Anita Clifford

Anita Clifford is highly approachable and ranked in the Legal 500 and Chambers UK for Money Laundering & Proceeds of Crime work, where she has been described as a fantastic rising star who is knowledgeable and reassuring in the delivery of her advice.

Anita defends and prosecutes across the range of Chambers’ practice area. She has a particularly busy defence practice spanning serious drugs, firearms and violent offences.

Alongside her general Crime practice, Anita has a strong financial crime practice. She prosecutes and defends serious frauds and money laundering offences. She also regularly advises law firms and companies on anti-money laundering investigations and regulatory requirements, suspicious activity reporting and account freezing under Part 5 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. She also advises on the United Kingdom’s financial Sanctions regime. Anita is interested in the interplay between human rights and proceeds of crime and is part of the counsel team in the significant case of R (World Uyghur Congress) v Home Secretary, HMRC and NCA [2023] EWHC 88 which is the first case to consider proceeds of crime in the context of supply chains affected by forced labour.

Instructed by the Council of Europe, she has undertaken anti-money laundering and anti-corruption projects in Georgia, Moldova, Czech Republic and Serbia. She has also contributed to anti-corruption workshops in Kenya and Zambia with the African Union.

Originally from Australia, Anita qualified after a year as a Judge’s Associate in the Supreme Court of Queensland. She was a solicitor from 2011 in private and government practice, with her early years spent at a prominent criminal and human rights firm, defending vulnerable clients and gaining exposure to death in custody Inquests.

Anita is a contributor to the Lloyd’s Law Reports: Financial Crime and co-author of a book on the Criminal Finances Act 2017 with Jonathan Fisher KC.

She has been appointed to the Legal Action Committee of an NGO, Global Legal Action Network (GLAN).

Bar Transfer Test, BPP University (2017)

Master of Laws, London School of Economics: Distinction (2015)

BA / LLB, University of Queensland: First Class Honours (2009)