Domestic lawyers and law firms are less effective than those from manyother countries, according to a report presented to a conference held bythe Ministry of Justice in Ho Chi Minh City on October 10.

Theconference addressed the implementation of the revised Law on Lawyersand the strategy to develop the profession by 2020.

Accordingto the ministry's General Department of Judicial Assistance, bymid-September this year, 11,285 lawyers had been granted work licences.There were also 3,408 law firms in the country.

So farthis year, the lawyers have handled more than 70,000 cases and produced atotal income of 70 billion VND (3.3 million USD). Meanwhile, 400foreign lawyers and 67 foreign law firms have handled 4,000 cases with atotal income of 700 billion VND (33.3 million USD).

This shows that foreign law firms are operating more effectively, according to the department.

Theconference also noted the large gap in the distribution of lawyers inVietnam. Most work in Hanoi and HCM City and there are few inrural areas.

It was reported that many localities did not even have three legal people to set up a local bar association.

Participantsat the conference agreed that many bar associations did not have thefunds to operate, and some lawyers lacked professional or foreignlanguage skills.

They urged the Vietnam Bar Federation tocooperate with the Ministry of Justice to establish a training centrefor lawyers in international economic integration.

TheGovernment wants to achieve a rate of one lawyer for every 4,500 people.At the moment, the rate is one lawyer for every 14,000 people, muchlower than in regional countries such as Thailand (1/1,526),Singapore (1/1,000) and Japan (1/4,546).

By 2020, the country is expected to have 30 law firms, each with 50 to 100 lawyers.-VNA