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Compliance with money laundering obligations is one of the greatest challenges for solicitors in the UK today. The Law Society is committed to assisting solicitors meet those obligations and provide a robust defence against money launderers attempting to abuse our professional services.

Latest news

Implementing the regulations: register for our survey

The Law Society is conducting extensive research in September to look at the costs and benefits of the new money laundering regulations, and what further services are required to assist compliance. To fully represent your views, register now and ensure your practice's experiences of implementing the regulations are heard.
Read about our research
Register to take part in our research – closing date: 6 August

SOCA releases UK threat assessment 2008/09

The latest UK threat assessment by the Serious Organised Crime Agency has revealed that criminals are becoming more flexible, entrepreneurial and sophisticated.
Read more

Putting anti-money laundering into practice

10 July 2008
Our recent online survey found that solicitors have acted swiftly to update their policies and procedures following the implementation of the Money Laundering Regulations 2007.
Read our survey results
Read a Law Society press release

Equivalent jurisdictions

16 May 2008
HM Treasury has issued a list of jurisdictions outside of the EEA which are considered to have equivalent anti-money laundering legislation to the third European directive.
Read more

Reporting obligations and the consent regime

The Home Office has consulted on how to change the consent regime under POCA 2002, following criticism of the current arrangements. Currently, persons in the regulated sector must not only report suspicious transactions, but they also cannot complete those transactions until they receive consent.

Society calls for urgent review of POCA

The Law Society is calling for a radical review of money laundering legislation where it continues to cause unnecessary problems and substantial waste of resources for solicitors. In particular, we want an urgent review of the reporting defences in sections 327 – 329 of the Proceeds of Crime Act. These create a frequent need to submit trivial or overly technical consent reports. Our concerns are raised in a response to a Home Office consultation on reporting obligations under the consent regime.
Read our consultation response in full (PDF, 81kb)

City of London Law Society (CLLS) calls for clearer proposals

Suzie Ogilvie, risk lawyer at Linklaters, discusses the consent regime proposals.
Read the article

HM Treasury alert on higher risk jurisdictions

HM Treasury has issued advice on specific jurisdictions presenting heightened risks of money laundering or terrorist financing.
Read more

Risk based approach: FATF guidance for non-financial sector

Representatives of the legal profession here and abroad are contributing to a FATF-led project to develop FATF guidance on implementing the risk based approach, aimed specifically at the non-financial parts of the regulated sector.
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Electronic ID verification: avoiding the paper trail

Mark Dunn, Risk & Compliance Director at LexisNexis Butterworths, discusses the revised customer due diligence measures under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007.
Read more

Canada scores low in FATF ratings

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has found Canada's anti-money laundering and terrorist financing standards to be 'insufficient to meet FATF recommendations'.
Read more

Cases

Ali and Hussain v Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office [2008] EWCA Crim 146

The Money Laundering Regulations are designed to afford protection, not just to the public, but also to those in the regulated sector. This was the conclusion of the Court of Appeal in upholding convictions against Mr Ali and Mr Hussain for conspiracy to launder the proceeds of crime.
Read about the case

Pulvers (a firm) v Chan & Others [2007] EWHC 24006 (Ch)

This case highlights the liability of partners in firms where mortgage fraud has occurred, and their ability to claim against individual employees who have been actively involved in the fraud.
Read the full case

R v NW and others [2008] EWCA Crim 2

This case considers whether the Crown must prove what type of criminal conduct generated the benefit represented by criminal property in money laundering cases.
Read the full case

Mortgage fraud: Society issues practice note

18 March 2008

The Law Society has published a practice note to help you identify when mortgage fraud may be taking place.
Read the practice note

Tipping off: amended practice note

22 February 2008

Our anti-money laundering practice note has been updated with advice on recent changes to tipping off offences. The government has substantially changed the tipping off offences in POCA 2002, and introduced new tipping offences and consent defences into the Terrorism Act 2000.

The Law Society actively lobbied the government on these changes to get the best position for solicitors and their clients. The updated practice note has been submitted to the Treasury for ministerial approval. This is expected by the end of March 2008, and will require judges to consider the practice note in any proceedings involving solicitors.

For help navigating the practice note call our practice advice helpline on 0870 606 2522.

Read the updated practice note