Understanding ownership, control and authority is a fundamental part of client due diligence. The responsible lawyer must be satisfied not only that they know who the client is, but also who ultimately owns, controls or is capable of directing the client and who has authority to instruct Keystone on its behalf.
For corporate, partnership, trust, charity and other entity clients, lawyers should understand:
Where the client is an entity, the responsible lawyer should consider whether the ownership and control structure is logical, transparent and consistent with the nature of the business. Structures that are unnecessarily complex, involve multiple jurisdictions, nominee arrangements or layers of ownership without a clear commercial rationale may indicate elevated risk and should be reflected in the Client and Matter Risk Assessment.
Lawyers should not assume that the individual contacting Keystone has authority to provide instructions. The responsible lawyer should be satisfied that the individual has actual or apparent authority to instruct on behalf of the client and that any necessary corporate, trustee, constitutional or delegated authority requirements have been met.
The objective is not simply to identify the legal client, but to understand who ultimately controls the instruction and whose interests are being advanced.