Nguyen Hong Ha

Dispute Resolution and Litigation

Shareholder Disputes

• Represented one of the two principal owners of a privately-owned coffee business group in a series of lawsuits over several years, both within and outside Vietnam, relating to the division of marital assets and the resolution of shareholder disputes, with total assets subject to division exceeding VND 8,000 billion (equivalent to over USD 350 million);
• Represented three foreign shareholders of a real estate project development company in an administrative dispute in which the former shareholders sued the Business Registration Office – Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Investment before the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court, concerning a share transfer agreement valued at more than VND 1,380 billion (equivalent to USD 64.7 million);
• Represented two Vietnamese companies in a dispute with a partner over the establishment of a media company, with the disputed value of approximately USD 12 million;
• Represented a major shareholder of a company operating a large cable car project in Vung Tau, valued in the tens of millions of U.S. dollars, in a shareholder dispute;
• Represented a New Zealand education group in successfully negotiating the resolution of a series of disputes with a Vietnamese partner during the investment and establishment of an international school in Vietnam, with the disputed value amounting to tens of millions of U.S. dollars;
• Advised a foreign investment fund, as a major shareholder of a company specializing in logistics and warehousing, in an internal shareholder dispute with Vietnamese shareholders involving a disputed value of approximately USD 25 million. This dispute was escalated by the Vietnamese shareholders into related civil, administrative, and criminal proceedings before multiple People’s Courts and other competent authorities.

Real Estate and Construction Disputes

• Represented a real estate project developer before the People’s Court of District 7 and the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court in a dispute over the annulment of an auction result for land use rights in a real estate project, with a total value exceeding VND 1,500 billion (equivalent to more than USD 70 million).
• Advised a domestic investment company in a major infrastructure project with a total investment of over USD 300 million, requesting the authorities to adjust the total investment of a BOT contract, resulting in an increase of over VND 1,200 billion (equivalent to USD 53 million) compared to the initially approved amount.
• Represented a construction contractor, a French-invested underground construction company, in a dispute with the project owner of a real estate development concerning a FIDIC construction contract before the People’s Court of Cau Giay District and the Hanoi People’s Court, with the total disputed amount (claims and counterclaims) of VND 339 billion (equivalent to USD 14.7 million).
• Represented a group of foreign-invested companies operating in the supermarket sector in a series of disputes with landlords before district-level People’s Courts in Ho Chi Minh City and the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court, with the total disputed amount of nearly VND 600 billion (equivalent to USD 27 million).
• Represented a real estate project developer before Vietnamese courts in an investment and debt recovery dispute valued at USD 14.5 million with a foreign-invested enterprise, in which the Vietnamese party to the foreign-invested enterprise was a state-owned corporation.
• Represented a German supermarket group in a lawsuit over site clearance compensation at a supermarket against a household before the courts in Dong Nai Province.
• Advised a state-owned corporation in negotiating and executing a land use rights lease agreement in an industrial park, valued at VND 896 billion (equivalent to USD 38.9 million).
• Represented a Vietnamese individual before Vietnamese courts in a dispute over an investment cooperation agreement/capital contribution agreement in a real estate project, with the disputed amount equivalent to USD 2 million. The case was twice subject to cassation decisions by the Supreme People’s Court, ordering the case to be retried.
• Represented a Vietnamese company in an administrative dispute concerning land recovery by a Vietnamese governmental authority, with the disputed value of over USD 2.5 million.

Commercial Disputes

• Represented a state-owned corporation, the largest trading enterprise in Vietnam, in resolving a commercial dispute valued at USD 4.5 million.
• Represented a Japanese-invested company in Vietnam in matters concerning customs valuation of imported goods worth approximately USD 1 million, before the Ho Chi Minh City customs authorities, and represented the company in working with the Ho Chi Minh City Police on the same matter.
• Represented a Chilean company in a commercial dispute with a Vietnamese company before the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court, involving the application of the 1980 Vienna Convention (United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods – CISG), with the disputed amount exceeding USD 1.9 million.
• Represented a Korean construction contractor in successfully negotiating the recovery of service fees from a project owner in Vietnam, with the value exceeding USD 1.3 million.
• Represented a leading French dairy company before the court in a dispute over an exclusive distribution agreement with an exclusive distributor in Vietnam.
• Represented a state-owned telecommunications group in a lawsuit to recover international call charges from a Vietnamese national involving the theft of international call traffic. Although the claim amount was relatively small (VND 1 billion, equivalent to USD 43,000), the case attracted significant media attention.
• Represented subsidiaries of a European supermarket group in a series of lawsuits concerning leased premises disputes in Ho Chi Minh City, with the total disputed value of approximately VND 500 billion.

Banking Disputes

• Represented a foreign bank in a series of debt recovery cases involving credit activities with corporate clients before the courts in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Dong Nai Province, and Quang Nam Province, with a total value of approximately USD 10 million.
• Represented a foreign-invested bank in a debt recovery case involving credit activities with a foreign-invested borrower before the Hanoi People’s Court, with the disputed value exceeding USD 2.5 million.
• Advised a joint stock commercial bank on filing to annul the first-instance and appellate judgments related to the obligation to perform a letter of credit (L/C) worth USD 1.3 million through cassation procedures. The Judicial Council of the Supreme People’s Court accepted our arguments and issued a cassation decision to annul both the appellate and first-instance judgments. This cassation decision was subsequently published by the Judicial Council of the Supreme People’s Court as a Precedent.

Maritime Disputes

• Represented a company from the United Arab Emirates (the seller) in opposing an arrest order against its vessel initiated by the buyer, a Vietnamese company, before the Da Nang People’s Court, and advised on rejecting a series of other related claims brought by the Vietnamese buyer.
• Represented a state-owned oil and gas company owning a specialized port in successfully arresting a vessel and pursuing a claim for non-contractual damages against a foreign vessel that collided with and damaged the port facility, with the disputed value exceeding USD 2 million, before the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court and the High People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City.

Disputes Related to Hospitals – Insurance – Environment

• Represented a state-owned hospital in seeking annulment of first-instance and appellate judgments through cassation procedures in relation to a hospital construction contract.
• Represented a private hospital in defending against a patient’s claim for damages arising from medical examination and treatment.
• Advised a U.S.-based international insurance company in an insurance claim dispute valued at approximately USD 500,000 concerning losses and damages from a warehouse fire suffered by the insured party.
• Represented an international life insurance company in a series of lawsuits filed by numerous policyholders seeking to invalidate their life insurance contracts.
• Represented 839 households in Can Gio District, Ho Chi Minh City, in successfully negotiating compensation claims for non-contractual damages caused by environmental pollution from a monosodium glutamate manufacturing company in Dong Nai, with the total claim value exceeding USD 2 million.

Labor Disputes

• Advised and represented numerous foreign-invested companies in Vietnam, including Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Hanesbrands, Capgemini, International SOS, Abbott Laboratories S.A., Remy Cointreau International Pte. Ltd, Kersia Group, Clarks, Decathlon, and RMIT, in resolving labor disputes.
• Advised a Vietnamese airline in a series of labor disputes involving claims for reimbursement of training costs from 40 pilots.

Arbitration

• Represented a Vietnamese company (shareholder and guarantor) in a case before the Vietnam International Arbitration Centre (VIAC) concerning a share purchase agreement with a foreign institutional investor, with the disputed amount exceeding USD 92 million.
• Represented a major foreign fund in Vietnam in a case before VIAC concerning a share acquisition transaction valued in the tens of millions of U.S. dollars under a share subscription agreement with a Vietnamese joint stock company.
• Represented the sellers in an M&A transaction worth USD 25 million in successfully recovering a retention amount of USD 3 million from a foreign party before VIAC.
• Represented the Vietnamese seller in a share purchase transaction involving a company incorporated in Singapore, petitioning VIAC to declare the transaction agreement null and void. The case related to the overseas investment activities of Vietnamese individuals and companies.
• Represented the foreign seller in a goods sale transaction with the buyer being a Vietnamese company before VIAC, involving an outstanding debt of more than USD 700,000.
• Represented a foreign-invested company in a commercial dispute before the Ho Chi Minh City Commercial Arbitration Centre (TRACENT) defending against the claims initiated by a state-owned enterprise.

White-Collar Criminal Cases 

• Defended a defendant, former member of the Politburo and former Minister of Transport, in a criminal case involving “Violation of regulations on the management and use of State assets causing loss and waste” in connection with the auction of toll collection rights for the Ho Chi Minh City – Trung Luong Expressway before the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court, with a value exceeding VND 725 billion (equivalent to USD 31.5 million).
• Advised the defendant, former Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, in a criminal case involving the misappropriation of State secret documents before the Hanoi People’s Court.
• Defended a real estate project development company in a criminal case involving “Violation of regulations on the management and use of State assets causing loss and waste” in Binh Duong Province, related to the Provincial Party Committee and the People’s Committee of Binh Duong Province, with total damages exceeding VND 1,460 billion (equivalent to USD 63.4 million). The court ruled to allow the real estate project development company to continue the project based on legal grounds recognizing the company as a bona fide third party. This is considered the first time a Vietnamese court has recognized such rights of a bona fide third party to continue a large-scale project tied to land use rights in a criminal case of this nature.
• Defended a major shareholder of a joint stock commercial bank in a criminal case involving “Deliberately violating State regulations on economic management causing serious consequences” at a joint stock commercial bank, with damages exceeding VND 3,600 billion (equivalent to USD 156.5 million).
• Defended the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of a state-owned real estate development company in a criminal case involving “Violation of regulations on the management and use of State assets causing loss and waste” in Dong Nai Province, related to the Provincial Party Committee and the People’s Committee of Dong Nai Province, with total damages amounting to several trillion Vietnamese dong.
• Defended a foreign-invested bank in a criminal case involving “Fraudulent appropriation of assets,” with the total misappropriated value exceeding VND 300 billion (equivalent to USD 13 million).
• Defended a joint stock commercial bank in a criminal case involving “Fraudulent appropriation of assets” and “Negligence causing damage to State assets, agency, organization, or enterprise” concerning bank employees forging withdrawal documents for savings books, with the total misappropriated value exceeding VND 245 billion (equivalent to USD 10.6 million).
• Defended a joint stock commercial bank in a criminal case involving “Fraudulent appropriation of assets” concerning bank employees forging withdrawal documents for savings books, with the total misappropriated value exceeding VND 50 billion (equivalent to USD 2.2 million).
• Defended a company specializing in importing automobiles from Germany in a criminal case involving “Smuggling,” with the total misappropriated value exceeding VND 60 billion (equivalent to USD 2.6 million).
• Advised a joint stock commercial bank on a letter of guarantee worth VND 800 billion (equivalent to USD 34.7 million) in relation to a criminal case involving “Deliberately violating State regulations on economic management causing serious consequences.”
• Advised the foreign investor of a five-star hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, who was prosecuted for tax evasion in a complex dispute with a domestic BCC partner and the tax authorities. The case resulted in the termination of the investigation and the successful conversion of the project into a joint venture company.
• Defended a business partner with substantial commercial dealings with the principal defendant in a major criminal case involving “Embezzlement of property” and “Violation of lending regulations in credit institution operations” at a joint stock commercial bank in Ho Chi Minh City, with disputed assets valued at over VND 6,000 billion.

Rankings:

Asian Legal Business’s Asia Top 30 Litigators 2025

Litigation Star | Litigation | Benchmark Litigation | 2025

Recommended Lawyer | Litigation | Legal 500 | 2024, 2023, 2022

Rising star | Dispute Resolution | Asialaw | 2023, 2022

Comments:

“Luu Tien Dzung and Nguyen Hong Ha’s knowledge in the applicable law and FIDIC contract terms, and their confidence in defending their grounds of evidence, make them highly outstanding among other competitors.”

(Legal 500)

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