American Bar Association Opposes Treasury Department’s Proposal for Law Firms to Disclose Confidential Information About Clients

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 8, 2012 — The American Bar Association submitted a comment letter on May 4 to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network opposing language in its advance notice of proposed rulemaking on customer due diligence requirements for financial institutions.  Under the FinCEN proposal, law firms would have to disclose confidential information about their clients’ identities and beneficial ownership whenever they receive advance legal fees from their clients and deposit those funds in the firms’ trust accounts, or if they establish new bank accounts on behalf of clients.

The letter is available here.

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