The National Assembly has finally resolved the long-running saga over whether law lecturers can also work as lawyers.
Chairman of the National Assembly's Justice Committee Nguyen Van Hien
The country’s highest legislative body ruled that lecturers will not be able to teach and work as lawyers at the same time.
The point was included in the Law on Lawyers approved by the National Assembly at a discussion on November 20.
According to Chairman of the National Assembly's Justice Committee Nguyen Van Hien, there are two opposite viewpoints on whether permitting law lecturers should have the right to continue working as lawyers. More than 62% of NA deputies opposed the concept.
The National Assembly’s Standing Committee claimed that allowing lecturers to act as lawyers would affect both their teaching and legal workers, yet the country still faces a chronic shortage of law lecturers.
Chairman of the National Assembly's Justice Committee Nguyen Van Hien added that if the lecturers worked as lawyers, they would not also help to deal with the national shortage of lawyers criminal procedures. Therefore, the National Assembly approved the regulation not to permit the lecturers from performing as lawyers.
Around 90% of National Assembly deputies agreed on the revised Law on Lawyers which will be enacted from July 1, 2013.
Also on November 20, the National Assembly approved the amended Law on Publishing in which private investors will still remained banned from setting up their own publishing houses.