Trần Tiến Dũng, Member of the Party Central Committee, provincial Party Secretary, and Head of the Điện Biên National Assembly Deputy Delegation, presided over the discussions for Group 12, which included delegates from the provinces of Điện Biên, Hà Tĩnh, and Vĩnh Long.

During the session, Trần Tiến Dũng expressed his agreement on the necessity of issuing the Resolution to enhance the protection of the State’s legal rights and interests, meeting the requirements of judicial reform and the broader restructuring aimed at streamlining the political system.

He suggested that based on the pilot results, a corps of public lawyers could eventually be officially integrated into the Socialist Law-Governed State of Vietnam.

According to the draft, a public lawyer must be an official, civil servant, public employee, military or police officer, or an employee in a State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) with a firm political stance, clean professional ethics, and at least five years of regular legal experience.

However, he raised concerns regarding the feasibility of the two-year pilot duration given these strict qualifications. Since public lawyers must also meet the standards of the Law on Lawyers, which includes professional training and internship periods, he questioned whether such a short timeframe would allow for practical implementation. He further noted that while SOEs might have the resources to attract experienced legal experts, state agencies would likely face more significant hurdles.

Contributing to the discussion on rights and obligations, Lò Thị Luyến, Deputy Head of the Điện Biên National Assembly Deputy Delegation, pointed out an inconsistency regarding professional association membership. While the draft Resolution frames joining a socio-professional organization as a “right,” the Law on Lawyers mandates bar association membership as a compulsory condition for legal practice. She highlighted that under existing regulations, a lawyer’s practice certificate is revoked if they fail to join a bar association within two years of issuance. Therefore, to ensure legal uniformity, she proposed that joining such organizations should be clearly defined as an obligation of public lawyers rather than an optional choice.

Furthermore, Lò Thị Luyến suggested that the Resolution should explicitly state that alongside their specialized legal work, public lawyers must continue to fulfill their regular duties as civil servants, officers, or employees as prescribed by law. These contributions aim to refine the pilot framework, ensuring that the new regime operates effectively within the existing legal and administrative structures of the country.