Firm History
October 2006
Indochine Counsel opened its doors on 18 October 2006 as the brainchild of four lawyers: Dang The Duc, To Xuan Tinh, Le Nguyen Huy Thuy and Phan Anh Vu. They started small, with only a few lawyers, but quickly ramped up to speed. Less than a year after Indochine Counsel’s founding, an Intellectual Property and Technology Practice Group was formed under the direction of Nguyen Thi Hong Anh, an experienced IP lawyer and then Senior Associate of the firm.
January 2009
With meager resources and a focus on business, the partners decided to wait to open an office in Hanoi. They worked with another firm, Leadco Legal Counsel – a Hanoi-based law firm – and coordinated work between the two cities through a strategic alliance. This strategic alliance lasted until shortly before Indochine Counsel opened its own office in Hanoi, in September 2012.
April 2010
The firm continued apace, adding lawyers, sometimes losing them, but always striving towards the excellence in service that had been such an integral part of the founders’ vision. This vision was expanded when, in April 2010, they promoted Nguyen Thi Hong Anh to a full partner. She was the first female partner in the firm, a telling symbol of the growing role of women in professional society in Vietnam.
November 2011
At the end of 2011 Indochine Counsel tried a bold experiment. They joined forces with a leading Korean law firm, Apex Law LLC, and opened a Korea desk. Unfortunately, the experiment did not prove as fruitful as they hoped and the Korea desk folded within a year of opening. The road to success is paved with many obstacles.
September 2012
The firm kept its chin up, however, and refocused its work on Vietnam. In September 2012, Indochine Counsel established its own branch office in Hanoi, which is in line with the firm’s commitment to further enhance our practice and expand our network to deliver services more efficiently to our clients.
December 2013
Indochine Counsel was admitted as a member of The Law Firm Network (LFN), a strong non-exclusive association of independent law firms in over 50 countries. The Law Firm Network was founded in 1989. The membership allows the firm to have an extended global network with quality law firms in various jurisdictions around the world.
November 2014
Indochine Counsel became a founding member of the ASEAN Legal Alliance (ALA). The ALA was formed in 2014 to bring together law firms from each of the 10 member states of ASEAN to provide a truly ASEAN wide legal network. Each of the member law firms work in close cooperation to provide seamless legal services across the whole of ASEAN. It is a legal network that is ASEAN focused and present in all 10 ASEAN countries. There four core practice areas of the ALA are Cross Border Investments and International Trade, Intellectual Property, Arbitration and Dispute Resolution, Private Client and International Real Estate. The ALA has more than 100 lawyers practicing in more than 16 offices across 10 countries.
