Does legal professional privilege exempt lawyers from AML reporting in the UAE?
It exempts some information, not the lawyer. Lawyers, notaries, other independent legal professionals and independent statutory auditors are exempt from the reporting duty where the information relating to the transaction was obtained in the course of assessing a client’s legal position, defending or representing the client before the courts, or in arbitration or mediation proceedings, or in providing a legal opinion relating to judicial proceedings, including advice on initiating or avoiding them. The exemption applies whether the information was obtained before, during or after those proceedings, and extends to other circumstances subject to professional secrecy.
What it does not cover is the transactional work that brought the firm within the DNFBP definition in the first place: buying and selling real estate, managing client funds, managing bank, savings or securities accounts, organising contributions for the establishment, operation or management of companies, and establishing, operating or managing legal persons or legal arrangements or buying and selling commercial entities. Information obtained while doing that work is reportable. The test is the capacity in which the information came to the firm, not the fact that a lawyer holds it, so the analysis is done matter by matter and the reasoning recorded on the file. Separately, an attempt by a lawyer to dissuade a client from committing an unlawful act does not amount to tipping off.
Legal Reference (UAE):
· Cabinet Resolution No. 134 of 2025, Article 18(2), which sets out the professional secrecy exemption for lawyers, notaries, other independent legal professionals and independent statutory auditors, and its limits.
· Cabinet Resolution No. 134 of 2025, Article 3(4), which lists the transactional activities that bring legal professionals within the DNFBP definition and therefore within the reporting perimeter.
· Cabinet Resolution No. 134 of 2025, Article 19(2), which provides that attempts to dissuade a customer from committing an unlawful act do not constitute disclosure.
For your own circumstances, check your internal AML policy or speak to your compliance officer.