Improving the legal framework for safeguarding lawyers’ professional rights and protection in Vietnam

In building a rule-of-law state, safeguarding lawyers’ professional rights and protection is essential to protecting human rights, citizens’ rights, and access to justice. This study examines Vietnamese law on lawyers’ professional rights, protection mechanisms, and professional data through doctrinal legal analysis, comparative law, and document synthesis. The findings show that current law recognizes lawyers’ rights but lacks effective mechanisms for enforcing them, addressing interference with legal practice, and governing professional data. Drawing on Vietnamese law, the Draft Law on Lawyers (amended), and international experience, the study recommends establishing a unified lawyer-protection mechanism, clarifying responsibility for handling obstruction, strengthening the role of professional organizations, and supplementing regulations on professional confidentiality, digital records, data access, storage, and technology-related professional responsibility.