this service has become increasingly popular, a few companies still lack a comprehensive understanding of its benefits, hindering their confidence in utilising it.

To address the question of  why you should invest in periodic legal consulting services, it’s essential to understand the benefits for this type of service. Compared to case-by-case legal consulting services, many companies can enjoy several advantages by utilising periodic legal consulting to receive advice on their day-to-day business operations. Specifically, these benefits include:

• Cost Optimisation: Consulting related to the daily business operations of a company is often not very complex. It does not require extensive research, documentation, or prolonged case monitoring. Therefore, the cost for this service is generally lower compared to case-by-case consulting. Typically, this fee is equivalent to the monthly salary a company pays to its legal department staff, excluding other related costs such as bonuses, insurance, travel expenses, and office rental fees for legal personnel. On a monthly basis, clients only need to pay a fixed fee to receive advice from a team of experienced lawyers proficient in various fields whenever needed.
• Reduction of unnecessary tasks: According to legal regulations, lawyers must sign a legal service contract with clients before providing services. Typically, clients send service requests to lawyers, who then assess the case and provide a fee quote for client review and approval. Subsequently, the parties proceed to sign the legal service contract. Utilising periodic consulting services helps save time and effort for both parties by reducing tasks related to service requests, fee quotes, and the signing of new legal services contracts. Parties only need to sign one periodic legal consulting services contract, allowing clients to contact lawyers multiple times for advice on various issues.
• Extensive advisory scope: When using case-by-case consulting services, clients are confined to receiving advice within the scope of that specific case. However, in day-to-day business operations, many companies may encounter various legal issues spanning different fields, such as business contract negotiations, business license applications, labour issues, social insurance matters, tax concerns, and more. By utilising periodic consulting services, clients can seek clarification on a multitude of areas, as long as the consultation time remains within the limits of the negotiated services package.

Periodic legal consulting services packages in the market typically include a diverse range of advisory activities, such as: Keeping clients updated on the latest legal regulations; Advising on drafting and reviewing contracts and other business-related documents, including non-disclosure agreements, non-compete commitments, and internal documents such as internal labour regulations, collective labour agreements, salary policies, meeting minutes, resolutions, and other internal policies; Advising on identifying and providing solutions for legal risks arising in business and investment activities; Providing support and advice, as well as drafting documents during dispute resolution processes, such as payment requests, contract compliance requests, damage compensation claims, etc. In addition, lawyers may agree to provide consultations at the client’s office or other requested locations.

It can be observed that opting for periodic legal consulting services is a suitable and an optimal choice to assist companies in resolving legal issues during their daily operations. This service proves especially beneficial for small and medium-sized enterprises, allowing them to save on the establishment costs of a legal department while ensuring effectiveness in minimising legal risks. With the support of a dedicated team of lawyers providing these services, businesses can navigate negotiations with confidence and make swift, effective decisions on emerging legal matters while ensuring compliance with legal regulations.

3. Searching for a reputable provider of periodic legal consulting services

Having addressed the question of why one should invest in why you should invest in periodic legal consulting services, the next step is to seek out a reputable organisation offering these services to minimise financial and time-related risks. In recent times, the establishment of numerous law firms and lawyers offices reflects the growing demand for legal advice and support. While this is a positive sign, it also poses a challenge for companies in selecting a trustworthy, professional, and high-quality organisation to entrust their legal matters.

To find a reliable service provider, you can consider factors such as whether the organisation holds a valid operating license, the experience level of their legal team, the reasonableness of their service fees, and the quality of client care provided. Additionally, you may rely on reviews from previous clients to evaluate the suitability of engaging the services of a particular organisation.

The above is an overview of why you should invest in periodic legal consulting services. If you are interested in utilising the periodic legal consulting services offered by Phuoc & Partners, please feel free to contact us for assistance. Phuoc & Partners is a professional consulting firm established in Vietnam and currently has nearly 100 members working in three offices in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Danang. Phuoc & Partners is also rated as one of the leading consulting firms specialising in business law in Vietnam that has leading practice areas in the legal market such as Labour and Employment, Taxation, Merger and acquisition, Litigation. We are confident in providing Clients with optimal and effective service.