On the morning of April 24, continuing the First Session, with 467/484 delegates participating in voting in favor, the National Assembly passed a Resolution on piloting the institution of public lawyers.
Regarding the scope of regulation and piloting, the resolution stipulates piloting the implementation of the public lawyer institution, including operating principles, standards, scope of work, rights and obligations, process of handling work and policies for public lawyers.
The pilot institution of public lawyers is organized and implemented at the Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, Ministry of Construction; People's Committees of provinces and cities: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hai Phong, Can Tho, Dong Nai, Bac Ninh, Quang Ninh, Khanh Hoa and Lam Dong.
People who want to become public lawyers must meet the criteria of cadres, civil servants, public employees, officers of the People's Army, officers of the People's Police, and people working in state-owned enterprises.
At the same time, this person must also have firm political ideology, pure and honest professional ethics; Have sufficient lawyer standards according to the provisions of the Law on Lawyers; Have at least 5 years of experience working regularly and directly in the field of law or experience in litigation, legal advice or resolving complex legal cases according to the Government's regulations.
The Government regulates the internship of lawyers, inspects the results of internship of lawyers and the standards of public lawyers in accordance with the job positions of cadres, civil servants, public employees, officers of the People's Army, officers of the People's Police, and people working in state-owned enterprises.
The Resolution takes effect from October 1, 2026 and is implemented until the end of September 30, 2028.
Before National Assembly deputies voted to approve the draft Resolution, Minister of Justice Hoang Thanh Tung presented a report on receiving, explaining, and revising the draft Resolution of the National Assembly.
Accordingly, the determination of the pilot scope in 8 Ministries and 10 localities is built on the basis of criteria for selecting agencies and localities with broad management scope, complex nature of work, and high level of socio-economic development, thereby potentially generating many cases within the scope of public lawyers' activities.
This regulation also institutionalizes Conclusion No. 23-KL/TW of the Politburo, ensuring unity in policy guidelines and orientations.
With the above pilot scale, along with the focused direction of the Government and the organizational responsibility of relevant agencies, the 2-year pilot period is appropriate to comprehensively monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the public lawyer institution.
In case it is necessary to extend the pilot time, the Government will report to competent authorities and submit it to the National Assembly for consideration and decision. Therefore, it is proposed that the National Assembly maintain the pilot scope and implementation time from October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2028 as in the draft resolution.
