Laundering and Lawyers — The Payment of Legal Fees and Money‐Laundering Offences in Germany and the UK

Money laundering has become an issue of increasing concern within the jurisdictions of Germany and the UK. Following a range of international efforts to combat money laundering, both countries have implemented wide‐ranging money‐laundering provisions. A closer look at these provisions reveals that they are primarily designed to tackle organised crime. And it can safely be claimed that talk of the challenges faced by financial institutions, national economies and society as a whole has become quite fashionable nowadays in the light of professionally expanding drug cartels, arms‐dealing gangs and other forms of organised groups carrying out serious cross‐border crime. Whenever ‘organised crime’ appears to raise its ugly head, the introduction of ever‐widening and in many cases draconian measures to counter money laundering as the Achilles heel of organised crime is widely held to be fully justified.