Programs
Improved Protection of Criminal Defendants’ Rights
To address the injustices caused by lack of adequate legal representation, the MOJ, Supreme People’s Court, and Supreme People’s Procuracy have been tasked with issuing guidelines for the participation of defense lawyers in criminal cases. The ABA plans to support this reform by providing expert advice and counsel to the drafters of the new criminal guidelines. The ABA will also organize a series of training workshops, some of which will be targeted solely at criminal defense lawyers and focus on criminal defense skills, and others that will bring together lawyers, judges, and prosecutors to focus on how to improve procedures so as to introduce greater fairness into the process and better protect defendants’ rights, and on how to increase cooperation amongst all stakeholders on planning and implementation of needed criminal justice reforms.
Advocacy and Litigation Skills Training
The ABA will work with its partners to develop and implement a series of broader, country-wide, practically oriented legal training courses. The ABA will conduct advocacy workshops focusing on litigation skills, public interest advocacy, and a “training-of-trainers.” The ABA will train a core group of local trainers who will conduct multi-day advocacy and litigation trainings around the country that use modern teaching methodologies such as role-play exercises, moot courts, and hypothetical case studies to introduce legal professionals (including new law graduates, practicing lawyers, judges and prosecutors) to the new procedures provided in Vietnam’s new civil and criminal procedure codes.
Support the Development of a Unified, Autonomous and Professional Bar Organization
The ABA plans to organize a series of stakeholder meetings to build support for the new national lawyers organization. These meetings would:
(1) educate participants on the importance of and need for a autonomous legal profession, represented by a unified bar organization, in building the country’s economic and social structure;
(2) solicit stakeholder input on the draft law’s provisions or on the new bar organization’s charter; and
(3) build support for the establishment of a unified bar association, most importantly among the various provincial bar associations.
Allison Moore
Country Director
Background
In 2007, the Asia Division of the Rule of Law Initiative began implementing a comprehensive “Advancing Rule of Law in Vietnam” Program through funding from the United States Government, primarily through the State Department. In implementing these programs, the Asia Division will be working in close partnership with the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice and provincial bar associations in the country.
The Asia Division will implement the Vietnam program through an American resident legal advisor and local staff based in Hanoi. The programs will be distributed among Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and the regional provinces.
The Asia Division’s project in Vietnam includes supporting the establishment of a self-regulating, autonomous bar, enhancing lawyers’ role by improving their advocacy skills, supporting improvements to the criminal justice system by promoting adoption of new procedures and building defense bar capacity, promoting the development of public interest legal advocacy by strengthening capacity of bar and civil society groups, and promoting the understanding of law through public outreach activities.
