Client identification: what order do the steps go in?
There is identifying somebody and there is verifying who they are and the chapter moves between the two without obviously telling me which one is triggered by what. Looking for the sequence rather than the principle.
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Best answer
They are two steps with two different triggers, and the trigger is the bit you are missing.
Identifying happens whenever you are retained. Who are you, where do you live, what do you do. Every file, no exceptions worth remembering.
Verifying is narrower and it switches on when money moves. You are receiving, paying or giving instructions about funds, and now you need to satisfy yourself with reliable documents that the person is who they said they were.
So the sequence is retained, identify, and then ask whether funds are in play. If they are, verify before you touch them.
There is also a ceiling on taking cash, with carve outs, and that number is worth knowing exactly rather than roughly.
money moving being the switch is what I needed. I had both steps happening on every file.
Records matter as much as the steps on this one. Keeping what you relied on, and for how long, is examinable and is the part I would have guessed wrong on.
does a referral from another lawyer change any of it?
There are situations where you can rely on somebody else having done it, with conditions attached. I would read that passage rather than take a summary of it from me.
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