A practical guide for German, Austrian and Swiss companies deciding who should advise them on a Vietnamese market entry, factory project or acquisition.
Who this is for
If you are a DACH company preparing an investment in Vietnam, you will find several firms offering German-language legal advice on the ground. They are not interchangeable. The differences lie less in language and more in how each firm is built: which disciplines sit under one roof, where the team physically sits, how much of the work is done in Vietnam versus at head office, and how deep the firm’s experience runs in the specific type of project you are planning.
This article does not rank firms. It sets out the four adviser models you will encounter, seven criteria on which they differ, and the questions worth asking in a first call. Use it as a checklist before you commit.
The four adviser models you will encounter
| Model | What it is | Where it fits best | What to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Integrated professional-services firm | Legal, tax, accounting and audit under one brand, typically part of an international network with member firms in the DACH region | Market entry and ongoing operations where you want one adviser accountable for the whole compliance chain | Confirm the disciplines are actually co-located and share one client file in Vietnam, not merely the same logo |
| 2. Dedicated law firm | Legal advice only; tax and accounting sourced separately | Transactions, disputes and regulatory work where you already have a trusted tax and accounting provider | You carry the coordination burden between legal and tax, and the two providers may not agree on structure |
| 3. Legal arm of a Big Four network | Legal services attached to a global accounting and advisory brand | Large groups already using the same network for audit or tax across Asia | Independence rules can limit what the legal arm may do for an audit client; the German-speaking presence in Vietnam is often thin |
| 4. Vietnamese law firm with a German desk | Local full-service firm with one or more German-speaking lawyers | Purely domestic legal work and litigation | Check whether the German-speaking capacity is a lawyer who advises or an assistant who translates |
An integrated firm is not automatically better than a dedicated law firm, or vice versa. The right model depends on what you already have at home and how much coordination you are prepared to do yourself.
Seven criteria that actually separate advisers
1. Who signs the advice — and where they are admitted
Ask who will personally be responsible for your file and in which jurisdiction that person is admitted. This is not a formality. Vietnam’s Law on Lawyers draws a clear line: a foreign lawyer licensed to practise in Vietnam may advise on foreign and international law, but may advise on Vietnamese law only if he or she holds a Vietnamese bachelor of laws degree and meets the same requirements as a Vietnamese lawyer (Article 76). Foreign lawyers may not appear before Vietnamese courts on your behalf. A branch or subsidiary of a foreign law firm may provide Vietnamese-law advice only through the Vietnamese-admitted lawyers it employs (Article 70).
In practice this means that at any foreign-branded firm, the Vietnamese-law opinion you rely on is produced by a Vietnamese-admitted lawyer (Luật sư) — the question is whether that person is the one advising you directly or sits two levels below the partner you spoke to. A German Rechtsanwalt based in Vietnam adds valuable perspective on how a German group thinks, but cannot be the source of the Vietnamese-law advice itself. The strongest set-up is a Vietnamese-admitted lawyer who has worked inside a German professional environment and can explain Vietnamese law in German legal categories without pretending the two systems are the same.
2. Where the work is actually done
Some firms advise Vietnam from a regional hub or from Germany, with a local office handling filings. Others do the substantive work in Vietnam. For licensing (Investment Registration Certificate, Enterprise Registration Certificate, sub-licences), land, construction and labour matters, the adviser needs a working relationship with the competent authority — the provincial Department of Finance or, for projects inside an industrial or export-processing zone, the zone Management Board. Ask for the name of the person who will attend meetings with the authority.
3. Depth in your project type, not FDI in general
“Foreign direct investment” is a broad label. A factory with export-processing-enterprise status, a trading company, a software subsidiary and a share acquisition raise different questions. Ask each firm for two or three recently completed projects of the same type as yours — sector, province, entity form and licensing route. A firm that cannot describe a comparable project in concrete terms is learning on your file.
4. Integration of legal and tax at the structuring stage
Most costly mistakes in Vietnamese market entry are made before the company exists: charter capital set too low or too high, the wrong entity form for later capital increases, an intra-group service agreement that later creates a permanent-establishment or foreign-contractor-tax problem, a transfer-pricing position nobody thought about. Whichever model you choose, insist that a tax adviser reviews the structure before the investment application is filed. In an integrated firm this is routine; with a dedicated law firm you must arrange it yourself.
5. Coordination with your advisers at home
Your Steuerberater, Wirtschaftsprüfer and house counsel in Germany, Austria or Switzerland will need to understand the Vietnamese structure for group accounting, transfer pricing, LkSG or CSDDD reporting and shareholder approvals. Ask whether the Vietnamese adviser can work directly with them, in German, on a standing basis — and whether their international network has a member firm in your home city who can be a second contact.
6. Fee transparency
Vietnamese licensing work is predictable enough to be quoted on a fixed-fee or capped basis, phase by phase. Be cautious of a quotation that is either very low (scope will be narrow, and every additional filing becomes an extra) or entirely open-ended. Ask for a scope document that states what is included, what is excluded, which official fees and third-party costs are extra, and what triggers a change in scope.
7. Continuity after incorporation
The first licence is the beginning, not the end. Annual investment reporting, labour registrations, work permits and residence cards, beneficial-owner filings, capital-account compliance, tax filings and periodic audits continue for the life of the company. Ask what the firm’s post-incorporation service looks like, whether it is delivered by the same team, and whether it can be bundled with accounting and payroll.
Questions to ask in the first call
- Who will be personally responsible for our file — a Vietnamese-admitted lawyer, or a foreign lawyer licensed only for foreign and international law?
- Which of your lawyers will attend meetings with the licensing authority in our province?
- Describe two comparable projects completed in the last 24 months — sector, province, entity form, licensing route.
- Who reviews the tax structure before the investment application is filed?
- Can you coordinate directly, in German, with our Steuerberater and house counsel?
- What does the fixed-fee scope include and exclude?
- Who handles ongoing compliance after incorporation, and at what cost?
Three common mistakes
Choosing on brand recognition alone. A familiar name from home is reassuring, but the question is who does the work in Vietnam and whether that person has done your type of project before.
Separating legal from tax to save on fees. The saving is usually consumed by rework when the structure has to be corrected after incorporation.
Not asking about the province. Licensing practice differs between Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and the industrial provinces. An adviser with a track record in your target province, or with the specific zone Management Board, will move faster.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a German-speaking lawyer in Vietnam at all?
Not strictly. Many DACH companies are advised competently in English. A German-speaking adviser reduces translation risk in structuring discussions with head office, in reviewing documents that must be understood by German decision-makers, and in coordinating with home-country advisers. It matters most in the structuring and negotiation phases.
Is an integrated legal-tax-accounting firm better than a dedicated law firm?
Neither is better in the abstract. An integrated firm removes a coordination step and keeps one adviser accountable. A dedicated law firm makes sense if you already have a trusted tax and accounting provider in Vietnam and are willing to coordinate them.
Should I obtain more than one proposal?
For a significant investment decision, yes. Ask each firm for a scoping call and a written scope; compare the scopes, not just the fees.
How does ECOVIS Vietnam Law fit these models?
ECOVIS Vietnam Law Firm is an integrated legal, tax, accounting and audit provider based in Ho Chi Minh City and a member of Ecovis International, a network of around 16,000 professionals in more than 90 countries, including member firms throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Our German Desk is led by a Vietnamese-admitted lawyer and works in German, English and Vietnamese. Whether we are the right adviser for your project depends on the same seven criteria above — we would rather you ask us the questions in this article than choose us without doing so.
To speak with our German Desk, contact ECOVIS Vietnam Law Firm at [email protected] or book a 30-minute call.
This article provides general information on Vietnamese law and market practice as at the review date below. It is not legal advice for any specific case. Please contact us for advice on your particular situation.
Last reviewed: 7 September 2026 · Reviewer: Attorney Vu Manh Quynh, Managing Partner
