The Solicitors Regulation Authority's appeal against the dismissal of money laundering charges against international firm Dentons opened in the High Court this morning.
Mrs Justice Lang heard that the SRA was appealing last year’s Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal decision on two grounds. The regulator argues the SDT misdirected itself that there was an additional or threshold requirement for the SRA to prove and that the tribunal failed to have regard, or give effect, to the wording and purpose of the money laundering regulations.
At a hearing last March the SRA alleged Dentons UK and Middle East LLP had breached money laundering regulations through its retention of a client from 2013 to 2017. The firm denied all allegations against it.
In written submissions to the appeal, the SRA said it appeared that the ‘SDT accepted, or was at least influenced by, the respondent’s submissions on the “test” for professional misconduct’.
If the judgment is permitted to stand, the SRA submitted, 'it might send a very unhelpful message to the profession – that law firms can fail in their obligations under the MLRs 2007 and get away without any regulatory sanction. That is particularly unhelpful given the financial incentives for law firms to act in high value transactions or for high net worth PEPs.’
Paul Ozin KC, for the SRA, argued that it ‘cannot be said that the conduct in question was trivial’.
In written submissions, Richard Coleman KC, for Dentons, said ‘binding precedent, legal principle, the statutory framework and the SRA’s own guidance all support the tribunal’s approach’.
The hearing continues.
