The Federation of Law Societies of Canada and its member law societies have been actively engaged in fighting money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities for over 15 years.

To ensure that legal professionals are not unwittingly used by their clients in crimes involving money laundering or terrorist financing activities, all of Canada’s law societies have adopted rules developed by the Federation that limit the handling of cash by lawyers and ensure that legal counsel engage in due diligence in identifying their clients.

The Law Society of Yukon will be bringing forward rule changes in 2020 that govern client identification and verification, cash transactions, and permitted uses of lawyers’ trust accounts. These changes are based on Model Rules prepared by the Federation and are being adopted by all law societies.

The Law Society will be providing resources to assist members in implementing the Anti-Money Laundering and Client Identification Rule changes in their practices including hosting a CLE for its members.

More information will be made available in the New Year.