Welcome to indochinalegal.com !
As the website of INDOCHINA LEGAL is under construction, we provide you with the following information.
INDOCHINA LEGAL Limited, a law firm licensed by the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam, under the form of a 100% foreign owned company, was established in April 2007 by Eric Le Dréau and Luc Métivier, two lawyers having a combined 35 years of experience in consultancy under local and international law in the South East Asia region, but with emphasis in Vietnam, which inspired the Firm’s name: INDOCHINA LEGAL.INDOCHINA LEGAL operates from its office in Ho Chi Minh City, the center of the economic activity in the country, and its branch office in Hanoi, the capital city and economic center for Northern Vietnam.
INDOCHINA LEGAL has developed an active international practice through longstanding relations with “Correspondent Offices” (Lawyers and Consultants) in all major countries. INDOCHINA LEGAL is a correspondent firm in Vietnam of major international law firms, and itself corresponds with law firms throughout South East Asia.
Professionals at INDOCHINA LEGAL have extensive experience and close professional relationships with local counsels, management consultants and accounting firms in Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Singapore, and other Asian countries.
The clients enjoy various advantages thanks to the Firm’s in-depth understanding of the South East Asian business environment, as well as the practices of the local authorities.
INDOCHINA LEGAL’s activities cover a wide range of practice sectors, including banking, finance, trading, cooperation, insurance, tax, intellectual property, international commercial transactions, infrastructure projects and project financing, cross border and inward investment projects, and international arbitration and litigation.
Particularly, we provide comprehensive services that include advice on the selection of business structures and locations for investment, preparation of application files for the establishment of representative offices or foreign invested entities, preparing and negotiating joint venture contracts, contract drafting, assisting in daily business transactions, advising on corporate, commercial and financial matters. We also represent our clients before various government bodies, both at local and central levels, and can obtain for our clients any required licenses, approvals, business registrations, all in the best possible time frame.
Our services combine strong legal professional expertise on substantive issues and effective procedural and consultative services to ensure that our clients’ projects develop smoothly, effectively and in compliance with local laws.
The mission statement of INDOCHINA LEGAL is to provide to its clients prompt value-added, on-site counsel and continuous case follow-up, as well as, when necessary, assist its clients in judicial and arbitration proceedings before any Courts or Tribunals.
Our vision is to become one of the leading boutique law firms in Vietnam, through the in-depth knowledge of our professionals regarding the legal and business environment in the country and the ability to tap into our network of professionals in order to provide high quality services to our clients.
Although some of the lawyers and other legal professionals of INDOCHINA LEGAL may come from different countries and different legal systems, they all share the same values and offer comprehensive and responsive services based on the following concepts:
- A personalized service which encourages close contact between each of the clients, the partner in charge of overseeing the file and the legal team executing the services;
- Through its international network, tapping the right resources to provide its clients with the highest quality legal services and to meet the tightest deadline demands from the clients;
- The highest professionalism applied to the tasks assigned to each lawyer, whether it concerns research, counseling or drafting; and,
- A full and complete integration of each lawyer in the legal, administrative and economic context of the country resulting in the building up of relationships and connection networks enabling a successful achievement of the client’s objectives.
With its international network, and because of the various backgrounds and nationalities of its legal team, INDOCHINA LEGAL has developed a client base established throughout the world, from large multinational corporations to small and medium sized firms, regrouping European, North American and Asian Corporations.
More specifically, we have provided assistance to and helped more than twenty companies (comprising multinationals and SMEs) to implement their structures in Vietnam (either as joint ventures, limited liability companies, joint stock companies, branches or representative offices); we have been involved in some of the largest M&A projects, including the purchase of the majority shareholding in the company that owns the Hilton in Hanoi (value of the transaction was more than US$43 million) and an acquisition of shares along with an assignment of debt involving the Mitsui Bank with a value of approximately US$90 million. As for our area of practice regarding infrastructure projects, we have assisted multinationals such as Vinci, Alstom and Effage in their application to obtain licenses as foreign contractors, and we have advised a Swiss construction company in connection with the construction of a Calcium Carbonate Plant by reviewing the tender documents and drafting the construction contact and the contract for construction supervision. We have also been involved in dispute and claims negotiations and represented clients in arbitration processes under the ICC Rules and the Singapore International Arbitration Center.
Eric Le Dréau, Managing Partner, is a graduate of Civil and Commercial Law from the University of Toulouse (LL.B - 1983), Master in International Law from the University of Paris (LL.M - 1984) and DESS in International Contract Law and Practice from University of Paris (D.E.S.S. - 1986). He is a Member of the Bar of Paris since 1989. Further to 5 years of practice in France and Australia, he has moved to Vietnam in 1993 to be the Chief Representative of a foreign law firm and further became the Vietnam Resident Partner for Vovan & Associés, a French law firm with strong presence in the South East Asia region. Both during his years in Paris and since he first came to Vietnam, Mr. Le Dréau has been asked to advise his corporate and institutional clients on a wide spectrum of Business Law issues such as inward investment operations, mergers and acquisitions, project financing, real estate/property law, tax planning, commercial and civil litigation and intellectual property. Mr. Le Dréau is Secretary General of the French Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam.
Luc Métivier, Partner, has advised clients in both the public and private sectors for 20 years. Prior to joining INDOCHINA LEGAL, he worked several years as legal counsel at the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Canada, before joining an international engineering and construction company as in-house counsel for 10 year, and then joined Vovan & Associés as Resident Partner in Thailand. Mr. Métivier also worked 2 years for the firm Deloitte Touche Tomhatsu in Thailand, with responsibilities as Director for Business Development. Mr. Métivier has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, project financing and concessions, commercial negotiations and drafting of various types of commercial contracts and has a strong expertise in infrastructure projects (including power generation and distribution, oil and gas, transportation and industrial), as well as international arbitration. Mr. Métivier is a graduate of the University of Ottawa with a Bachelor of Arts (1977), a Bachelor in Geography (1978), a Bachelor of Law (LL.L. - 1985) and holds an Executive M.B.A. from McGill University (1997). He is a Member of the Quebec Bar, the Canadian Bar Association, the American Society of International Law and the Canadian Institute of Arbitration and Mediation. Mr. Métivier is a Member of the Arbitration Committee of the Board of Trade of Thailand. Mr. Métivier is the author of several articles on legal issues and has published in La Revue de Droit International et de Droit Comparé (Brussels, 1987). He has lectured on international and commercial law at several academic institutions, including the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand. He speaks French, English, Spanish, Thai and basic Mandarin Chinese.
Phan Than Thuy, Senior Associate, holds a Master Degree in International Commercial Law (LL.M. - 2003) and a master Degree in European Community Law from the University of Burgundy, France (2002). Before joining INDOCHINA LEGAL in its Hanoi office, she worked for the IDVN, a legal consultancy office and the French Trade Commission in Hanoi. Mrs.Thuy has strong experience in the field of investment consultancy, intellectual property, arbitration and international commercial transactions. She speaks Vietnamese, French and English.
Tran Xian Chi Anh, Senior Associate, is a graduate of the Ho Chi Minh School of Law (2003). She also earned a Master Degree in International Commercial Law from Nottingham University in the UK (LL.M - 2006). She specializes in Corporate Law. She is also a lecturer at law at the University of Ho Chi Minh City. She speaks Vietnamese, French and English.
Nguyen Ngoc Thai Ha, Associate, is a graduate of the University of Ho Chi Minh City School of Law. She specializes in Corporate Law. She speaks Vietnamese and English.
Tran KimThanh, Associate, is also a graduate of the University of Ho Chi Minh City School of Law (2003). He also earned a Master Degree in Public International Law (LL.M. - 2005) from Aix-Marseille III University, France.