KYC & Compliance

Legalsense lets you save documents on matters, clients, and contacts, so you can keep engagement letters, general conditions, and conflict-check files together in one easily accessible place. This article explains how to set up document types, filter and export on them, add documents to a matter or client, and track engagement letter status.

KYC, AML, and engagement letters

Before and during an engagement, your firm needs to know who it's dealing with and be able to show that it checked. Legalsense groups this under three related but distinct terms:

• KYC (know your client): identifying a client and assessing the risk of doing business with them. This isn't a single Legalsense feature so much as the general practice that the engagement letter, AML research, and supporting documents described in this article all serve.
• AML (anti-money laundering): the legal obligation to research certain clients and matters, to help prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism. In the Netherlands, this obligation falls under the Wwft, the Dutch law to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Legalsense has a dedicated AML module for actually carrying out and recording this research per matter; see the article ↪ Anti-money laundering (AML) checklist. The KYC and Compliance section described below only shows the resulting status, it isn't where you complete the research itself.
• Engagement letter: the letter or agreement that records the terms on which you represent a client, for example the scope of work and the fee arrangement. Legalsense tracks whether this letter has been arranged and stored, both as a status and, optionally, as an uploaded document.

Together, the KYC and Compliance section on a client or matter shows the engagement letter status, the AML status (if you use that module), and any other document you've chosen to store there, such as identification, signed general terms and conditions, or a conflict-check export. See the article ↪ Conflict check for how to export and store proof that you ran a conflict check.

Creating document types

Manage document types via Settings → Lists → Document types. Here you can create, edit, and delete document types.

By default, Legalsense provides two types:

• Generic: you can rename this type to suit your needs, but you can't delete it.
• Engagement letter: only available if the Engagement letter feature is turned on.

Document types list under Settings → Lists, showing the default Generic and Engagement letter types.

Note: Deleting a document type doesn't affect documents already saved on a client or matter. Those remain accessible, but you can no longer add new documents under that type.

Filtering and exporting

Under More filters on the client and matter list pages, there are two document-related filters:

• Has document type: shows all clients or matters with documents of a specific type.
• No document type: shows all clients or matters with no document of a particular type.

Combine these filters, optionally with the Engagement letter status filter, to quickly identify clients or matters that need attention.

The matter list with More filters open, showing the Has document type and No document type filters.

Where available, document types are added as columns when you export the client or matter list to Excel.

KYC and compliance section

The KYC Documents section on a matter (KYC and Compliance on a client) contains all information about engagement letters, AML status, and other uploaded documents.

Note: The AML and Engagement letter sections are only visible if you use these features. This section shows the current AML status for a matter, but to carry out the research itself, go to the AML checklist. To learn how to do this, see the article ↪ Anti-money laundering (AML) checklist.

KYC Documents section on a matter, showing engagement letter status, AML status, and uploaded documents.

Adding documents

When you add a new document, choose its type and add a file. The Name field is optional. If you leave it blank, Legalsense uses the name of the uploaded file.

Optionally, use the Comments field to add a description or note about the document.

Add document form, showing the type, file, name, and comments fields.

Engagement letter status

You can set the engagement letter status at client level, matter level, or both. By default, a matter inherits its status from the client.

The available statuses are:

• Not sent to client: the default status, before you've sent engagement terms to the client.
• Sent to client: you've sent the engagement letter and are waiting for it to be signed and returned.
• Received back from client: the client has returned the signed engagement letter.
• Covering agreement: an existing framework or master agreement already covers this matter, so no separate engagement letter is needed.
• Did not become a matter: the prospective engagement didn't go ahead, so no engagement letter is required.

If a client already has an existing engagement letter for another matter, this engagement letter can be copied over to other matters. When you edit the status of an engagement letter, a sixth option will become visible in the drop-down menu, allowing you to copy an existing engagement letter to the current matter.

You can also filter matters by engagement letter status. See the article ↪ Matter search for the full list of matter filters.