4 nội dung chính: + Cơ hội, thách thức của Nghề luật sư tại Việt nam trong bối cảnh hội nhập quốc tế + Kiến thức, kỹ năng Luật sư cần trang bị để thực hành nghề luật thành công trong công ty luật hoặc inhoue + Vai trò của người tuyển dụng, người xin việc, và trường học trong trang bị kiến thức, kỹ năng để hành nghề luật + Các chia sẻ cá nhân của các luật sư về kinh ng
Tọa đàm "Thực hành nghề luật sư bối cảnh hội nhập quốc tế tác động cách mạng công nghiệp 4.0" Suy nghĩ cảm nhận I BÀI LÀM A INTRODUCTION On 31 October 2021, the Judicial Academy of Vietnam held a conference on “Practicing legal profession in the context of international integration and the impact of the Industrial Revolution 4.0.” The conference had the participation from the five distinguished guest speakers representing the legal professionals from top law firms in Vietnam and the United States (U.S.), as well as from the in-house legal department of one of the biggest insurance companies in Vietnam With their diverse background, the speakers shared valuable insights on varieties of topics, ranging from the current socio-economic context setting the backdrop for the development of the legal practices, the implications on opportunities and challenges, the possible career development pathway for young lawyers, the roles of training and continued-learning, the essential skill set for success, the importance of work-life balance for lawyers, and many more This paper focuses on the writer’s reflections of the event and the lessons obtained from the experience that has been shared by the distinguished speakers The writer hopes to follow these lessons, with due adjustments to the conditions, to make the best use of her one-year training at the Judicial Academy and her subsequent strive to build her career in the bustling, ever-evolving, challenging yet exciting context of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 (4IR) era B REFLECTIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED Overview of the legal market Vietnam has a relatively young legal market with high growth potential Generally, Vietnam has a relatively young legal market, nurtured by the country’s impressive economic growth With the shift to market-orientation after Reform (Doi Moi) in the late 1980s and the normalization of U.S.-Vietnam diplomatic relations in the early 1990s came the international law firms, knowledge and technology transfer, and specialisation in legal practice areas Being less than 30 years old, Vietnam legal market currently has around 15 thousand licensed lawyers, or approximately 15 lawyers per 100,000 people This figure, however, is still relatively low compared to the number in developed countries For example, the figure was 391 for the US, 357 for Australia, 251 for the UK, 72 for France, 26 for Canada, and 23 for Japan.1 In terms of market segment by firm size, there are about 100 big law firms (i.e., firms with regional or international operation, either Vietnamese-owned or foreign-owned) and about 4,000 boutique law firms which are specialised in litigation or civil case In terms of geographical distribution, the market is highly concentrated in the two big cities – Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh As such, these two cities present the biggest potential markets for young lawyers as they offer access to the networks of the two most influencing and prestigious bar associations, biggest law firms and corporations with strong legal departments in the country While the competition is higher, better opportunities for career development are also abundant in these two major hubs Regarding practice areas, there are currently four major practices focusing on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), banking and finance (including capital markets), intellectual property (IP), and arbitration and litigation M&A comprises a major segment in the market thanks to the huge inbound and outbound investment flows over the years as Vietnam’s economy continues to grow Private corporations have become more and more important in the economy, with not only expanding The interlinkage of major legal practices domestic operations but also larger outbound investments to foreign markets This has contributed to opportunities for the M&A sector The banking and finance segment has also seen According to Mark Ramseyer & Eric B Rasmusen Comparative Litigation Rates Harvard Law School (2010) steady growth as Vietnamese enterprises started listing and issuing bonds abroad IP in Vietnam still mostly focuses on registration rather than IP litigation; however, with the rise of technology companies, this segment will hopefully grow to a size comparable to that in other developed markets Litigation, once underdeveloped due to its perceived low profitability, has become increasingly attractive with the introduction of complicated cases with large disputed assets Additionally, arbitration has seen increasing uptake as a preferred choice by businesses thanks to its advantages over the traditional courts in terms of time and procedures for dispute settlement, especially in cases or matters involving foreign elements Other practice areas, such as employment, tax, real estate, antitrust and competition, etc are also very interesting practice areas that young lawyers can explore While the in-depth specialisation in one expertise is emphasised, there are, of course, many cases in which lawyers need to work at the junctions of two or more legal practices, for example, IP litigation, or employment and competition aspects of an M&A deal The higher quality of legal practitioners In addition to the increasing number of trained and licensed lawyers, another striking characteristic of the legal market is the increasing quality of legal practitioners The quality is presented in terms of a more balanced training of substantive practices and real-life experiences to allow lawyers to come up with practical, flexible solutions with the legal framework Additionally, more and more Vietnamese lawyers are becoming highly capable of working in English, allowing them to gain access to the larger market segment comprising international clients The market demand has pushed up the quantity and quality of lawyers in Vietnam - the quality of whom is now comparable to developed countries, per Lawyer Yuho (Richard) Kim – CEO and Founder of Law2B, and a Korean lawyer with around 15 years of legal practising in Vietnam This also has become the motivation for young lawyers to relentlessly strive to study and improve their professional knowledge so as not to be left behind The increasingly important role of in-house legal practitioners Besides private practices (i.e., law firms), legal departments in fast-growing corporations offer more job opportunities for young lawyers to practise in the businesses’ diverse environment Per Lawyer Nhat Quang Truong, Managing Partner of YKVN, the development and increasing quality of the in-house legal teams have a mutually enhancing relationship with the improving quality of consulting lawyers The strong growth of Vietnam’s economy incentivises the growth of in-house legal practitioners As noted by Lawyer Kim Loan Nguyen, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer of Manulife (Vietnam) Limited, a lot of job opportunities have been shared among members of the Individual Practicing Lawyers Club, more than 100 of whom are heads of large corporations’ legal departments This signals an expanding market segment with highly potential for career development opportunities of legal practitioners In addition to the job positions, the areas of practices for in-house legal counsel have become more expanded and diversified In terms of industry, the three sectors have emerged as highly specialised: fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), pharmaceutical, and real estate In-house lawyers also have a more expanded scope of work, covering from the more traditional tasks of providing internal legal advice, to compliance, corporate governance, anti-fraud, and government affair In-house counsels now have a more highly recognised position in the corporate’s decision-making mechanism, with responsibilities surpassing mere paperwork to more deeply and meaningful participation in the development of business production and operation strategies The reality of doing businesses also requires in-house lawyers to have a good understanding of the company’s model, business operation, the work of different departments and products/services of the company (such as exports and imports, supply chain finance, lending operation, letter of credit, etc.) This, in many cases, requires the legal department to organise its structure to fit in with the company’s and industry’s arrangement Businesses are in a transition period, therefore in-house lawyers need to seize the opportunities to capture growth and avoid being left behind Challenges for young legal practitioners The ‘long and winding road’ of the legal profession Well understanding of ‘how to become a lawyer’ should be the essential first step for anyone aiming to enter legal profession One outstanding characteristic of a legal career might be the long time training time In Vietnam, it typically takes years of training in law school, Judicial Academy, and law practicsing organisation for an Partner (Equity) Partner (Salary) individual to qualify as a licensed lawyer Additionally, Special Counsel one needs to spend years going through several positions Associate in order to advance in the legal career In Vietnam, a Trainee Lawyer training typical career path of a lawyer starts from paralegal, Paralegal trainee lawyer to associate before reaching the higher level Intern of partner (either salary partner or equity partner) in a law Law school firm This pathway implies the different skill sets that lawyers need to obtain along the way First of all, the positions of paralegal and trainee lawyer require refining Stairway to Partnership the basic skills in case studies and situational analyses to find workable solutions; writing and presentation skills for drafting legal advice and contracts following a law This is just an indicative chart of the possible pathway of legal career from the write’s perception and observation and does not necessarily reflect the actual structure in the market firm’s quality requirements yet understandable to customers For the position of a senior lawyer, one needs to further obtain the basic skill of client management to handle client's matters and ensure the quality of advice with minimum support from a higher-level attorney Partner is a senior management position with the main responsibility of managing and expanding client books, which require high-level strategic management skills In the US, the title might be different (starting from junior, mid-level, and senior associate, then partner), but the career development pathway and required skillsets would be similar In Vietnam, legal internships are usually offered to 3rd year and 4th year law school students, but this selection process happens much earlier at the beginning of legal education in a highly competitive market like the US According to Lawyer Mai Phan, Senior Associate at Morrison & Foerster's Technology Transactions Group, US law firms’ recruitment indentify their targetted hires very as early as in first-year law school students The recruitment start with an interview of top of class students based on their grades (e.g top 20%, 30%, 50%) After the interview, only 10% will be offered an internship which will be started in year At the end of the internship, the legal interns will be subject to an assessment on the professional capability and suitability to the company culture; and job offers will be given to those who meet the firms’ requirements after they complete the bar exam This selection process affects the selection of education track in the US, for which most if not all qualified foreign lawyers will need to start over from the Juris Doctor (JD) program and build up from scratch The whole process may take eight years or even more to go from the junior associate position to the senior associate level, and at times can be described as being designed for the ‘survival of the fittest.’ Due to the nature of business, corporations often want to bring in experienced lawyers with independent consulting skills Therefore, while businesses often allow a certain timeframe for lawyers to familiarize themselves with the work, there is no basic training process like in law firms As suggested by Lawyer Kim Loan Nguyen, young lawyers can work in a law firm for a few years to obtain solid expertise in certain legal fields before joining as in-house counsels Alternatively, if the lawyers have identified their career path as in-house counsel right from the outset, they must have a very clear vision of the industry they want to work in, then focus on specialisation to obtain an ‘inside-out’ understanding of that industry, the business process, products and services, revenue generation models, etc Determining a specialised industry is very important to help in-house counsel determine the best learning opportunities and focus on developing in that specific area Long working hours and efficiency management Another characteristic is the long working hours and strict efficiency management The basic measurement of key performance indicators (KPIs) and efficiency in law firms is billable hours For example, in US law firms, the minimum required billable hours is around 1,950 hours per year; however, in order to improve standing, lawyers normally work around 2,200-2,500 per year This translates into from 8.5-9.5 working hours per day, assuming working days per week and no holiday In Vietnam, this number can be lower, but it should be put into the reality of work In order to bill the clients 40 hours, lawyers need to work twice as much This is especially true for lawyers at the junior level, as they need to spend much more time on the groundwork of researching materials Efficiency is then calculated based on the actual billable hours over total working hours, with a generally accepted threshold of 60% or above This threshold will increase as the lawyers get more seniors, with more KPIs related to client management and revenue generation added to the bucket However, as emphasised by Lawyer Mai Phan, the more important factor is the devotion and diligence toward a higher quality of work Higher requirements, higher competition The current trend of the world economy is gradually shifting toward new and/or highly specific industries, such as technology, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals These areas are constantly evolving, which requires businesses to move quickly and smartly, focusing on these areas to increase profits Start-ups are becoming an important sector of the economy, characterised by a much rapid business cycle that requires lawyers to adapt more quickly their work approach to match clients’ needs Clients are increasingly demanding regarding the lawyers’ professional skills and in-depth specialisation in a certain legal field In addition, lawyers also need to have an understanding of the Client’s product technology and business models in order to come up with legal advice that will maximise business efficiency and revenue to clients For example in the case of Lawyer Mai Phan, for each new drug product from her clients – a pharmaceutical company, being a lawyer, she needs to understand the drug development (technology) mechanism, IPR transferability, as well as other matters related to tax and antitrust issues, etc Work pressure on lawyers is also increasing: in order to meet the needs of their business, clients often require lawyers to work 24/7, even with no weekends or holidays Without health and the ability to balance personal life, lawyers cannot meet the increasingly demanding job requirements of today Along with the increase in the number and quality of lawyers as well as practicing law firms, the competition to win customers is becoming more and more fierce, which leads to the need to recruit better lawyers For example, from Lawyer Mai Phan's observations, the retention rate of associates in US law firms is only 25% This raises the issue of building a culture and talent management to retain talent for law firms, but also requires lawyers to constantly work to not only improve their legal skills but also to build and strengthen customer relationships Reflections on lessons learned from the guest speakers Continued legal education and training There are two major systems in legal education in the world The first system, for example, the model adopted in the US, requires that students complete an undergraduate degree in a subject of their own choice, take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) before applying for a law school to earn a JD, taking the bar examination, and finally receiving a certification to practice law The other system, like the one currently adopted in Vietnam, does not require a pre-law school undergraduate degree, but instead mandate the law school undergraduate to take lawyer training class at the Vietnam Judicial Academy (VJA), register as a trainee at a law-practicing organisation for a period of 12 months before taking the bar On being a Learning Machine “Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up Day by day, and at the end of the day-if you live long enough-like most people, you will get out of life what you deserve.” exam to obtain a certification to practice law It would take at least 6-7 years in either system for an individual to be qualified for practising law Furthermore, under both systems, continued skill - Charlie Munger, Vice-Chairman of Berkshire training and self-learning are emphasised as Hathaway essential factors for all lawyers As a matter of fact, most jurisdictions mandate lawyers to ensure continuing legal education (CLE) even after qualification For example, in Vietnam, qualified lawyers are required to take at least hours of professional training for lawyers per year Besides the mandatory CLE, a legal career also requires legal practitioners to have a lifelong learning mentality As put by Lawyer Yuho (Richard) Kim, the learning process for a lawyer is a ‘never ending’ process – as the laws keep changing or being added to keep up with the fastchanging nature of technology and business models As there will be a certain lag in the regulation versus technology and business realities, lawyers will need to learn how to adopt ‘foreign’ concepts (such as Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and fintech) under Vietnam’s regulations, for example, by using the doctrine of analogy law The learning can be through internal training at law firms or companies in which lawyers are working Lawyer Yuho (Richard) Kim suggested that big law firms can arrange training courses, while smaller law firms can have senior members share their knowledge The best training opportunity comes from on-job-training Per Lawyer Mai Phan, the US law schools mainly train lawyers for litigation, while only 5-10% of the knowledge obtained from schools can be used for consultancy work This reflects the commonly-observed gap between school-obtained knowledge and practice in reality Therefore, young lawyers should be proactive in learning from observing Partners and other senior associates, as well as from other alternative sources, such as information from the internet, from learning about the Clients and their industry by reading the listing, etc If training is needed, young lawyers should not be hesitant about suggesting such training For a highly specialised industry like biotech or technology, law firms can invite experts in the field, instead of using resources within the company, for the training, as recommended by Lawyer Nhat Quang Truong For in-house legal counsels, per Lawyer Kim Loan Nguyen, while there is usually no hand-holding training or guidance from seniors like in law firms, in-house legal counsels can still receive training from various sources and opportunities, such as (i) On-job-training by learning from colleagues (both legal department and business department); (ii) Learning from internal training, such as by working with colleagues during new model or product testing phases; (iii) Mentoring and coaching from other departments in the companies (e.g., agency team, sales team, etc.) to understand more about the industry; and (iv) Joining formal/informal professional clubs or industry groups to learn from real-life industry practices; Hard work and devotion pay off Lawyer Mai Phan represents the young generation of Vietnamese lawyers who are talented, outstanding, and ambitious But what’s more impressive is her hard work, perseverance, determination, and positive attitude toward work As per her remark, life is fair in the way that, regardless of one’s intellectual status, it only gives everyone an equal share of 24 hours per day It is therefore upon us to decide how we make the best of our time: “You may not be the most talented person but you work the hardest.” She inspires the younger generation of lawyers to believe that it is about time Vietnamese lawyers reach out globally and that hard work and the right attitude will bear fruits She also pressed the importance of working smarter and perfecting soft skills aside from legal skills To advance in one’s legal career, one needs to shape a clear vision of his/her goals, refine the hard and soft skills that will help realise one’s goals (such as networking, client management, business insights, etc.), and be willing to more than the bare minimum of the job description In this aspect, she leads by example with her impressive USD million client book while still being a Senior Associate Lawyer Yuho (Richard) Kim impressed me with On devotion and dedication to work his address on the value of connecting the dots: “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he minor tasks, though seem insignificant or less should sweep streets even as Michelangelo exciting at one moment, will prove to be valuable painted, or Beethoven played music, or in the future, so long as one invests enough Shakespeare wrote poetry He should sweep effort He advised that young lawyers streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street need to be open-minded to new experiences, as sweeper who did his job well.” whatever they learn in that position will be helpful - Martin Luther King, Jr., at another point in their life Per Kim, “every experience counts, none is useless.” His stories reminded me of Steve Jobs’ famous “Stay hungry, stay foolish” speech, about how his calligraphy class in college influenced Mac computers’ beautiful typography many years later Per Jobs, “you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” Kim’s remark also assuaged those who may sometimes feel lost at the beginning of their career, or when they need to start over again at some point in life In such situations, what they can is experimenting with a trial-and-error process and putting their heart and mind into the tasks at hand Eventually, all the dots will be connected, and what they need to look for will present itself in front of them Essential business mindset to be a good lawyer Being an in-house legal counsel in the banking and finance sectors for almost 15 years, Lawyer Kim Loan Nguyen has shared valuable lessons about the essential business mindset Per Nguyen, legal knowledge is just the first brick in the enterprise’s whole value pyramid What businesses need most of all are practical solutions for their actual conditions, such as which market to access, which products to commercialise, where profits will come from, what aspects of risk will emerge In-house legal counsels need to answer foundational questions such as: is a proposal workable, what solutions are available, which is the best solution? If solution A is chosen, how should each work item be rolled out, what difficulties will be encountered, what is the solution to those difficulties, etc? In other words, in-house legal counsels need to consider the entire process from start to finish in applying the law to a particular transaction Nguyen emphasised that the legal profession is a type of service As such, a legal professional should develop a client-oriented mindset, i.e., a lawyer must be determined to protect the client’s best benefits This mindset is very much aligned with all Bar Associations’ Codes of Ethics For law firms, the client is other enterprises, which give law firms an independent standing from the client and the right to make a reservation/disclaimer when the client disagrees with the lawyer’s legal opinion In-house counsels, on the other hand, are on the same boat with all businesses’ departments As such, a disclaimer is not an option, with certain exceptions to be used only when in-house counsels are of different opinions from those of the board of directors Therefore, in- house lawyers must put themselves in the shoes of business persons in order to understand the difficulties of the sales department to better support them with practical, workable solutions rather than a safe solution for the legal department Lawyers should give consideration to various aspects of the clients' values and interests for them to consider In order to come up with practical, workable solutions for clients, Lawyer Kim Loan Nguyen suggested using cost-benefit analysis and risk-based analysis frameworks For cost-benefit analysis, lawyers need to ask: what is the cost versus profit of each alternative solution For risk-based analysis, it is necessary to understand the risk appetite of the client (what is the tolerance threshold of the business and what is the non-tolerance point) For example, there are definite nontolerant risks, as per Lawyer Kim Loan Nguyen, ‘fire, death, and license withdrawal.’ To deal with risks, lawyers need to apply a risk assessment framework covering legal risks, reputational risks, ethical risks, operational risks, etc For example, lawyers need to consider, in the event of a newly issued legal document, whether it will have an impact on the business, and if yes, in which direction; if the business does not make changes in accordance with the new law, how will it affect its operation In addition, lawyers need to have the knowledge and experience to assess the likelihood of risk in order to take appropriate adaptive measures In order to develop this skill, a solid legal background is necessary, but risk management techniques based on experience from the actual situation of the business operation will be even more valuable For risk management purposes, compliance officers (part of the in-house legal department) will play an important role in providing a detailed plan to follow closely throughout the implementation of the new law and come up with solutions to minimise all possible impacts on the business-as-usual operation of the company Eventually, to show business mind when participating in a project, lawyers should not use the language of law (i.e., legal jargon), but the language of business to more effectively communicate with business persons and better align with the values of the business, as well as to show the lawyers’ competence in both advisory role and the role of a corporate policy-maker Communication skills are essential: ideas should be explained in the simplest, most sincere language In order to this, lawyers need to develop their own grasp of the “common sense”: instead of clinging to the words of the law, lawyers should understand the spirit of the law and the policy objectives (i.e., the ultimate goals) that the law-makers were aiming at when making the law Based on that common sense, lawyers need to think about the possible solutions that the regulators and clients each will accept, in order to come up with the terms and solutions that will support the clients’ businesses Developing this common sense will be difficult for beginners, but it will improve with practice The above point has been concurred by other lawyers in the event Lawyer Mai Phan further highlighted that lawyers should try to understand legal concerns from the viewpoint of businesses to improve their legal services For example, unlike well-established enterprises, many start-ups only have the financial capacity to stay afloat from 3-6 months For most deals, what they aim at is finding common ground for quick negotiation and closing the deals Therefore, in working with start-ups, lawyers need to pay attention to deal-breaker for start-ups and support the fast closing of deals instead of pondering over unnecessary details Work-life balance Legal Cheek recently published the Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey 2021-22 in the UK – a country with a very big and competitive legal market The survey results show that for most 10 international firms, the average start work and finish times of junior lawyers usually range from am to pm, and in some extreme cases, almost 11:30 pm.2 Needless to say, no one enters the legal profession expecting a 9-to-5 work routine, but this raises alarming concerns about lawyers’ wellbeing and the need to create a work-life balance In this aspect, Lawyer Kim Loan Nguyen shared her experience about traveling helping in balancing mindset and life Per Nguyen, when getting to know the larger, unexplored world outside of one smaller world, one gets to know more about self, open one’s mind, and became capable of seeing how small one problem is compared to the rest of the world She also advised that lawyers should maintain healthy hobbies to help develop the brain, keep the right attitude to cope with pressure, and thus keep the balance at work For example, among the four guest speakers, lawyer Nhat Quang Truong maintains his interest in arts, lawyer Kim Yuho attends classes, while lawyer Kim Loan Nguyen and lawyer Mai Phan are both distance runners All these activities have been backed up by neuroscience to help increase tolerance threshold and perseverance, as well as the capability to concentrate, overcome challenges, and reach a balanced life Be prepared for the changes induced by disrupted technologies The new, disrupted technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), have brought much excitement but also concerns from the legal community Excitement comes from the potential business opportunities, while concerns emanate from the uncertain legality of certain aspects and applications (such as CBDC, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), or peer-to-peer lending), and, in an extreme case, the possibility of robots replacing certain profession Per Lawyer Kim Loan Nguyen, nowadays lawyers need to understand technology: as the laws and regulations are lagging, the legal risks and possible violations related to technology have not been fully perceived Law practitioners, therefore, need to update their knowledge about technological innovations in their respective industries as well as new technologies to develop future-proofing solutions shielding businesses from future risks One can start by reading a lot about the trends in applying new technology in industries Per Lawyer Mai Phan, the development of new technologies is both a challenge and an opportunity for lawyers Technology has currently been applied to replace mundane tasks (such as due diligence) In that context, the job of the lawyers is to examine whether the results generated by the software are appropriate There are specialised jobs that are more difficult to replace, such as strategy development or expertise in the junction of different legal practices With the development of technology and the current legal uncertainty, businesses will look to lawyers for more advice, Sam Jewel Revealed: Law firms’ average start work and finish times 2021-22 Legal Cheek (2021, October) Available at https://www.legalcheek.com/2021/10/revealed-law-firms-average-start-work-and-finish-times-2021-22/ 11 but lawyers also need to educate themselves beyond the traditional fields of expertise to be able to serve customers better In this aspect, lawyer Nhat Quang Truong also provided another assuring perspective Per Truong, looking at the Vietnam market at the moment, repetitive jobs can be replaced However, other work that requires intensive analysis will be very difficult to replace in the near future At the present, there is no consensus in the regulation regarding many of the new technologies’ applications, even for developed markets New emerging technology business models are forcing law firms to invest more to understand Many also trigger unanswered questions, for example, the responsibilities or professional ethics applied to AI in the legal field It goes without saying that new technologies be an area that will continue to grow and attract investment in the future What each individual lawyer can now is making sure that they obtain a sufficient understanding of the new tech to better serve their work and clients C CONCLUSION I choose the two pieces of advice from the guest speakers to conclude my paper for I feel they give me the most motivation in my current situation Per Lawyer Kim Yuho, one should work on something that makes one happy – because this is something that you will for the rest of your life There are many options for career development - one should choose a profession that suits one’s desire, knowing all its pros and cons Legal profession is typically characterised with longworking hours, huge piles of regulations to dig in, and all-nighters; but it also very fulfilling intellectually when one encouters a new legal riddle and, after some searching and pondering, being able to solve it As per remarks by Lawyer Kim Loan Nguyen and Lawyer Mai Phan, a career in legal profession is challenging yet equally rewarding I believe there is neither a fixed definition nor a barometer for success No money earned, authority gained over other people, influencing network, highly recognised position, or any combination thereof can make one person more successful than others But when I looked at and listen to the speakers of the event, I felt that they are extremely successful in their respective roles, not only because they excel at what they are doing, but also because they speak about their work with sparkling inspiration It was intimidating to observe such huge figures in the legal field and listen to the success stories of the guest speakers, but on the other hand, it was also very inspiring I not set my goal to become who they are, but I hope that after the one-year training at the Judicial Academy, I will be one step closer to what they have achieved 12