Watchlist screening is the process of checking your client’s name against official and reputable databases to identify potential risks - such as sanctions, politically exposed persons (PEPs), or individuals with known adverse media or regulatory warnings.
Legl automatically performs a watchlist screening as part of every Client Due Diligence (CDD) report for individuals.
Why watchlist screening matters
Law firms must ensure they do not act for individuals or entities subject to international sanctions, and must take appropriate measures when clients hold political roles or are linked to financial crime or reputational risk.
Watchlist screening helps your firm:
Meet AML and sanctions compliance obligations.
Identify potential risks early in the client onboarding process.
Maintain a clear audit trail of screening and review decisions.
Note: A match in a screening report does not mean the person is definitely sanctioned or a PEP. It means their details may match someone listed in these sources and require further review by your firm.
What information is checked
Legl’s watchlist screening searches across global and local data sources via our trusted data providers.
These include:
Sanctions lists - such as OFSI (UK), OFAC (US), UN, EU, and other government-issued lists.
PEP databases - identifying individuals who hold or have held prominent public roles, as well as their relatives and close associates.
Adverse media - where available, to identify links to financial crime, corruption, or serious misconduct.
Fitness and probity records - including disqualifications, enforcement actions, or regulatory bans.
Warnings - Flags issued by law enforcement or regulatory bodies for individuals or entities linked to suspected or confirmed law-breaking or regulatory breaches.
Note: Each client’s name, date of birth, and nationality are used to identify possible matches.
How results appear in Legl
Your CDD report will include a Watchlist screening section showing:
A summary result: Clear or Consider
The number of potential matches found
A link to each individual “profile” returned from the screening databases
Each profile includes:
The matched name(s) and aliases
The categories in which the matches were found (e.g. Sanctions, PEP, Adverse media)
Key details such as date of birth, country, and relevant listing sources
For example:
A Clear result means no relevant matches were found.
A Consider result means one or more potential matches require review to confirm whether they relate to your client.
How to use the results
Your firm should review each “Consider” result and decide whether it truly relates to your client.
In Legl, you can:
Click Yes or No next to each potential match to confirm whether it’s your client
Add comments explaining your decision (e.g. “Different date of birth – false positive”).
Mark the report as Reviewed once completed.
🚨 Note: Marking results accurately helps improve future ongoing monitoring alerts by reducing false positives.
What happens next
Once screening is complete:
The results are stored within the client’s CDD record and in a downloadable PDF report.
If ongoing monitoring is enabled, Legl will automatically re-screen the client against updated databases and notify your firm of any changes to the matched profiles, or new matches.