Law firms are subject to an ever-increasing regulatory burden across areas including professional standards, anti-money laundering, sanctions and data protection.
This requires an investment of time, commitment and specialist knowledge which inevitably distracts busy fee-earners from the central business of delivering legal services to clients.
We are a specialist legal compliance service offering bespoke solutions to compliance challenges, including support with the preparation of a Firm Wide Risk Assessment, the implementation of Policies, Controls and Procedures to meet key compliance requirements and the delivery of mandatory training in accordance with the requirements of AML and financial crime legislation.
We have recently engaged Laurence to undertake a series of training courses for our whole team, updating us on changes and developments in the Anti Money Laundering arena. Laurence has presented the courses in an engaging, interesting and informative style. His wealth of experience in this area has meant he has been able to provide real life experiences and examples which has really helped to bring the legislation alive and help our team apply the rules to real life and the client base of PEM. The feedback from the courses has been superb, with team members commenting they found it engrossing and as a firm we are delighted to have satisfied all our objectives for the training. We have engaged Laurence to undertake further training on a cyclical basis.
Kelly Bretherick
MLRO, PEM Chartered Accountants
Laurence Howland, lead consultant of How Compliance Ltd, is the Director Risk and Compliance of Buckles Solicitors LLP with overall responsibility for the firm’s Anti-Money Laundering and Regulatory Compliance.
Before working at Buckles, Laurence spent three years as a Senior Financial Investigator with the Solicitors Regulation Authority; prior to this, he served for thirty years with HM Revenue & Customs (previously HM Customs & Excise) as an accredited financial investigator leading criminal investigation teams dealing with money laundering, restraint and confiscation cases. Between 2010 and 2014, Laurence was the UK’s Fiscal Crime Liaison Officer appointed to the British Embassy in Beijing.
In 2021 Laurence was awarded an MSc in Financial Investigation with Distinction from the University of Central Lancashire. He was also presented with the prestigious Martin Kenney Award for Outstanding Contribution to Financial Investigation.