Interview with: Pham Duy Khuong, Founder and Managing Director

What do you see as the main points that differentiate [law firm name] from your competitors?

We are a full service and independent law firms in Vietnam having more than 10 years of providing legal services in Vietnam. ASL LAW has been ranked as a top-tier law firm by Legal 500, Asia Law, WTR and Asia Business Law Journal. We can advise our clients in different languages: English, Japanese and Chinese.

With a team of 50 lawyers, experts and consultants with international experience and a deep understanding of Vietnam, we provide clients with international standard legal service that is practical and cost-effective. When working with ASL LAW, clients always shall work directly with our Partners and receive care at the Partners’ level.

Since we are a full-service law firm, we are a one-stop station for clients in many different legal fields: corporate services, Intellectual Property, Franchise, Mergers and Acquisitions, Labour, International Commerce, Corporate, Real Estate Contracts, Energy, Construction, Trade remedies, Technology transfer, Disputes, Tax, Shipping and Maritime, Cross-border legal services. Each practice area and industry are led by one partner or expert and many practice areas and industries are ranked as the top tier by different legal ranking organisations.

ASL LAW is a proper choice not only for Vietnamese businesses but also for many foreign businesses and organizations when conducting business or encountering legal problems in Vietnam. In particular, ASL LAW is always trusted by Vietnamese clients when they have business needs or legal disputes abroad.

Which practices do you see growing in the next 12 months? What are the drivers behind that?

With recent changes in Vietnamese law as well as the value of multilateral agreements between Vietnam and other countries, the following areas will have opportunities to breakthrough:

+ Anti-dumping/countervailing and trade defense in both directions including Vietnam suing and in the opposite direction Vietnam being sued by countries;

+ Legal framework advice for Vietnamese businesses related to ESG;

+ M&A in real estate, especially industrial park real estate, logistics, Edtech, finance, banking, technology;

+ Legal issues related to personal information data, especially organizations that collect and process data of Vietnamese people and transfer that data abroad when the decree on personal data protection has officially taken effect;

+ Cross-border legal disputes;

+ Legal issues related to the high-tech industry, for example related to semiconductors;

+ Advice on corporate restructuring, especially on investment strategy when Vietnam officially applies the global minimum tax from fiscal year 2024.

What’s the main change you’ve made in the firm that will benefit clients?

We structure our team so that our clients’ works are reviewed by lawyers and consultants at different levels, ensuring comprehensive results for the legal services ASL LAW provides to clients.

ASL LAW upgrades technology to manage clients’ works, optimizes internal administration to ensure works security as well as client information security. Securing client information and avoiding conflicts of client interests are always ASL LAW’s top priorities.

In addition, realizing that there have been many changes in Vietnamese law recently, we always proactively research and actively consult with clients through private meetings and closed group seminars so that clients can prepare in advance for legal changes from Vietnam. In particular, ASL LAW builds teams of lawyers and consultants who can directly advise clients in their own languages such as English, Chinese, and Japanese.

By this stage, many Vietnamese businesses have been expanding their business oversea. That’s why ASL LAW keeps expanding cooperation with partner law firms abroad. Thanks to being proactive and having decades of cooperation with foreign partners and law firms, ASL LAW is always ready and well meets the requirements of providing cross-border legal services for Vietnamese businesses when needed.

Is technology changing the way you interact with your clients, and the services you can provide them?

Technology changing has certain impacts on the way we work with clients. Since many of ASL LAW’s clients are foreign ones, the parties often meet online via certain platforms. Technology also creates more favourable conditions for us in signing contracts, sending documents, accessing documents, and increasing information security for the work being handled for clients.

Can you give us a practical example of how you have helped a client to add value to their business?

We have a chance to provide Intellectual property service to clients in the electric auto sector. The client’s specific request is to register patents and trademarks in Vietnam. After accessing information, we built for them a comprehensive strategy on building and protecting intellectual property in Vietnam, namely as follows:

+ We conduct prior market research on technical solutions with technical characteristics related to the technical solution that the client intends to implement to ensure that we can not only evaluate the client’s ability to grant patents but also avoid cases where client brings products to market that infringe on the rights of other parties;

+ Regarding the client’s trademark registration, we build a comprehensive trademark registration strategy to avoid cases where other parties take advantage of the client’s popularity to launch products with similar brands. In addition, after successfully registering the client’s trademark, we put the client’s trademark information into the management software to automatically remind clients to renew when due and also monitor the market to detect any signs of potential infringement of the client’s trademark. In addition, we also watch the database of the Vietnam Intellectual Property Office to detect trademarks that are the same or similar to our client in order to conduct an opposition to that trademark.

Next, we also conduct customs control measures to ensure that no trademark-infringing products or counterfeit products are officially imported into Vietnam.

In particular, client signed OEM contracts with many different companies, so we also help clients build a legal framework related to intellectual property to ensure clients’ rights.

Are clients looking for stability and strategic direction from their law firms – where do you see the firm in three years’ time?

We will continue to identify as a full-service law firm and expand cooperation with reputable partners and law firms around the world to ensure the provision of a comprehensive service to clients. We shall continuously and patiently invite leading lawyers and experts not only from Vietnam but also internationally to join the ASL LAW team, aiming

to become a suitable and advanced choice for foreign businesses doing business or having legal problems in Vietnam and priority options for Vietnamese businesses when conducting business abroad. ASL Law aims to make a multi-dimensional breakthrough with the goal of becoming a comprehensive legal station without geographical limitations for businesses. Wherever businesses go, ASL Law is there.