Civil Litigation

Civil litigation in Vietnam operates under the 2015 Civil Procedure Code, a framework that draws heavily on continental European civil-law traditions and differs in fundamental ways from common-law systems familiar to clients from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, or Singapore. There is no jury. There is no broad pre-trial discovery as practiced in the U.S. The judge takes an active inquisitorial role in fact-finding, evidence is filed before trial rather than presented dramatically at it, and the trial itself is often shorter and less adversarial than foreign clients expect. Understanding these structural differences is the first step in setting realistic expectations and building a winning strategy.

I represent foreign individuals, foreign-invested enterprises, and overseas corporations as plaintiffs and defendants in civil matters across Vietnam — at District People's Courts, Provincial People's Courts, and on appeal at the High People's Courts in Hanoi, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City. My practice has handled disputes worth from a few thousand US dollars to claims exceeding several million, across sectors including manufacturing, real estate, professional services, technology, and consumer goods.

What makes a foreign client's civil case in Vietnam different is not only the procedural framework but the cross-border evidentiary requirements: foreign documents must be notarised, apostilled or legalised, and translated into Vietnamese by a sworn translator before they can be filed. Witnesses abroad may need to testify by video deposition arranged through diplomatic channels. Foreign judgments and contracts may need recognition. Each of these procedural steps takes time and requires careful planning — and a lawyer who has done it many times before.