The charter of a law firm is required to have the signatures of all member lawyers in the company, right?

Law firm charters are required to have the signatures of all member lawyers in the firm, right?

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 7 of the Decree 123/2013/ND-CP then the law firm charter must be signed by the owner’s lawyer or all member lawyers.

Accordingly, the law firm charter must be signed by the owner’s attorney for a one-member limited liability law firm.

In the case of a limited liability law firm with two or more members and a law partnership, the company charter must be signed by all member lawyers.

The charter of the law firm includes the following main contents:

(1) Name and address of headquarters;

(2) Type of law firm;

(3) Field of practice;

(4) Full name, permanent address of the owner’s lawyer (for a one-member limited liability law firm) or member lawyers (for a limited liability law firm with two or more members and a partnership law firm);

(5) Rights and obligations of the owner’s lawyer or member lawyers;

(6) Conditions and procedures for joining or withdrawing from the list of member lawyers (for limited liability law firms with two or more members and law partnerships);

(7) Organizational structure, management and administration;

(8) Procedures for passing decisions and resolutions; principles of internal dispute resolution;

(9) Principles of profit division and responsibility of member lawyers for the company’s obligations (for limited liability law firms with two or more members and partnership law firms);

(10) Cases of suspension, termination of operations and asset liquidation procedures;

(11) Procedures for amending and supplementing the Charter of a law firm.

Who must be the legal representative of a law partnership?

The legal representative of a law partnership is specified in Clause 1, Article 11 of Decree 123/2013/ND-CP as follows:

Changes legal representative of the law-practicing organization

1. The legal representative of a limited liability law firm with two or more members or a partnership law firm must be a lawyer and a member of the law firm.

For limited liability law firms with two or more members and a partnership law firm that changes the legal representative, within 10 days from the date of the decision to change, a written request to change the legal representative and the law firm’s operation registration must be sent. to the Department of Justice where its operations are registered.

Procedures for changing the legal representative of a limited liability law firm with two or more members or a joint venture law firm are carried out in accordance with the provisions of Article 36 of the Law on Lawyers.

2. The legal representative of a law office or one-member limited liability law firm must be the lawyer who owns the law office or law firm.

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Thus, according to the above regulations, the legal representative of a law partnership must be a lawyer and a member of the law firm.

Note: In case a law partnership wants to change its legal representative, within 10 days from the date of decision to change, it must send a written request to change the legal representative and the law firm’s operation registration certificate to the Department of Justice where its operations are registered.

Does a law partnership firm have capital contributing members?

Members of a law partnership firm are specified in Clause 2, Article 34 of the Law on Lawyers 2006 as follows:

Law firm

1. Law firms include partnership law firms and limited liability law firms. Members of the law firm must be lawyers.

2. A law partnership established by at least two lawyers. A law partnership has no capital members.

3. Limited liability law firms include limited liability law firms with two or more members and one-member limited liability law firms.

Limited liability law firms with two or more members are established by at least two lawyers.

One-member limited liability law firms are established and owned by one lawyer.

4. Members of a law partnership or limited liability law firm with two or more members agree to appoint one member to be the company’s Director. The lawyer who owns a one-member limited liability law firm is the company’s Director.

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Thus, according to regulations, a law partnership is established by at least two lawyers and has no capital contributing members.

The members of a law partnership agree to appoint one member to be the company’s Director.