Karen has more than 20 years’ experience as a solicitor.  She is known for her expertise in financial crime, particularly anti-money laundering (AML) and financial sanctions.

Karen is an experienced Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) and Money Laundering Compliance Officer (MLCO) and she advises clients on how to establish effective policies and procedures to prevent them from becoming involved in financial crime:

• Advising MLROs on complex proceeds of crime queries and reporting obligations under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Terrorism Act 2000;
• Drafting / reviewing policies and procedures (AML and sanctions);
• Preparing AML risk assessments;
• Conducting AML audits; and
• Delivering compliance training on financial crime topics.

Client work

Karen’s clients have included law firms and sole practitioners, accountants, financial services businesses, property and construction companies, publicly listed companies, landlords, estate agents, retailers, trust and corporate services providers and art market participants.  Examples of her work include:

• Advising a publicly listed company regarding suspicions of money laundering associated with a counter party in a property transaction and submitting a suspicious activity report to the National Crime Agency on their behalf;
• Preparing bespoke AML and sanctions policies and procedures for a UK housebuilder to enable them to carry out due diligence on their customers and screen them for potential money laundering, terrorist financing and sanctions risks;
• Conducting client due diligence on customers with complex corporate structures on behalf of a FCA authorised private equity group operating in high risk jurisdictions;
• Advising the MLRO of an art gallery on sanctions screening and asset freezing requirements;
• Advising private companies on source of wealth and funds due diligence in relation to prospective investors from high risk jurisdictions.

Experience

Before joining W Legal, Karen was a Partner and Director of Compliance at Charles Russell Speechlys LLP.  She was MLRO and MLCO for the entire firm (which included offices in Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong) and responsible for the management of a large compliance team.

Karen began her career in New Zealand where she worked as a Crown Prosecutor.  She arrived in London in 2003 and joined the Serious Fraud Office as an Investigative Lawyer.

W Legal Limited is not a partnership and the term “partner” applied to a person does not denote that such person is in partnership with W Legal Limited or with any other partner, consultant, director, officer, employee or agent of W Legal Limited.  The term is used to describe a person’s seniority and experience.