More than one in three senior private client lawyers have already breached client confidentiality rules to report suspicious transactions to the authorities under a new law designed to clamp down on money laundering, it has emerged.

Thirty-eight percent of the respondents to a Legal Week survey of 100 senior UK private client lawyers said they had already reported a suspicious transaction, with almost half (46%) saying they were ‘uncomfortable’ or ‘anxious’ about doing so.