Anti-Money Laundering Act

From 1 July 2018 all law firms will be required to obtain more information from you. This is part of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (AML/CFT).

The purpose of this Act is to prevent money laundering or the financing of any terrorism. By requiring more information from you, we have more knowledge about the transactions we are undertaking on your behalf, and are able to ensure that we are not in breach of our requirements under the Act. If we have any suspicions we have an obligation to report this.

When we meet with you to discuss new legal matters we may require what is called “customer due diligence” (CDD) from you. This is similar to what we already do if you are buying a house, but we may require more documentation from you.

This table is general only; specific circumstances may require further information.

Client	Information Required
Person	Proof of your identity and date of birth - such as a drivers licence, birth certificate or passport.
	Proof of your residential address.
Company	Full legal name and trading name (if different).
	Physical business address or registered office address.
	Company identifier or registration number.
	Full name, proof of identity, date of birth and proof of residential address of all beneficial owners and controllers of the company and their relationship to the organisation (directors, shareholders, senior management, directors and any other person with control).
Trust	Full name of the trust.
	Address.
	Trust documents.
	Full name, proof of identity, date of birth, proof of residential address for all trustees, other controllers of the trust and in some circumstances, of beneficial owners.
	Source of funds or wealth of the trust.
Clubs and Societies	Name of the club or society.
	Charities Services registration number and/or Companies Office Incorporation Certificate.
	Legal status and purpose.
	Physical or registered office address.
	Full name, proof of identity, date of birth and proof of residential address for all beneficial owners or controllers of the organisation and their relationship to the organisation (president, secretary, treasurer, committee members, management team and other members with control of the organisation).

We are required to have the above information before we can carry out any work for you, and if you cannot provide this for us then we will be unable to act for you.

We will not be required to hold onto the originals of these documents, we will need to see the originals and then take a photocopy and keep it in our records for the future.