The Palgrave Handbook of Criminal and Terrorism Financing Law

Abstract

This chapter considers the complex and contentious relationship between the legal profession and the fight against criminal finance. First, it examines the growing concern about the role that legal and financial professionals play in the facilitation of money laundering. It then discusses the designation of such professionals as `gatekeepers', and their subsequent inclusion in the preventative obligations of the anti-money laundering regime. Finally, the chapter considers the implications of these obligations for legal professionals, drawing on recent empirical research to highlight the far-reaching nature of anti-money laundering legislation in the UK, which allows for legal professionals to be convicted for money laundering offences without having actual knowledge or criminal intent, or being actively engaged in the laundering.