The renewed partnership with the Law Society of Scotland will see Leith-headquartered tech firm Amiqus continue to support Scottish solicitors in meeting anti-money laundering compliance requirements through use of their technology, while simultaneously engaging in research and development to improve access to legal services.

Amiqus is among several private sector companies currently engaged with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in the development of the UK government’s digital identity and attributes trust framework; part of the government’s wider plan to make it quicker and easier for people to verify their identities online, with the aim of creating a trusted and reliable process for the use of digital identity across the economy in place of sharing physical documents.

Craig Wilson, relationship manager at Amiqus, said: “In the same way that our clients have become used to using open banking technology within our platform to verify a source of funds before engaging in transactions - rather than checking their clients bank statement in person - we are developing technology that, as part of the UK government’s forthcoming trust framework, enables individuals to verify their identity to a government trusted standard and then to share that information with whom they chose from a single online account or ‘wallet’.

“For the majority of us, this would remove the burden of having to log in to various portals, of varying quality, effectively starting from scratch every time you were asked to prove your identity online to access vital services, including legal advice.

“We want the future of digital identity in the UK to include common standards that reduce burdens on citizens and enable professional service providers like solicitors to access only the information on a client that they require at any given time, rather than all of it every time.”

Gregor Angus, senior business development manager at Amiqus, said: “We’re keen to make it as easy as possible for Scottish solicitors and their clients to engage with each other. “Alongside the development of our commercial platform, working with the Law Society of Scotland contributes to our in-house research and development in new and emerging areas, such as our current work underway to develop our prototype “inheritance calculator”; intended to be a step on the road to addressing the information gap that leads to 60% of people in Scotland not having a will.

“Over the next five years we’re sure to continue to see digital transformation shape the legal sector as never before and, by working closely with the Law Society, we want to help keep accessibility, data privacy and anti-money laundering high on law firms’ agendas.”

Paul Mosson, Law Society of Scotland executive director of member engagement and services, added: “As part of the global fight against money laundering, identity fraud, and terrorism financing, it’s vital that our members take every necessary step to ensure that the legitimate services provided by legal firms are not misused. Amiqus has delivered secure, online solutions that greatly reduce the administrative burden on law firms, while ensuring they can continue to meet essential regulatory requirements set by the Law Society.

“Cutting out hours of paper-based processes involved in crucial compliance checks allows solicitors to focus on what they do best in meeting the legal needs of their clients, while assured that they have robust due diligence systems in place.

“Our collaboration to date has resulted in tangible benefits for our members and I look forward to seeing the outcomes of working together.”