Many UK solicitors will be under the impression that the forthcoming Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 will include nothing of relevance to them. That would be their first mistake!

Solicitors often appear to be reluctant to use a forensic accountant; even in cases where instructing a forensic accountant might significantly strengthen their clients case or undermine that of their opponent.

The Money Laundering Regulations 2003 are now in force in the UK and apply to 'relevant business' in the newly expanded 'regulated sector'. But what are the practical implications of this? Both the Law Society and the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies have recently published bulky new guidance. This should be required reading for money laundering reporting officers in law and accountancy practices.

Many lawyers appear to be unsure as to when they are obliged to report suspicions of criminal conduct concerning their clients or others to the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS), via their firm’s Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO). The recent case of Gavin David McCartan will certainly serve to increase their anxieties.

Increasingly courts are hearing cases concerning confiscation of assets of a defendant following his conviction, in which the defendant is said to have a ‘criminal lifestyle’.

The Money Laundering Regulations 2003 have been in force for nearly 18 months in the UK and the identification of new clients has become just another routine part of an accountant’s life. But the full impact of the requirements has not yet filtered through in many accountancy firms.

Few solicitors will by now be unaware of the new law created by Part 7 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 which is concerned with money laundering. This legislation, implemented in February 2003, together with the Money Laundering Regulations 2003 effective from March 2004, have attracted a high degree of concern and uncertainty within the profession. Key issues are their impact upon the solicitor-client relationship and the extent to which privilege may abrogate or modify any reporting obligatio

The UK Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 requires a person in the regulated sector (which from 1 March 2004 includes most lawyers and all accountants and tax advisers) active in the UK to make a report, effectively to his Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO), if, based on information or other matter which comes to him in the course of a business in the regulated sector, "he knows or suspects, or has reasonable grounds for knowing or suspecting, that another person is engaged in money laundering" (