If your legal work requires the support of a lawyer, you may have several questions in mind when deciding which lawyer or law firm you should contact. To assist you in making your decision, we have answered some of our clients most commonly asked questions. For any matters not covered below, you may send your question(s) to us via the email address: info@phuoc-partner.com at any time. We are happy to also respond directly to your questions via our official phone at +84 (28) 36223522, during normal business hours.

From time to time the information below may change, so if there are any inconsistencies or differences between the responses stated here and those within your signed fee quote/legal services agreement, please refer to the contents of that quote/agreement.

Profile & Practice

1Why should I select your firm as my lawyer?
We have a solid team of lawyers and consultants who are graduates of prestigious universities in Vietnam and abroad, including two Doctors of Law and seven Masters of Law (LLM) who are proficient in the use of English. With offices in three of Vietnam’s commercial, political and cultural centres – Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Danang – we have nearly 15 years of legal practice experience in Vietnam. We are fully capable of providing legal services packages for organizational and individual clients in Vietnam and overseas in all legal areas, including but not limited to tax, labour, investment, real estate, dispute resolution, intellectual property, shipping, commerce, debt collection and civil law in all cities and provinces in Vietnam.

For more than 15 years, nearly 2,000 clients, both foreign and Vietnamese organizations and individuals, have trusted and employed our legal services; our law firm consistently demonstrating a professionalism, in depth legal knowledge, experience and dedication to the provision of legal services to our clients. Moreover, for many consecutive years our law firm has been assessed independently by well-known directories of international law such as Legal 500, Asia Law, Chambers & Partners, ALB as one of the leading law firms in Vietnam. In the beginning of 2013, the Vietnam Bar Federation awarded our law firm the Certificate of Merit for good performance in legal practice in 2012.

As a leading Vietnamese-International law firm, we not only have a comprehensive knowledge of Vietnamese law, but also a sound knowledge of international law. With many years of experience in legal practice in Vietnam, we have a thorough understanding of the local language, customs, practices, culture, society, and people of Vietnam. With a reasonable and diversified range of service fees, we have achieved the best results in the provision of legal advice as well as protection of the legal rights of our clients in Vietnam.
2Is there any difference between hiring a solo practice lawyer and a prestigious law firm like Phuoc & Partners?
Yes, there are some very fundamental differences. Firstly, with a large team of lawyers and consultants, and a long list of large clients with large transactions/disputes, a prestigious law firm like Phuoc & Partners can advise on various complex legal fields with large workloads at the same time. Secondly, with offices located in many places in Vietnam, prestigious law firms can easily do the clients work anywhere with a minimum travelling cost. Thirdly, the legal service fees of prestigious law firms are usually higher than those of solo practice lawyers, however this is due to (1) administrative costs of office operation (office rental, human resources, professional training, business development costs, etc.), and (2) in order to serve clients, a prestigious law firm must maintain a full complement of lawyers and support staff in many different legal fields at many locations, so their wage cost is high.

Therefore, depending on what type of legal work you require, your location and your budget, whether the transaction/dispute be complex, large or small, you will make a choice between a prestigious law firm or a solo practice lawyer.
3Where are your offices located?
So as to generate maximum traffic convenience for our clients, especially foreign clients who have not been to Vietnam before, our three offices are located in the high-rise office buildings in the administrative centers of Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Danang. We also provide directions via Google Map according to the link: Contact Us so as to facilitate our clients search for our office addresses.
4Does your law firm have practice liability insurance?
According to the provisions of the Law on Lawyers of Vietnam, law practising individuals and organisations have to purchase professional liability insurance from a legally operating insurance company in Vietnam. In this regard, we have purchased a full range of professional liability insurance as prescribed. If requested, we will provide you with certificates of insurance purchase from an insurance company.
5Is there any legal work in Vietnam that your law firm does not provide?
As a leading law firm in Vietnam, we provide full scale legal services for clients both foreign and local organizations and individuals with legal requests related to Vietnamese law. However, in practice, there are a few types of work that we are not frequently asked to provide including criminal defence or the provision of civil compliance services.
6What are your law firm’s working hours?
We work from 8 am to 5:30 pm from Monday to Friday weekly (except public holidays as prescribed by Vietnamese law). However, if you have any urgent and important work that requires after hours work then please make a request directly to the lawyer in charge of your assigned work and we will review. If deemed necessary and appropriate, we will arrange to work with you at other times as agreed between the two parties and will not charge overtime in these cases.
7When I ask Phuoc & Partners to be my lawyer in court or at arbitration, with your extensive experience and a substantial team of lawyers, can Phuoc & Partners ensure that I will win my case?
According to the ethical rules and professional conduct of lawyers issued by the Federation of Vietnamese Lawyers, lawyers are not entitled to provide guarantee of results with clients in every disputing case and we always adhere strictly to such standard rules. Typically, based on the information related to the case that you provide as well as reference to the relevant provisions of the law we can, if requested, provide our legal reasoning and an initial opinion about your legal position in the case in order for you to consider and make a decision on further steps to be taken. Because we can only rely on the information provided by you to issue our legal opinion we do not have an opportunity to refer to the evidence / information available from the other side in the dispute, and with the final decision for dispute settlement of the lawsuit is a court or a team of arbitrators, our legal opinion can only be treated as a reference from a professional perspective to make it easier for you to make the necessary and reasonable decisions in this case. Of course, during the duration of case proceedings, with our extensive and in-depth experience, we will do our best to protect your legitimate rights and benefits.
8Has your law firm maintained a sufficiently close relationship with State authorities which can provide me with "assistance"?
As a leading law firm in Vietnam, we, of course, have many opportunities to work with many State agencies and departments in the country, including but not limited to the Government Office, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Finance, the General Department of Taxation, the State Bank, etc. People’s Committees at all levels, the Supreme Court, district courts and other, the enforcement agencies. However, our relationship is based purely on the legal work of our clients and we always maintain a consistent standard as required by the Law on Lawyers, Code of Ethics and professional conduct and Anti-Corruption Law in relation to these agencies to maintain the strict code of the professionalism of the legal profession in general and work rules of Phuoc & Partners in particular.
9If I want to get information relating to Phuoc & Partners, where can I get that?
If you would like further information about Phuoc & Partners, you can visit our website phuoc-partner.com or you can send your email to our email address info@phuoc-partner.com and we can provide you our Phuoc & Partners profile (in English, Korean, Japanese, French, Vietnamese) either in soft or hard copy via email or post.
10In addition to the information provided by Phuoc & Partners, if I would like any reliable third party references or reviews of Phuoc & Partners, who should I contact?
As an independent law practicing organization, we are under the management of the Ministry of Justice, the Federation of Vietnamese Lawyers, the local Departments of Justice and the local Bar Associations (in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Da Nang). If you would like to get more information about Phuoc & Partners, you can contact these agencies.
11Which legal fields are your law firm’s strong areas of practice as compared to those of other law firms?
Being one of the leading law firms in Vietnam, we provide legal services to individual and organization clients in the entire existing legal fields in Vietnam. However, our main strength of practice is in the field of tax, labour and employment, investment, real estate, mergers & acquisition, marine and shipping, dispute settlement at courts and arbitration bodies, intellectual property, litigation and, debt recovery.
12I need to have some legal documents notarized but I am afraid of taking much time to go to public notary offices. Does Phuoc & Partners provide notarization services?
Under the current provisions of Vietnamese law, law firms and independent practicing lawyers do not have the function of legal document notarization. Instead, only the State and private notary public offices can perform the notarization of legal documents. However, if requested, we will be able to help you contact the Notary Public, and arrange appointment of notarization (either at the notary public office(s) or at your place in Vietnam), work on your behalf with the notary public office regarding the content and form of a legal document before it is notarised; take you to the notary public; and pay notary fees on your behalf.
13If I am a Vietnamese or a Vietnamese company but have a legal job in a foreign country (such as establishment of enterprise or participation in a litigation case), can I choose your law firm to support me?
You can choose our law firm to assist you with your legal matter. However, please note that because we are a law firm licensed to operate in Vietnam, we will only be able to advise you on Vietnamese law relating to your legal matter(s). To carry out the legal work related to foreign laws, we will only be able to help you at: (1) finding a local company to provide legal services in that country which has expertise of the legal work that you need for a reasonable fee based on our network in the legal community; (ii) translating documents that you need to provide into English and send them to the foreign law firm you selected; (iii) monitoring the progress of work, communicating with your lawyer in that country and reporting the same to you promptly; and (iv) if necessary and requested, as an authorized person, representing you at courts/ arbitration bodies to protect your interest.

Billing & Invoice

1How many methods of calculation of legal service fee is your law firm applying?
We understand thoroughly and share your concern with respect to the amount of legal service fee payable from a limited budget and that is the reason we have adopted a flexible approach to payment: an hourly fee, fixed fee or success fee. Hourly fee (which is the most commonly used method) is usually applied to assigned works where it is difficult or impossible to determine their completion time (e.g., regular legal advice, or dispute settlement); a fixed fee is usually applied to work where we can estimate the completion time (e.g. obtainment of investment licenses, registration of internal labour regulations, trademark registration, obtainment of work permits etc.); and success fee applied for a job where a number of clients, for many reasons, do not have the ability or intention to pay the initial legal service fees (for example, recovery of bad debts).
2What are your law firm hourly rates? Do they change often?
The current hourly charges of our team of lawyers and supporting staffs applicable are as follows:
  VNĐ USD
     
Partner 8,660,200 380
Senior Associate 6,381,200 280
Associate 4,558,000 200
Paralegal 3,418,500 150
Translator 797,650 35

We often change the hourly charges of our law firm annually on the first day of January and such changes will be advised in writing to our clients at least seven (07) days before the application. These changes will be based on the percentage of inflation of the Vietnam Dong (VND), the social and economic situation of Vietnam and legal demands in the business and individual areas. The changes are applied consistently not only to new clients but also current clients of our law firm which are using our legal services.
3Can I pay the legal service fee of your law firm in a foreign currency?
According to current regulations on foreign exchange control of Vietnam, payment currency in transactions within the territory of Vietnam (including legal services related transactions) must be in the currency of Vietnam (VND). Therefore, the payment currency will be VND on all of our quotes/legal service contracts and service invoices issued to all of our clients being organizations registered to operate in Vietnam and foreign individuals permanently present in Vietnam. For some of our clients have foreign elements, such as foreign-invested companies, representative offices and branches of foreign traders in Vietnam, our law firm can, in addition to VND, further notice the payment currency in foreign currency (applicable to U.S. dollars (USD) only) with the value of USD equivalent to the amount of VND at the selling exchange rate of the State Bank of Vietnam, calculated at that time of the clients’ referral, comparison and internal reporting, but the payment must be by VND. The quotes/legal service contracts and payment in USD will only apply to client companies and individuals which do not have a permanent presence in Vietnam.
4How much is the Value Added Tax (VAT”) rate applicable for legal services of Vietnam?
The VAT rate applicable for legal services is 10% (standard rate). However, if the legal service(s) are provided to clients which/who are abroad, and the provided legal service(s) are conducted (the word “consumed” as technical term in the legal documents) outside Vietnam, the VAT rate of 0% will be applied (being treated as a service for export). Please note the conditions for enjoying the 0% VAT rate of clients abroad which/who is an organization without a permanent establishment in Vietnam and is not a VAT payer in Vietnam are no longer applied. In respect of cases where the legal service(s) are provided for enterprises located in export processing zones of Vietnam, such legal services will also be entitled to the 0% VAT rate.
5I am an individual client, shall I bear VAT levied on your firm’s legal service fee?
Under the provisions of the current Law on VAT in Vietnam, goods and services used by organizations and individuals for production, trading and consumption in Vietnam are generally subject to VAT and legal service is not an exception to this rule. Therefore, even if you are an individual using our legal services and you do not need a VAT invoice, you must also bear VAT on the amount of legal service fees that you have to pay us and we are also liable to issue VAT invoice to you. With the responsibility to pay VAT to the State, we will charge and collect the VAT from you as mentioned above and pay it to the State treasury as prescribed.
6How many methods of payment of legal service fees is your company applying?
We are currently applying two forms of payment i.e. by bank transfer and in cash. Bank transfer is the most commonly applied form especially for any transferred amount of 20 million VND or more in accordance with the VAT Law to be treated as a deductible VAT input. Currently, we do not accept any payment from clients by credit card or cheques.
7Why do I have to pay a retainer to your law firm right after the fee quote/legal service agreement is signed?
This is a general practice oflaw firms because, when carrying out legal work for clients, we have to arrange the right human resources needed for the job as well asincur some necessary expenses for services purchased from outside suppliers related to your assigned work and so we need to receive some money from you for us to cover costs incurred. The retainer will be deducted from the service fee of the last invoice issued to you, and if there is still a positive balance of the retainer, it will be refunded.
8Is your law firms using many kinds of service invoices?
We are using two types of service invoices i.e. provisional invoice and VAT invoice. The provisional invoice is typically issued to clients when we start working on the assigned work and the clients need to pay the retainer as required under the fee quote/legal service contract signed or upon the end of each stage of the assigned work or at the date of completion of the assigned work agreed by the two sides. The provisional invoice will list the work that our team of lawyers and supporting staff has done in a particular period of time for the assigned work and our fees for the actual time spent. If the client has comment as to the content of the provisional invoice, we will respond, explain, and modify accordingly and return with a final one upon which the parties have agreed. If a client does not have any further comments, either (1) the clients will pay the service fees according to those stated in the provisional invoice and once the service fee is received in full, we will issue VAT invoice accordingly; or (2) the VAT invoice will be issued first and then the client will pay the service fee within 07 days from the invoice date or the number of days agreed by the two sides in the fee quote/legal service contract signed.
9Does your law firm request for reimbursement from the client for out of pocket expenses incurred relating to the client’s assigned work?
Under the general billing policy of law firms in general and Phuoc & Parrtners in particular, the cost of our purchase of services or goods from outside suppliers relating to the assigned work(s) will be paid in advance by us and then reimbursed by the client through the content recorded in the provisional invoice. For some high value items which accord to the level of money agreed by the two parties, we will ask for prior consent from the client. These out of pocket expense costs include, but are not limited, to travel expenses(taxi fare; car rental; tickets of trains, cars, airplanes; tolls; packing fees); accommodation(hotel charges; laundry; meals); telecommunication costs(telephone, fax, internet); government fees and charges; and other expenses(photocopying, notary fees). We always carefully keep invoices/documents relating to the expenses which we are ready to provide to the client upon request.
10What are the consequences if I am unable to pay your law firm’s service fee promptly in accordance with those stated in the fee quote/legal service contract?
If you are unable to pay our service fees on time, a penalty for late payment of 0.05% per day will be automatically applied for the total amount of payment delayed from that point of time. If the duration of payment delay is more than 30 days from the date of issue of the invoice, we will remind you 3 times in the next 30 days. However, in case the amount of the service fee has not been paid and we will not have received any positive feedback from you, we have no other choice but to consider seeking a favourable judgment from a competent court and ask a competent judgment execution agency to enforce the court judgment to recover our debts.
11Why are there many lawyers from many different professional levels of your law firm involved in my simple case?
Legal work delivered to our clients in very diverse in many different legal fields from simple to complex. Therefore, depending on the complexity of the work and expertise of each lawyer we will arrange suitable person(s) to be responsible for your work to help reduce your costs and increase the efficiency of time of our lawyers. If the legal work given to us is complex and requires focused expertise in a variety of legal such as tax, intellectual property and trade at the same time, we must organise a number of specialists from different areas of legal expertise to work on your case at the same time.
12After paying the retainer to your law firm, I, due to personal reason(s) do not want to continue the legal work which was assigned to your law firm but has not been completed yet, can I have refund of the retainer paid?
According to the our working principle, as soon as you sign the fee quote/legal service contract drafted by us, our staff will have been deployed immediately to the service of your work to ensure completion committed, so if you, for some personal reasons(and at no fault of our own) request us to stop the assigned work being carried out, the retainer paid will not be refunded. In addition, if the cost of the time our staff spent for your legal work is higher than the amount of retainer paid, we will notify you accordingly in order for you to pay this extra cost.
13If a lawyer of your law firm provides legal advice or performs legal work which is wrong and which causes serious material damage to me, will your law firm pay compensation and how much is the amount of compensation?
If a lawyer or supporting staff of our law firm provide legal advice or performs legal work which is wrong and which causes serious material damage directly to a client, provided there is clear evidence of such we will be liable for material damage to the client in accordance with the current civil law. However, in all cases, the amount of compensation that we shall pay will not exceed the total amount of service fee that we have received from such the client for that assigned work to the date of compensation

Client Relationship

1How can I become a Phuoc & Partners client?
To become our client, you will be asked on behalf of either your company (if it is the legal work of your company) or on your behalf (if it is your own legal work) to sign a fee quote/legal services agreement drafted by us, based on your request for our services which will be sent to you by either by email, letter or fax. After receiving the signed legal services agreement from you, our accounting department will send you a retainer invoice and as soon as you have paid the retainer in full, you will officially become our client and we will begin the implementation of the legal work required by you. Except for the case of bad debt recovery services which are agreed to be charged on the basis of a recoverable amount, you will be our client at the time of your signing the fee quote/legal services agreement.
2How long is the maximum time that I have to answer the fee quote/legal services agreement sent from Phuoc & Partners?
The reasonable time for you to reply to our fee quote/legal services agreement is from five (05) to seven (07) working days from the date we sent it to you. However, if you need more time to consider and decide on the use of our legal services, you can request a reasonable extension to this period of time which will be stated in the fee quote/legal services agreement we will send to you. We always listen and will accommodate our clients needs as best as possible.
3 want to be updated frequently about new laws and regulations from time to time – does Phuoc & Partners provide any legal update free of charge?
Yes, we do. We issue our legal newsletter on a monthly basis at the beginning of each month. For urgent legal matters, we do not wait until the issue of a monthly legal update but will issue a brief legal alert regarding its legal implications, for your attention. This is a free of charge service and if you want to receive our legal update and legal alert, please send your email address and your company contact to our email address info@phuoc-partner.com. We will add your contact details to our mailing list and you will receive our legal update and legal alert monthly as mentioned above. However, in case you read our legal update and legal alert and want to receive specific legal advice and/or receive supporting legal documents from us, we will carry out your request but will charge a reasonable fee for this service.
4Can I entrust Phuoc & Partners with confidential information?
As a legally operating law firm in Vietnam, we are required by the Law on Lawyers of Vietnam to keep the information provided by clients confidential (except for a few cases requested by competent State authorities) not only during the provision of legal services but also for a certain time following such provisions. We always comply strictly with their rules and have a clear set of guidelines for our lawyers and support staff for their implementation. We are also willing to sign a confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement with you so as to make you feel more secure about your relevant information to us. If the incorrect disclosure of any of such information provided causes serious material damages for you, we will pay compensation for material liability per the provision of the fee quote/legal services agreement signed and the relevant provision of applicable laws of Vietnam.
5Does Phuoc & Partners buy the necessary licenses to use office software (for instance Microsoft office, accounting software, legal document search software)?
As a law firm duly operated in Vietnam, we always focus on compliance with the law of Vietnam in general and intellectual property law in particular. Therefore, we have purchased necessary licenses for all of our office software being used from trusted service providers in Vietnam.
6If I am not satisfied with service provided by the lawyer who is assigned to handle my work, do I have the right to request Phuoc & Partners to change my lawyer?
Provision of legal services is similar to the provision of other services, so there will inevitably be a few clients at a certain point of time who are not satisfied with the way our lawyers provide services. We always try to listen, understand and adapt to the needs of our clients at all times. Therefore, if you have any issues where you are not satisfied with our assigned lawyers/support staff, please email our Managing Partner (Mr. Nguyen Huu Phuoc: email: phuoc.nguyen@phuoc-partner.com) raising your issue(s). Mr. Nguyen Huu Phuoc will consider the issue and talk to the people involved so as to improve the provision of services for you and will further inform you of its outcomes. If the situation does not improve, then you should inform to Mr. Nguyen Huu Phuoc again and we will quickly adjust the personnel appropriately in accordance with your requests.
7Generally, how long will Phuoc & Partners keep client related information after the legal work is completed?
Normally, we will keep client related information that was provided to us or obtained by us in the course of providing our legal services for a 24 month period, calculated from the date that all assigned work is completed. This information is kept for reference purposes should clients require further legal support services. Please note that after the legal work is completed, it is our law firm’s policy to immediately return to the clients all information related to their legal work. We will only consider providing such information to a client again within the above-mentioned 24 month period if the client can show a reasonable cause.

Fee quote/ Legal service/ Contract

1I have important legal work and need to seek the assistance of a lawyer but want to tender between law firms in order to find a law firm with the most experience at the most affordable fee. Does your law firm consent to participate in bidding with other law firms to provide legal services in such case?
We understand the importance of legal work that you will want to assign to a lawyer and are willing to participate in a bidding process between law firms if we can afford the experience for the assigned job and the service fees expected are reasonable.
2When my company selects a law firm for legal work, we usually draft a legal service contract and send the draft to the law firm for comments instead of waiting for the law firm to send the draft legal service contract prepared by them. Does your law firm agree to such arrangement?
We usually actively draft and send a fee quote/legal service contract to clients because we do this work every day and therefore have a lot of experience in such matters. We also have an available source of various forms of legal service contracts in accordance with each client’s specific requirements. However, if you really want to draft the legal service contract according to your http://www.phuoc-partner.com/ templates, we will be agreeable with that provided that we are allowed to comment on the draft before signing.

Client Communication

1I am unable to speak English and Vietnamese, does Phuoc & Partners have any interpreter or lawyer who can speak my mother language?
We currently have a few lawyers and consultants who can speak Japanese and French. Therefore, if you can speak one of these languages, we will be able to effectively discuss your legal work. However, if you can speak only a language other than any of the languages mentioned herein and still wish to work with us, you can either hire a professional interpreter or we will hire an interpreter for you and you will pay them directly.
2If I, by any reason, are unable to contact my lawyer in charge, from whom in Phuoc & Partners can I receive support?
We maintain two main direct channel of communication that our clients can use to contact any of our offices i.e. via telephone +84 (28) 3622 3522 or email: info@phuoc-partner.com. If you have any questions or need urgent legal support, please call or email us and we will either respond to you immediately or at the earliest possible time. Should you still not receive our reply, please call our hotline number at any time, seven days a week at +84 (28) 3622 3522.
3Nowadays, there are many popular free of charge communication channels such as Skype, Yahoo Messenger, Viber. So, can I use them to communicate the assigned work(s) with Phuoc & Partners lawyers?
We acknowledge the fact that there are now quite a lot of popular free-of-charge on line communication channels such as Skype, Yahoo Messenger and Viber and always appreciate their efficiency. However, due to the exchange of information between client and lawyer is generally confidential and private information, we rarely use these popular online communication channels to exchange work with clients (except for emergency cases) for fear information leakage. We currently use Skype and Viber as an internal communication channels only. If you need to exchange work with us, please call our telephone or send email to our lawyers and we will try to send our reply to you as soon as possible.
4I am very busy and do not have time to read legal advice or have email exchange with lawyers, if I request, can Phuoc & Partners agree to work with me through meetings and telephone only?
We as a law firm are always listening and willing to work with clients to ensure maximum convenience for the client, including using the most efficient communication channels such as meetings and telephone, per your request.

Legal work often requires lawyers to constantly cross-check and reference their previous information and advice; due to the often ambiguous nature of some provisions of the current laws of Vietnam, the understanding and interpretation of the law can change for each person. To ensure the correct course of action is taken, our lawyers may still need to note consultations with the client for their easy reference later (if necessary) and also to help reference between the work that has been done and what has been advised to the client. On that basis, even if you do not require it, from time to time we are still obliged to send an email/fax/letter to you of the legal work that we have been assigned; we request that you or your secretary simply hold this information for use as needed.
5During the process of working with Phuoc & Partners, is it possible to have written communication with me in two languages (bilingual) at the same time (for instance Vietnamese and English)?
Languages used in our main communication are Vietnamese and English, or another language in some special cases (including French and Japanese). However, in the documents exchanged between us and clients through email/fax/mail, we will only use one of the languages as mentioned above. We will write in one or more languages should a client request, provided that an additional fee will be charged for our translation services.
6When I need to meet a lawyer of Phuoc & Partners, do I need to make an appointment first?
Yes, you do. Our lawyers are often very busy with a schedule including attendance at client meetings and court hearings, attendance and/or presentating at legal seminars/events/training courses, conference calls with clients, State bodies and third parties etc. In addition, our lawyers also need to be well prepared before any client meeting, especially consultations, and therefore without making an appointment in advance at a reasonable time either via telephone or email, it is difficult for us to have a lawyer ready and well prepared to meet you and in some cases where we have no other choice, we will have to say “No” to you even though you may already be at our front office reception. We do hope that you will understand the workload of our lawyers and will sympathize and follow this guidance.
7In various meetings with me, is it possible if I want your lawyers to go to my place or a venue selected by me instead of Phuoc & Partners office(s)?
In the course of providing legal services to clients, similar to other types of services, we are always looking for ways to make matters more convenient for our clients at the lowest possible cost. Therefore, we usually suggest a meeting place in our offices in order that we do not have to travel and charge the clients for our travelling time. However, if requested, our lawyers are available to meet the clients at any place requested by them provided that:(i) the travelling cost and the travelling time cost of our lawyer are paid by the clients;(ii) are reasonable period of notice has been given; and (iii) the location of the meeting is safe, clean, and convenient for transport.
8When I attend the first meeting with a lawyer Phuoc & Partners, what should I prepare in advance?
The first meeting between client and lawyer usually aims to get information of the two sides and for the client to provide basic information related to the legal work that the client will assign to the lawyer. Therefore, you need to bring documents relevant to you (ID card or passport) or your company (establishment license, business registration certificate, profile and a brief introduction of the services/products of your company) and basic information related to legal case(s) that you will assign to us so that we have the information to prepare the fee quote/legal services agreement to be sent to you for your consideration after the meeting.
9In case I want to contact an assigned lawyer of Phuoc & Partners, should I contact his/her cell phone number or call to Phuoc & Partners’ main telephone number +84 (28) 3622 3522 and the call will be transferred to his/her extention?
Our recommendation is that you call Phuoc & Partners’ phone number +84 (28) 3622 3522 to be transfered to the lawyer’s extention (even if your telephone call is transferred to your lawyer’s mobile phone when they are not present in the office) instead of calling their cellphones for two main reasons: (1) when you communicate with our lawyers through Phuoc & Partners’ telephone line, your telephone call will be recorded in order for us to examine and improve the quality of our lawyers’ professional services; and (2) record the content of conversations between clients and lawyers so that they can be used to compare between our attorneys’ advice and what you have done based on those advice, where necessary.
10During the process of carry out my assigned job or after the assigned job is satisfactorily completed, can I give gift(s) or invite the assigned lawyers(s) of Phuoc & Partners to have dinner or enjoy entertainment?
The Law on Lawyers and the Code of Ethics of the Vietnam Bar Federation do not contain any regulations that clearly prohibit this. However, in order to create professionalism in the client-lawyer relationship, the internal guidance of our law firm includes certain restrictions on the receipt of gifts or participating in dinner events and entertainment between lawyers and clients. Accordingly, our lawyers are not allowed to receive from clients high value gifts (over 1 million VND or 50 USD). For food or entertainment, our lawyers are only allowed to participate in moderation when they are invited by the client, but only in places where they have a business license and have transparent business practices in accordance with current law.

Probono work

Does your law firm offer free initial consultation?
We typically do not charge our clients for the first introductoy meeting whereby we obtain the facts and circumstances surrounding our clients’ case, and the resolution our client is seeking. In addition, we also do not charge for a complimentary and initial short consultation in general terms via email or phone to provide our clients with some basic legal advice on certain legal matters of which we have clear general knowledge and no legal research is required. However, consultations which are more extensive or are after an initial consultation may incur fee charges pursuant to the arrangement with the specific lawyers of our law firm who are handling the assigned work.
I am a foreigner who has come to Vietnam for the first time to do business and would like some information with respect to the law in Vietnam. Does Phuoc & Partners provide, free of charge, any of such kind of legal information?
With an aim to supporting clients, our law firm has published a book titled “To Do Business in Vietnam Handbook” in English and Vietnamese (including some changes/supplements, updated annually). This book provides an overview of the legal framework in Vietnam with the aim to help readers, especially foreign readers, comprehend the regulatory environment of Vietnam before making investment decisions. The book focuses on the legal areas which often attract investor attention such as investment law, enterprises law, tax law, labour law, intellectual property law, commercial law, the mechanisms of dispute settlement etc. If you need a soft copy of this book, you can download it from our website via the link: Download Now or contact us at our email address info@phuoc-partner.com and we will have a hard copy of the book couriered to you. After reading this book, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.