President Luong Cuong attends the 80th Anniversary of the Traditional Day of Vietnamese Lawyers

Also attending the ceremony were Party Central Committee members: Le Khanh Hai, Head of the Office of the President ; Nguyen Hai Ninh, Minister of Justice; leaders and former leaders of the Party and State; representatives of central departments, ministries and branches; the Asian Law Association and other countries.

The speech at the ceremony, presented by lawyer Do Ngoc Thinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Bar Federation, said that exactly 80 years ago, on October 10, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh signed and issued Decree No. 46/SL on the organization of bar associations. Accordingly, it allowed bar associations formed during the French colonial period to operate in accordance with the new context of the People's Democratic State. In the context of the country having just gained independence, the issuance of this Decree clearly demonstrated President Ho Chi Minh's legal thinking, strategic vision and deep belief in the role of lawyers in consolidating and building the People's Democratic State, ensuring justice and social order, and protecting basic human rights and freedoms.

80 years of formation and development, especially in nearly 40 years of renovation, the Vietnamese lawyers have made great, comprehensive and profound contributions to all aspects of legal and social life. These contributions are not only reflected in the number of legal cases participated in, but also affirmed in the increasingly open and courageous role in protecting justice, protecting the rights and legitimate interests of organizations, individuals and the state.

The team of lawyers has developed remarkably in terms of quantity, quality, and organization in the political-legal, economic-social life of the country. Up to now, the whole country has nearly 21,000 lawyers, over 6,000 law practice organizations, 63 provincial and municipal Bar Associations (now 34 provinces and cities), gathered into a unified national socio-professional organization, the Vietnam Bar Federation.

The President of the Vietnam Bar Federation delivered a speech at the ceremony. (Photo: THUY NGUYEN)

During the past 80 years of development, in addition to the self-efforts of the lawyers, the Vietnam Bar Federation and the lawyers have always received the attention, close leadership and support of the Party, the State, the judicial agencies, the Party committees and authorities in building and developing the Vietnamese lawyers. Such valuable attention, leadership and direction are an important source of encouragement and motivation, creating conditions for the legal profession to develop sustainably and in accordance with the law in the socialist rule-of-law State of the people, by the people, for the people.

Based on the practical activities of the national lawyers' team and the urgent requirements in the current era of integration, digital transformation, and comprehensive judicial reform, the Vietnam Bar Federation recommends to the Party and State a number of contents to create favorable, synchronous, and sustainable conditions for the development of the Vietnamese lawyers' team in the coming time.

In particular, continue to perfect the legal system on the organization and operation of the law practice, design a lawyer management model on the principle of ensuring the State's management role and improving the self-management capacity of socio-professional organizations of lawyers, ensuring compliance with the requirements of the socialist rule-of-law State and international practices; strengthen the leadership and direction of Party committees and authorities at all levels in developing the legal profession in line with the requirements of building a socialist rule-of-law State and developing the country's socio-economy; promote the training and fostering of lawyers for international integration; create conditions for lawyers to participate more deeply in activities of building and organizing law enforcement, social criticism, policy advice, and judicial reform; ensure respect and full implementation of lawyers' legitimate practice rights according to the Constitution, laws and principles of the rule of law.

Speaking at the ceremony, President Luong Cuong assessed that, during the 80-year journey of construction, development and growth, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Vietnamese lawyers have accompanied the nation and made great contributions to the resistance war against French colonialism and American imperialism, to liberate the nation and unify the country in the past, as well as in the cause of building and defending the Fatherland today.

President Luong Cuong speaks at the ceremony. (Photo: THUY NGUYEN)

The President affirmed that over the past 80 years, the team of lawyers nationwide has actively participated in practicing in all areas of legal life, and has been making important contributions to protecting justice, protecting socialist legal system, protecting human rights, rights and interests of enterprises and citizens, promoting socio-economic development, international integration, and building a socialist rule-of-law state of the people, by the people and for the people.

Along with that, the Vietnam Bar Federation has grown and matured, increasingly better performing its role and responsibility of gathering, uniting, and developing the team of lawyers; building and maintaining professional ethical standards, ensuring independence and quality of legal services, increasingly better meeting the needs of society; representing and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of Bar Associations and lawyers nationwide; organizing and encouraging lawyers to actively participate in law-making, administrative reform, judicial reform, dissemination and propaganda of laws, fighting against and preventing violations of the law, contributing to consolidating and strengthening the rule of law in State activities and social life.

On behalf of the Party and State leaders, the President highly appreciated and warmly commended the great contributions of the Vietnamese lawyers and the Vietnam Bar Federation to the cause of national liberation and reunification in the past, as well as in the cause of building and firmly defending the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland today.

President Luong Cuong and delegates attending the ceremony. (Photo: THUY NGUYEN)

In addition to the great achievements, the President said that the Vietnamese lawyers still have some limitations and shortcomings; at the same time, he noted that each lawyer and the Vietnam Bar Federation need to seriously learn from experience, regularly study, practice, strive, promote results and advantages, overcome limitations and shortcomings, and work together to resolve difficulties and obstacles, to further improve the quality of work in the practice process.

Emphasizing that our country is entering a new era with enormous opportunities and fortunes, while also facing many difficulties and challenges, the President requested the Vietnam Bar Federation, Bar Associations and the entire team of lawyers to continue focusing on building and developing a team of Vietnamese lawyers with sufficient quantity, focusing on improving quality; having strong political will, high political responsibility, pure and noble professional ethics of the legal profession, exemplary in law enforcement, good professional expertise, and having qualifications on par with the region and the world.

In the context of increasingly deep and comprehensive international integration, especially when Vietnam has participated in many new generation free trade agreements, the President said that lawyers must not only be capable of consulting and litigating domestically but also be good at foreign languages, have negotiation skills with international partners and clients, understand the laws, practices of countries and international dispute resolution mechanisms, thereby participating in the best protection of the rights and interests of Vietnamese enterprises and national interests in international legal disputes if they occur.

Faced with the strong development of digital technology and artificial intelligence, the President emphasized that the team of lawyers must master technology and apply digital platforms to handle issues arising from the digital environment such as e-commerce disputes, intellectual property, personal data, cyber security, etc.; affirming that this is not only a solution to improve operational efficiency, save costs, and secure information, but also to expand the scope of legal services, helping people and businesses access services quickly and transparently, contributing to promoting effective judicial reform.

Along with that, the President noted that each lawyer must make continuous efforts to learn, practice ethics, courage, professional conscience, improve their knowledge, foreign languages, practical experience and professional skills; be ready and actively participate in implementing and successfully carrying out political and legal tasks assigned by the Party and State; must well implement the principles of independence, honesty, respect for objective truth, absolutely comply with the Constitution and laws; maintain professional ethics, best protect the legitimate and legal rights and interests of citizens and organizations; protect socialist legal system and the legitimate interests of the State.

For the Vietnam Bar Federation, on the basis of the functions and tasks prescribed by law, the President requested that it continue to promote traditions, results and valuable lessons in the process of building and growing, focusing on overcoming limitations and shortcomings in legal activities in recent times; resolutely fight against all acts of violating the law and professional ethics; remove from the ranks of degenerate and corrupt lawyers who take advantage of legal activities to distort the law, deny the Party's guidelines and policies, and go against the interests of the nation and people.

Overview of the ceremony. (Photo: THUY NGUYEN)

On this occasion, the President requested the central ministries, branches, and local Party committees and authorities to continue to pay attention to and support the Vietnam Bar Federation and Bar Associations, creating conditions for lawyers to strive to contribute more, better, and more effectively, contributing to building "...a peaceful, independent, democratic, prosperous, civilized, and happy Vietnam..." as beloved Uncle Ho always wished for, and that is also the goal of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the aspiration of the people.

The President believes that, with the spirit of solidarity, creativity and high responsibility, the Vietnamese lawyers will continue to promote the glorious tradition of the past 80 years; constantly strive to study, practice, improve political qualities, professional ethics, professional qualifications, practice skills, and professional courage to carry out the noble mission: protecting justice, upholding the rule of law, protecting human rights, the legitimate rights and interests of the people, the State and society, making practical contributions to the cause of building and developing our beloved Vietnam in the new era - the era of strong, prosperous and happy development of the Vietnamese people.

Xuan Ky

Source: https://nhandan.vn/chu-tich-nuoc-luong-cuong-du-le-ky-niem-80-nam-ngay-truyen-thong-cua-luat-su-viet-nam-post914227.html