Requiring Lawyers to Submit Suspicious Transaction Reports: Implementation Issues and Current International Trends

Abstract

This paper probes into the question of whether or not lawyers should be required to submit suspicious transaction reports to combat money laundering. It points out that while lawyers and other professional advisers play an important and indispensable role in complex financial transactions, making them a logical partner in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, the well-accepted principles of confidentiality commitments and rules on legal privileges make such an initiative cumbersome and difficult to pursue.