Becoming a Client
Like all UK law firms, Ignition must follow strict laws and professional rules to prevent money laundering and comply with sanctions. As a certified B-Corp, we’re committed to doing this responsibly and efficiently, so it doesn’t cause unnecessary delays for our clients.
To meet these legal requirements, we’ve set up systems to help detect and prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, as required by the 2017 regulations. This includes carrying out checks on our clients when we start working with them and sometimes later on too.
In simple terms, we need to:
- Confirm who our clients are.
- Understand the transactions we’re being asked to help with.
For individuals, this means verifying your identity using approved documents.
For companies, we’ll need:
- Company name and registration details.
- Names of directors and anyone giving us instructions.
- Information about the company’s structure, including parent companies and anyone who owns more than 25%.
- Details of anyone who has significant control over the company.
- Information about other parties involved in the matter and any third-party funders.
For other types of organisations, like trusts or charities, we’ll ask for similar information.
If there are links to politically exposed people, high-risk countries, or sanctioned entities, we’ll need to carry out extra checks.
We’ll ask for this information through our Client Onboarding Questionnaire, which you’ll receive after we’ve agreed on fees. Providing accurate and complete information quickly helps us get started without delays.
For some matters, we’ll also need to know where the money for a transaction is coming from. We’ll ask for this in a separate Source of Funds form.
To check ID documents, we use a trusted electronic verification service called Legl. You’ll receive a link to complete a secure ID check, which includes a face scan—similar to opening an online bank account. Here is a video guide of how to complete the check. Legl onboarding video guide. You can find more about Legl’s privacy measures here: Legl
We also use a service called First AML to verify company details.
We understand that these checks can feel intrusive or unnecessary, but they’re required by law and our internal policies. We treat all information with the highest level of care and confidentiality.
To help us avoid delays, we kindly ask that you respond promptly when our compliance or onboarding team requests information.
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