A proposed amendment to Việt Nam’s Law on Lawyers suggests that individuals with a master’s or doctoral degree in law—but no bachelor’s degree in the field—could soon qualify to practice as attorneys.
The Latest: On the morning of Oct. 19, Justice Minister Hoàng Thanh Tùng, on behalf of the government, presented the draft amended Law on Lawyers to the National Assembly.
- The most significant proposed change would allow individuals holding a master’s or doctorate in law “but without a bachelor’s degree in law” to become lawyers.
- The National Assembly is expected to debate the draft on the floor Nov. 2 and vote on it Nov. 20.
The Proposed Changes: The draft changes the requirement for lawyers from “holding a bachelor’s degree in law” to “holding a law degree at the bachelor’s level or higher.”
- Additionally, the draft allows law lecturers at university law schools and judicial training institutions to become lawyers.
- The legislation also introduces supplementary requirements, mandating that lawyers “have political steadfastness, good morals and integrity” and undergo “mandatory annual training in political awareness and professional skills.”
Furthermore, the process of becoming a lawyer would be reduced from four steps to two.
- A single national exam would replace the review of apprenticeship results and the issuing of practice certificates.
- However, the draft does not specify whether people with a master’s or doctorate in law but no law bachelor’s degree would have to take core law courses.
The Current Law: Under the current education system, individuals with bachelor’s degrees in other fields, such as economics, finance, or medicine, can proceed to earn a master’s or doctorate in law.
- If the draft passes, they would fulfill the degree requirement to become lawyers even though they never completed a bachelor’s program in law.
From Legal Professionals: Within the legal profession, the issue has generated significant debate.
- In June, when the Justice Ministry published the appraisal file for the draft, Atty. Trương Văn Tuấn of the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association stated, “Requiring a bachelor’s degree in law to become a lawyer is still a reasonable and necessary requirement.”
- Around the same time, Hà Nội Atty. Phạm Thanh Bình said that the proposal could bring in more lawyers with expertise in finance, intellectual property, and health care. However, he noted that a master’s program lasts only “one and a half to two years,” so students would need to take core law subjects such as civil law, criminal law, and procedure.
Uproar in the Chamber: The proposal immediately encountered opposition within the very committee reviewing it.
- Ngô Trung Thành, deputy chair of the Committee on Law and Justice, stated that the proposal did “not truly reassure him.” He argued that a bachelor’s program in law provides the foundational knowledge needed to practice, while master’s and doctoral programs in law lean toward academic research. He suggested maintaining the bachelor’s requirement and exploring a route for equivalent training models, such as the roughly three-year Juris Doctor (J.D.) program in the United States.
- Bùi Xuân Hải, president of Hải Phòng University, also opposed dropping the bachelor’s requirement. He pointed out that a master’s program in law is only about 45 to 60 credits, and individuals from other fields need just 10 to 20 extra credits to qualify, while a doctorate focuses on a single narrow topic. He added that about 20,000 law graduates enter the workforce each year, meaning there is no shortage of future lawyers, Dân Trí reported.
- The Committee on Law and Justice asked the government to continue assessing the impact before making a decision.
Thành Phương wrote this news article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on October 21, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine translated it into English.
