Elisabeth Lees

Elisabeth is an attorney specializing in financial crime and regulatory law.

Elisabeth also offers consultancy services in relation to compliance with the FATF standards, particularly advising governments, law enforcement agencies and supervisory bodies. Elisabeth also offers AML compliance services to Cayman Islands’ entities.

Prior to founding Claritas, Elisabeth served as the National Coordinator to the Anti-Money Laundering Steering Group in the Cayman Islands from 2019 until January 2022, leading the Cayman Islands’ response to its Fourth Round Caribbean Financial Action Task Force Mutual Evaluation Report. Elisabeth advised on both legislative and operational enhancements leading to improvement in all areas.

Following Elisabeth’s endeavours, the Cayman Islands was ultimately rated Compliant or Largely Compliant with all 40 Recommendations and met 61 of its 63 Recommended Actions. In 2022, Elisabeth was awarded a Badge and Certificate of Honour for legal services rendered to the Cayman Islands Government.

Elisabeth has also worked as a Legal Expert in assessing countries against the FATF standards in both Fourth Round Assessments and Technical Compliance Re-ratings and has sat as a member of the Joint Group of the Americas.

Elisabeth was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2002, following which she practised as a criminal barrister in London. Elisabeth was called to the Bar of the Cayman Islands in 2022.

From 2006 Elisabeth then worked as Crown Counsel in the Cayman Islands prosecuting all manner of cases including financial crime and proceeds of crime matters. From 2012, as Senior Crown Counsel (International Cooperation), Elisabeth was responsible for all incoming requests and their execution including search warrants, restraints and the production of evidence from financial institutions as well as outgoing requests. Elisabeth is an experienced advocate and has appeared in all courts in the Cayman Islands. Elisabeth also has significant experience providing training in numerous capacities, including to prosecutors and law enforcement.

Elisabeth has an LLM in Public International Law University and was awarded the London Georg Schwarzenberger Prize for Outstanding Achievement in International Public Law, 2010. Elisabeth is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist with a certificate in Investment Foundations from the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute.