Maritime Law · 14.11.2024

Best Maritime Law Firms in Vietnam: How to Choose Counsel

There is no official ranking of maritime law firms in Vietnam, and any page claiming to list the best ones is expressing an opinion. What can be assessed objectively is whether a firm can answer the questions a shipping matter actually turns on. This is a selection guide, written…

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By Lawyer Nguyen Nhu Hai – UniLaw LLC

Why “best” is the wrong first question

Vietnam has no ranking body for maritime practice, and directory listings reflect submissions rather than case outcomes. In a shipping matter the variable that decides the result is usually time: the cargo limitation period is one year from delivery, an arrest lasts thirty days, and a survey not instructed in the first week is rarely recoverable later. So the useful test is not reputation but whether the firm gives you dates and numbers immediately.

Six questions that separate firms

“What is my limitation date?” A maritime firm should answer with a calendar date. Cargo loss or damage is one year from the day the cargo was delivered or should have been delivered (Maritime Code Article 169). Voyage charter performance is two years from the day the claimant knew or should have known of the infringement (Article 195). Charterparty disputes are two years from the end of the charter (Article 219). A maritime lien expires one year after it arose (Article 43).
“What is the carrier’s worst case?” Where value was not declared before loading and not stated in the bill of lading, Article 152 limits the carrier to 666.67 SDR per package or unit, or 2 SDR per kilogram gross, whichever is higher — and where a container’s contents are not itemised in the transport document, the container itself counts as one package. A firm that has not checked the packing description has not yet valued your claim.
“Can the limit be broken?” Article 153 removes the benefit of the limit in defined circumstances. Whether that is arguable on your facts is worth more than any directory entry.
“What happens on day 30 of the arrest?” Arrest to secure a maritime claim lasts a maximum of thirty days (Article 141). Within it, court or arbitral proceedings must be started and the application renewed. Ask who is drafting the substantive claim while the arrest is being obtained.
“What security will get the ship released?” Article 142 allows release on alternative security, payment, a guarantee, or a letter of undertaking from an insurer on the Ministry of Finance’s list of reputable insurers. Owners and claimants need opposite answers to this, and both need it before the arrest.
“If the contract says foreign arbitration, what then?” The award still has to be recognised and enforced in Vietnam. A firm that only litigates, or only arbitrates, will struggle at that seam.

Practical signals worth checking

Working language of the file. Bills of lading, charterparties, survey reports and LOIs are in English; pleadings, court submissions and evidence in Vietnam are in Vietnamese. The firm has to operate in both without a translation layer in between.
Surveyor and correspondent network. Evidence at the port is collected in hours, not weeks.
Underwriter-side experience. Whether the firm has acted for hull, cargo and P&I interests as well as owners changes how it reads a coverage position.
Familiarity with the Code’s priority over other statutes. Article 1.2 gives the Maritime Code precedence where it conflicts with another law on the same maritime question — an argument that is easy to miss if the matter is treated as an ordinary contract dispute.
Willingness to say the claim is time-barred. The most useful early advice is sometimes that there is nothing to pursue.

About UniLaw’s maritime practice

UniLaw acts for shipowners, charterers, cargo interests, hull and P&I underwriters, agents and terminals in Vietnam. The practice is led by attorney Nguyen Nhu Hai, whose own field is maritime law. We work in English and Vietnamese on the same file, instruct surveyors at Vietnamese ports, and take cargo, arrest and coverage matters through both Vietnamese courts and arbitration.

Where we say no: we do not take a matter forward where the limitation period has expired and there is no arguable route around it, and we say so at the first review rather than after a retainer.