The formation of the "public lawyer" institution - a new institution, aiming at justice for everyone. Illustrative photo
The need for public defenders
In Resolution No. 66-NQ/TW dated April 30, 2025 of the Politburo on innovation in law-making and enforcement to meet the requirements of national development in the new era, one of the major tasks and solutions set forth in the Resolution is to innovate thinking and orient law-making in a direction that both ensures state management requirements and encourages creativity, liberates all productive forces, and unlocks all development resources.
Notably, the Resolution clearly states that research should be conducted to establish a public lawyer institution and a conditional mechanism to allow civil servants to practice law; ensure the recognition and enforcement of arbitration awards in accordance with international standards and practices...
The representative of the Ministry of Justice said that in recent years, the institutions and policies on lawyers and the practice of law have been increasingly improved, creating favorable conditions for the development of the legal profession. The activities of lawyers have actively contributed to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of agencies, organizations and individuals.
However, the legal services of lawyers today mainly focus on the private sector (people or private enterprises). Meanwhile, the organization and operation of state agencies and enterprises also create many risks leading to complaints, lawsuits of individuals, organizations or international legal disputes (on investment, trade, finance, intellectual property, etc.).
In addition, the process of protecting public interests or lawyers' activities when participating in public interest activities also reveals some shortcomings such as the lack of financial mechanisms to pay remuneration and costs for lawyers when participating in public work; attracting lawyers to participate in public interest work, especially legal aid, is still limited; hiring lawyers to participate in resolving international investment disputes is only applied to international lawsuits; there has not been a mechanism to attract lawyers to participate in policy consulting and consulting on socio -economic development projects to minimize risks and disputes in the future; there is no mechanism to initiate civil lawsuits in cases where the subject of civil rights is a vulnerable group or cases related to public interest but no one stands up to initiate the lawsuit.
Therefore, in order to continue to meet the requirements of judicial reform, economic development and international integration, and protect public interests, especially in the context of increasingly diverse and complex international and domestic relations, the Politburo has set out the task of developing the Project "Research on building a public lawyer institution in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam's rule of law state".
Proposed 5 groups of jobs that public lawyers do
Recently, at the Workshop on the Project "Research on building a public lawyer institution in the current socialist rule of law state of Vietnam", Director of the Department of Judicial Support (Ministry of Justice) Le Xuan Hong said that the Drafting Committee proposed 5 groups of jobs that public lawyers can do.
Firstly, representing state agencies, agencies and organizations in the political system at the central and local levels to participate in litigation and resolve lawsuits and disputes in the fields of investment, commercial business, administration and land.
Second, consulting on international dispute resolution and participating in litigation at international judicial bodies to protect state interests.
Third, providing legal advice to state agencies, agencies and organizations in the political system at the central and local levels in socio-economic projects; resolving complex and prolonged complaints and denunciations; participating in advising state agencies in formulating and organizing law enforcement; and trade defense.
Fourth, initiate a civil lawsuit in cases where the subject of civil rights is a vulnerable group or the case involves public interests but there is no one to initiate the lawsuit.
Fifth, other legal work at state agencies, agencies and organizations in the political system.
Regarding the model, Mr. Le Xuan Hong said that there will be no independent agency or organization for public lawyers or a team of public lawyers operating independently as lawyers.
"We plan to use a part-time model, where public lawyers are both civil servants and public employees, and lawyers performing legal work in the public sector," said Mr. Le Xuan Hong.
Public lawyers must comply with both the provisions of the law on civil servants and public employees and the provisions of the law on lawyers.
Regarding policies, the draft Project proposes to develop a policy to ensure that socio-economic development projects have a budget for legal services of no less than 0.5% of the project's budget.
In addition, there are specific and outstanding policies, applying appropriate remuneration and contract regimes to attract and improve the quality of human resources participating in solving legal work in the public sector.
Public defenders are entitled to a regular monthly allowance equal to 200% of their current salary and case-based allowances.
Dieu Anh
Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/xay-dung-che-dinh-luat-su-cong-buoc-tien-trong-bao-dam-quyen-tiep-can-cong-ly-102250610112858652.htm
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