President Tran Dai Quang has asked the Vietnam Bar Federation (VBF) to forge ahead with judicial reforms and international integration at a meeting with the legal profession.

Protecting the system

The President, who is also head of the Central Steering Committee on Judicial Reform, told the federation to contribute to protecting the socialist legal system and the legitimate rights and interests of agencies, organizations and individuals. President Quang said bar associations nationwide will hold congresses later in the year in preparation for the third National Lawyers’ Congress and the 2020-25 tenure. He said the VBF should improve the institutional system, ensuring lawyers properly perform their rights, obligations and responsibilities according to legal provisions, adding it is important to increase the quality of proceedings at trial, build policies to promote legal consultancy activities and encourage lawyers to participate in legal aid activities for policy beneficiaries, revolutionary contributors, people in need and ethnic minority groups.

Party rules

He ordered the VBF to implement an effective strategy to develop the legal profession in terms of capability and operational efficiency through 2020, and a scheme to develop lawyers to better serve international economic integration. President Quang said he hoped the VBF will promote its role in external relations and international cooperation in accordance with the government party’s and state’s policies and guidelines. He requested that centrally run judicial agencies soon provide guidance on the implementation of the Code of Criminal Procedure 2015 to ensure the legal practice of lawyers. Vietnam currently has over 12,500 lawyers.