Interview with: Vu Thi Thu Ha, Director – Managing Partner

What do you see as the main points that differentiate ATS LAW FIRM from your competitors?

Focusing on our clients’ demands for an outstanding legal service model that creates value distinguishes ATS from its competitors. ATS strives to provide efficient and effective processes with cost certainty for analyzing, tracking, and reporting clients’ issues to offer the most reasonable and flexible solutions to lessen legal risks while complying with the current law and enhancing fruitful results. This motto is even more practical, appropriate, and respected in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

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

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges in many aspects of life, including the legal consultancy services. Our focus for the next 12 months includes:

Corporate and M&A

The global shock of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused businesses to shelve significant investments. At the same time, control measures applied in many countries worldwide to prevent the spread of the disease have frozen both domestic and international trade activities. However, the need for divestment and financial rebalancing in many businesses will leave a door to workers after this period. Enterprises, especially emerging potential businesses, will need more capital to continue surviving after the harmful impact of the pandemic. On the other hand, investors with solid capital will have advantages when they quickly grasp the market.

Given the above motivations, as a safe and stable investment environment after global pandemic, Vietnam will have a favorable position in the post-COVID-19 M&A market. The State is strengthening effective control measures. Nevertheless, as traditional views of the market may no longer be relevant in the “new normal,” the buyers need professional law firms’ assistance in assessing the legal issues and identifying the potential legal risks of the target companies.

Tax

The COVID-19 crisis has changed many concepts and models of costs. In the context that Vietnam’s economy is gradually adapting to the “new normal” business owners must change their direction and continue to balance a strategy of cutting costs without affecting the business, including tax factors. The enterprise faces difficulties in enforcing tax laws mainly due to inconsistent tax policies for different types of economic transactions or enterprises. Several international economic practice and trade operations that Vietnam has not yet encountered, leading to a lack of clear instructions promptly.

Thus, law firms play a vital role in consulting tax compliance, advising on handling specific cases, and regular advice. When the dispute about the tax increase, the needs to solve and support tax declaration and preparation, tax incentives, tax refunds, specific tax policies, tax effects during the investment phase, corporate separation, restructuring, and cross-border trading practices… will be increased accordingly.

ATS’s practices in the area of taxation included advising clients on local and international tax planning and compliance works, customs duty matters. Our experienced team also handling several clients’ litigation cases related to resolution of tax disputes.

Dispute Resolution: Mediation and Litigation

With the widespread infection, the Covid-19 epidemic has been global concern. This epidemic affects many industries, and of course, the handling of dispute resolution cannot avoid such adverse effects. The economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic leads to many risks of contractual disputes. This may arise from the parties currently having or expecting future difficulties in cash flow, significant impairment, or insolvency. Most of these difficulties do not stem from bad intentions of parties but objective or unforeseen changes of factors.

When resolving such disputes, to maintain good relationships with clients’ partners in the hope of restoring business in the future, the best solution for both parties is to negotiate in good faith for a reasonable settlement. Mediation is recommended always because it is quite tricky for conflicting parties to reach mutual agreement by themselves. Additionally, litigation at the court sustains rapid growth in Vietnam as a traditional dispute settlement method due to the parties’ mentality of needing a solid assurance regarding judgment enforcement.

Labour and Employment

The fourth outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has been causing high pressure on all facets of the Vietnamese economy in general and the labour market in particular. Various companies’ operation have been significantly and badly impacted due to project suspensions, delayed payments, non-communicative attidudes, lack of phase completion-payments in combination with significant project prolongation. Each and every company has ceaselessly tackled these multiple challenges in order to maintain and develop a company’s operation, human resources are one of the most critical forces by cutting down a large number of unproductive personnel at such a challenge time, even though it is reasonable to the fact and procedure under laws of Vietnam. Therefore, personnel are subject to high requirements for technical competencies and skills. Acquiring talented people helps businesses meet the demand for specialized skills in the workplace to survive and further develop.

With qualified and experienced professional team, ATS Lawyers advises many clients on labor-related matters and is a trusted resource for companies during and after Covid 19 pandemic. Our services cover areas including compliance, hiring and firing, HR management procedures, personal income tax matters, and labour dispute resolution.

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

One of our most notable innovations in recently is the increase in using conference and video calls in an effective and productive manner as, or even more than, traditional face-to-face meetings; digitizing documents and dossiers, applying smart – technology to process and manage clients’ works. This system supports ATS’s lawyers to always access to complete their works whether working from home or at office or on-site. As a result, our firm’s operation during the Covid epidemic goes smoothly and effectively. Such improvement has reached its fullest efficiency in the context of the full-blown global pandemic when clients’ requests and concerns are thoroughly considered and discussed without any delay.

We have also standardized our processes and provided clients with clear and simple written advice. This has helped clients better visualize the steps to carry out necessary procedures according to Vietnamese law such as business registration, investment license application, litigation proceedings, etc. As a result, it reduces processing time for both law firms and clients to understand legal issues and keep track of our work effectively.

Another reason for ATS to gain trust of clients is our service provided by a professional team. As expanding categories of service, ATS keeps expanding recruitment and calling for co-operation of talented lawyers and experts in diverse fields to ensure that our solutions offered to clients are highly practical and at the same time, ensure attorney’s fees acceptable for clients. Our aim is to be the one-stop shop for all your client’s needs related to corporate services in Vietnam and mutually benefit our firm as well as our clients in a seamless experience.

In addition, ATS continues to enhance its strengths as a pioneer law firm in cross-border disputes and commercial matters through globalize members of ATS by co-operate with several international law firms from UAE, Panama, Ukraine, Singapore, etc.

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

Yes, it is. As stated above, technology allows us to bridge time and space cost-effectively, maintaining consistent and relevant communication with clients throughout the pandemic, leaving no room for misunderstanding or delays. We make our services accessible around the clock on all available communication platforms and networks with similar quality.

Another advantage of technology is that lawyers and associates in various fields can collaborate on significant matters with practical tools like Microsoft Teams, Viber, WhatsApp, Zoom, Dropbox, Google Docs, Slack, etc. Lawyers and law firms can now serve more clients irrespective of geographical locations.

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

Besides giving legal risk warnings regarding internal management, human resources, and labour, ATS has been an effective bridge to connect enterprises and investors, which enables clients to gain more benefits in business. Understanding clients’ financial problems due to the global pandemic, ATS has proactively introduced qualified investors who want to invest in potential projects in Vietnam to our clients. Many of our introductions have become successful M&A cross-border transactions.

ATS Lawyers performs comprehensive services to its clients in the area of M&A. These range from performing due diligence and advising on minimizing costs and procedures to completing consolidation, merger, and share purchase agreements.

Furthermore, ATS provides well-prepared monthly bulletins from our experienced lawyers via email. It helps our clients update law changes and receive our predictive notes of vital issues that the enterprises should consider recently.

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

Nowadays, many clients seem to need the law firm’s assistance closely, preventing them from potential risks arising from a fast-changing dynamic economy. Hence, ATS builds up our ability and relationship with clients as a trusted companion and aims to be the law firm with the most significant annual growth rate in the number of regular/loyal clients.

With the vision of becoming a top-tier legal services provider on domestic and international matters, ATS is maintaining our team specializing in Corporate and M&A, Taxation, Litigation, Labour and Employment, and Commercial matters.

Our success certified that we are one of a few Vietnamese law firms that are capable to handle complicated multinational legal cases; global legally co-operation. Currently, Vietnamese law firms like ATS could stand independently in cross-border legal cases.