Overview
Legl provides law firms with AML screening tools to help meet regulatory requirements and comply with the UK Sanctions Regime. These tools are part of Legl's comprehensive Risk & Financial management platform, tailored to the requirements of law firms.
What this means for your firm
In November 2022, the SRA published guidance outlining expectations for law firms regarding the UK's sanctions regime. The guidance emphasises the importance of:
Conducting thorough risk assessments to identify potential exposure to sanctioned individuals or entities
Implementing robust policies, controls, and procedures to verify the identities of clients and counterparties
Maintaining records of assessments and any indicators of higher sanctions risk
The SRA recommends using digital screening tools that check against the UK's consolidated sanctions list to ensure compliance. Legl is one such provider of this level of screening.
ℹ️ Important
Legl and our data providers can confirm we will be using the new UK Sanctions List (UKSL) published by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, from the 28th January 2026.
How Legl supports compliance
Watchlist screening in Legl involves processes that align user-provided data with global watchlist databases to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. These systems are designed to flag high-risk individuals or entities effectively, leveraging advanced matching algorithms.
Advanced algorithms analyse key data — such as legal names, dates of birth, and geographic details — to identify potential matches. The goal is to minimise false positives while flagging high-risk entities to meet compliance obligations.
Watchlist Screening and Instant Screening
Watchlist screenings are an essential compliance tool used to identify individuals or entities flagged in global watchlist databases. These screenings help organisations ensure regulatory compliance and mitigate risks associated with Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), sanctions, adverse media, and other flagged categories.
Use AML only Watchlist Screening from our In-Person CDD on individual clients. Watchlist screening results are derived by analysing the information provided during the screening process and matching it against global watchlist databases. These databases include entries for PEPs, sanctions lists, fitness and probity warnings, and adverse media.
Key data points for matching
The following data points are used to establish matches and minimise false positives:
Full legal name (including middle names and known aliases)
Date of birth
Geographic information, such as country of residence. To conduct a watchlist screening in Legl, use the Run In-Person CDD function. This feature facilitates in-depth screenings directly within the platform.
Ongoing Monitoring
Automate continuous PEPs and Sanctions screening on all clients.
Business Checks
Get instant access to group structure, directors, credit information and more for international businesses across 160 countries.
ℹ️ Additional guidance
Individuals:
Businesses:
How Legl complies with the SRA's guidance
Legl complies with the SRA's guidance in the following ways:
Assessment area | Details of how Legl operates |
How frequently the screening tool pulls sanctions data from the UK's relevant databases: | Legl partners with ComplyAdvantage, a leading provider of Sanctions data and screening. Our system conducts searches in real time across thousands of global government regulatory and law enforcement watchlists as well as over 100 International and National Sanctions lists including the UN, US, EU and UK Sanctions databases. To support firms in monitoring their clients through their lifecycle, we also provide Ongoing Monitoring services, which deliver alerting and reporting should an individual be designated with a sanction at any point in time. |
Covering all jurisdictions to which you have exposure via the screening tool: | Legl provides comprehensive coverage against all major jurisdictions around the world. Our Sanctions reports draw on sources from over 100 countries to ensure we offer a truly global view of screened individuals. |
How the screening tool deals with names that have multiple spellings or may have been translated from a non-Roman script | We are aware of the complexities in matching individuals across different languages and scripts. In these instances, our system utilises transliteration to enable us to identify matches on both the non-Roman and Roman script versions of names. |
How the screening tool facilitates a partial or 'fuzzy' match capability: | In order to provide firms with a comprehensive report against which to make an assessment, our system utilises 'fuzzy' matching in order to accept small variations in the spelling of names and to accommodate honorifics or suffixes. In addition to this, we also employ partial matching logic which enables us to identify potential sanctions flags where individuals have used nicknames, aliases and other international naming conventions. |
How the screening tool use multiple data points including date of birth as well as the name to pinpoint sanctions flags | Our system requests various data points to enable the best possible matching and flagging of potential sanctions. We use full names (including middle names), aliases, date of birth and geographic location to segment and prioritise results and deliver a low false-positive rate. |
How Legl adds additional value across client due diligence | In addition to PEPs and Sanctions screening, Legl supports law firms to complete end-to-end due diligence on individual and business clients through a suite of risk management tools including biometric identity verification, worldwide identity document verification, source of funds checks, and international business reports. |
Important information
Legl partners with ComplyAdvantage for sanctions data and screening.
Screening runs in real time across thousands of global watchlists and over 100 international and national sanctions lists, including UN, US, EU, and UK databases.
Coverage spans over 100 countries to provide a global view of screened individuals.
Fuzzy matching and transliteration handle name variations, aliases, honorifics, and non-Roman scripts to minimise false positives.
Ongoing Monitoring delivers automatic alerting if a client receives a sanctions designation after their initial screening.
From 28 January 2026, Legl uses the new UK Sanctions List (UKSL) published by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.