Duong Tri Law supports businesses with recurring contracts, corporate governance, employment and compliance questions. An agreed legal retainer gives your team a point of contact to review risks, documents and practical options before a business decision becomes a dispute.
A continuing legal relationship
An ongoing legal advisory engagement, often called a legal retainer or outsourced legal counsel arrangement, gives a business access to advice on the recurring matters defined in its service agreement. It can support a local management team and its overseas stakeholders without assuming every legal task is included.
The purpose is to bring legal review into day-to-day decisions: before signing a contract, hiring or reorganising staff, changing corporate arrangements, introducing a product or responding to a deteriorating commercial relationship. We review the information provided, identify the relevant issues and explain the available course of action. The business retains responsibility for its commercial decisions and implementation outside the agreed scope.
When recurring advice helps
This service suits businesses with repeated legal questions whose workload does not justify a full-time legal team, or which need external support alongside an existing in-house function.
More commercial activity
Review payment terms, liability, confidentiality, termination and dispute provisions before the business commits. A retainer can also help maintain appropriate templates and identify transactions that need a separate review.
A growing team
Align employment documents, internal policies, signing authority and delegations with actual operations. Management and HR should identify the relevant facts and deadlines before advice is given on a personnel decision.
A significant business change
Assess proposed capital changes, transfers, branches, projects and operating models before implementation. Investment approvals, due diligence and specialist filings are scoped separately when the work goes beyond routine advice.
An emerging disagreement
Review the contract, correspondence and evidence; identify immediate deadlines and negotiation options. Court, arbitration and formal representation require a separately agreed engagement rather than an assumption that the retainer covers them.
Scope of support
The service agreement selects the work relevant to your industry, company structure and expected workload. It should define included tasks, review limits, response arrangements and the process for approving additional work.
Review charters, decision-making authority, resolutions and internal records. Advise on proposed registration changes, ownership arrangements and branches; preparation and submission of a particular filing are included only where expressly agreed.
Draft or review agreed sales, services, cooperation, lease, agency and confidentiality documents. Identify clauses to negotiate and explain their commercial implications. The engagement should specify the anticipated document volume and complexity.
Advise on employment contracts, workplace policies, personnel decisions and employment issues. We can coordinate with the client’s HR or finance contacts; payroll, accounting and tax filing work are separate from the legal advisory scope.
Identify investment conditions, regulated business activities and compliance questions relevant to the proposed operation. A specialist application, regulatory submission or project review requires its own document requirements, timetable and agreed scope.
Review protection needs for brands and creative assets, confidentiality arrangements and relevant data terms. Specialist IP applications and personal-data compliance projects are identified separately rather than treated as completed by general advice.
Review the available records, assess the issue and advise on correspondence or negotiation options. Representation before a counterparty, authority, tribunal or court proceeds only within a separately agreed mandate and applicable procedural requirements.
Engagement models and fees
A retainer is useful when legal work recurs; a single transaction may be better handled as a defined project. Before proposing fees, we review the expected matters, legal complexity, document volume, contacts and desired response arrangements.
What the quotation should define: the included work, anticipated workload or review allowance, lawyer involvement, response targets, meeting arrangements and charges for additional matters. Working language, bilingual documents, translation and overseas stakeholder coordination should be agreed where needed. A retainer does not mean unlimited work or guaranteed immediate responses.
By matter
Suitable for a particular contract, corporate change or legal issue with a clear deliverable. The quotation sets the scope, assumptions and stages for that matter.
By time or session
Suitable for a management discussion, a review of options or specialist input on a defined question. Time recording, preparation and follow-up outputs should be agreed in advance.
Ongoing engagement
Suitable for recurring work where familiarity with the company’s operations matters. The agreement defines the retainer period, included workload, reporting and review of changing needs.
How we work together
A clear intake process, named contacts and retained records help the business act on advice and follow up recurring issues.
Discuss the operating model, recurring work, available records and immediate priorities. Identify urgent deadlines or conflicts before accepting a matter.
Record the contacts, communication channels, working language, response targets, service limits and fees in the legal services agreement.
Clarify the question, urgency, missing documents and intended decision. Confirm whether the request is within scope or needs additional approval.
Provide the agreed advice, document amendments or options based on the facts and records supplied. Explain material assumptions and matters requiring further verification.
Keep track of work handled and issues awaiting client action. Use agreed reviews to identify recurring risks and adjust the scope where the business changes.
Deliverables
The output depends on the matter and agreed scope: a focused legal opinion, draft or revised document, negotiation points, a risk note or a list of actions. The engagement should state which requests need written advice and which can be addressed through a meeting or discussion.
An explanation of the issue, material risks, assumptions and available options relevant to the intended business decision.
Contracts, decisions, policies or correspondence prepared or reviewed against the actual situation rather than supplied as unreviewed generic templates.
Issues to address immediately, items to monitor, required client decisions and matters needing a specialist or expanded engagement.
Continuity of context across recurring matters, supported by the information and records the client provides and the agreed reporting arrangements.
Separate work must be identified: authority representation, court or arbitration proceedings, M&A, foreign-investment projects, complex licensing and other specialist matters ordinarily require a distinct scope and fee agreement. Advice or a checklist does not itself complete a filing, secure an approval or implement the client’s operational changes.
Legal framework
The applicable rules depend on the matter. These sources explain the legal services relationship and several common compliance areas; a specific contract, employment issue or regulated activity may require further legislation and case-specific review.
Legal advice and representation are distinct professional activities. A written legal services agreement should define the work, duration, rights and obligations, fees, expenses and responsibility; confidentiality is governed by the law and the agreed handling arrangements.
Consolidated text 1343/VBHN-BTP brings together Decree 123/2013/ND-CP and its amendments, including Decrees 137/2018, 112/2025 and 18/2026, concerning legal practice and related organisational requirements.
The Law on Enterprises 59/2020/QH14, as amended by Law 76/2025/QH15, and Decree 168/2025/ND-CP inform corporate governance, registration changes and company records. The precise filing requirements must be checked for the proposed change.
The Labour Code 2019 is relevant to employment matters. Law 91/2025/QH15 on Personal Data Protection and Decree 356/2025/ND-CP also require consideration when client files contain personal data; the required measures depend on the actual processing and disclosures.
Frequently asked questions
The written engagement determines the scope, fees and response arrangements. The points below help prepare that discussion.
A project engagement addresses a defined need, such as one transaction or dispute. A retainer supports recurring work within agreed limits and lets the legal team build familiarity with the business. A specialist project may still require a separate agreement even while a retainer is in place.
There is no automatic inclusion. Initial assessment, evidence review or advice on a response may fall within the agreed retainer. Formal representation, arbitration or court work needs a separate mandate, scope and fee agreement, with the applicable procedural requirements checked.
Work can be coordinated through agreed meetings, email or business messaging channels. Confirm the working language, document language and authorised contacts when setting up the engagement. For sensitive records, agree an appropriate transfer channel and access arrangements before sharing; WhatsApp or WeChat can be used to open the enquiry without sending the entire file.
Fees depend on the included work, expected volume, specialist issues, time involved, response targets and meeting needs. The quotation should explain included allowances, additional work and any translation, travel or other expenses. No fixed price or unlimited service should be assumed before the scope is agreed.
Provide a short description of the business, ownership and organisation, activities, staff and recurring contract types. Identify the issues and deadlines that matter most, the documents already available and the client contacts. Start with a summary; send confidential or personal records only through the agreed intake process.
Discuss your recurring legal needs
Tell us your activities, ownership structure, staff size, recurring legal workload and any immediate deadlines. Duong Tri Law will clarify the proposed scope, working arrangements and suitable service model before providing a quotation. Overseas stakeholders should also identify their preferred working language and contacts.
Related services
General legal information only. The legal services agreement defines the scope, response arrangements, fees, expenses and responsibilities for the actual business and matters accepted.
