Many businesses operate without an in-house legal department. This is common among startups, SMEs, and even foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam. Legal tasks are often handled by management, HR, accounting, or operations teams—on top of their existing responsibilities.
At first, this may seem efficient. But over time, businesses often realize that legal risks accumulate quietly when there is no dedicated legal function. Contracts become inconsistent, compliance gaps appear, and inspections or disputes become stressful and disruptive.
So what should a business do when it does not have an internal legal department?
The answer is not always to hire in-house lawyers. In practice, many businesses adopt a more flexible and cost-effective approach: ongoing outsourced legal support.
Not having an internal legal team does not automatically mean a business is non-compliant. However, it does mean that:
Legal responsibilities are fragmented
Decisions are made without consistent legal review
Compliance depends on individual experience rather than legal standards
This creates structural legal risk, especially as the business grows.
Most legal problems do not arise from intentional violations. They arise because no one is responsible for continuously monitoring legal risk across the organization.
Businesses without legal departments often face similar issues:
Contracts are drafted or signed without proper review, relying on templates or counterparty drafts.
HR teams struggle with labor law questions such as overtime, termination, and internal discipline.
Licensing and reporting obligations are missed when the business expands or changes operations.
Legal updates are overlooked because no one is tracking regulatory changes systematically.
These challenges usually remain manageable—until an inspection, dispute, or penalty exposes them.
Many businesses assign legal tasks to non-legal teams. While this may work temporarily, it has clear limitations:
Non-lawyers cannot track frequent legal changes
Internal decisions are based on practice, not enforceable law
Legal risks are assessed subjectively, not objectively
Over time, this approach leads to compliance drift, where actual operations no longer match legal requirements.
When legal issues increase, the first instinct is often to hire an in-house lawyer. However, this is not always practical.
Challenges include:
High fixed costs (salary, benefits, training)
Difficulty finding lawyers with both legal and industry expertise
Limited coverage when only one lawyer is hired
Ongoing responsibility to manage and update legal staff
For many SMEs and FDI subsidiaries, legal needs are regular but not constant, making a full internal legal team inefficient.
Instead of building an in-house legal department, many businesses choose ongoing legal consultancy—a model where an external law firm acts as an outsourced legal department.
This approach provides:
Continuous legal advice
Regular contract and compliance review
Monitoring of legal changes
Support for HR, licensing, and inspections
Preventive risk management
Legal support becomes part of daily operations, not just emergency response.
With ongoing legal consultancy, businesses can:
Consult lawyers before signing contracts or making major decisions
Receive guidance on labor and HR issues as they arise
Ensure business scope and licenses remain aligned with operations
Prepare for inspections proactively
Standardize internal policies and procedures
The legal team becomes familiar with the business model, risk appetite, and industry—similar to an internal department, but without the overhead.
Instead of fragmented responsibility, legal risk is monitored centrally by legal professionals.
Monthly or retainer-based fees allow businesses to budget legal costs without surprises.
Businesses gain access to multiple legal specialists rather than relying on a single in-house lawyer.
Ongoing legal advisors identify risks early, before they escalate into disputes or penalties.
For fast-growing businesses, legal complexity increases faster than internal capacity.
For FDI companies, differences between global policies and Vietnamese law create additional risk.
Ongoing outsourced legal support helps bridge these gaps by:
Localizing compliance practices
Translating legal requirements into practical guidance
Supporting communication with authorities
This makes it an ideal solution for businesses operating without internal legal teams.
Some businesses try to operate without legal support for as long as possible. Common consequences include:
Repeated administrative fines
Labor disputes that could have been avoided
Contracts that fail when disputes arise
Stressful and disruptive inspections
In many cases, the cost of one legal incident exceeds the cost of years of preventive legal support.
The goal is not to eliminate legal risk entirely—that is impossible. The goal is to control legal risk systematically.
When businesses without in-house legal teams adopt ongoing legal consultancy:
Legal risk becomes visible and manageable
Decisions are made with legal awareness
Compliance supports growth rather than slowing it
Legal support shifts from crisis management to business protection.
DEDICA provides ongoing legal consultancy services designed specifically for businesses that do not have internal legal departments.
As an outsourced legal department, DEDICA helps clients by:
Providing day-to-day legal advice
Reviewing and standardizing contracts
Advising on labor, licensing, and compliance matters
Monitoring legal changes affecting operations
Supporting inspections and authority interactions
DEDICA’s approach is practical, preventive, and business-focused, ensuring legal protection without operational burden.
Not having an in-house legal department is common—but leaving legal risk unmanaged is not sustainable.
Businesses without internal legal teams must choose between:
Operating with hidden legal exposure, or
Establishing a reliable system of ongoing legal support
For many companies in Vietnam, ongoing outsourced legal consultancy is the most effective solution—providing the protection of a legal department without the cost and complexity of building one.
📞 Hotline: (+84) 39 969 0012 (Available via WhatsApp, WeChat, Zalo)
🕒 Working Hours: Monday – Friday (8:30 – 18:00)
Contact us today for a free initial consultation with our experienced lawyers!
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