Law Firm AML Compliance Suite

What is the Law Firm AML Compliance Suite?

The SRA's 2025 AML Annual Report revealed that one-third of inspected law firms were found non-compliant with Money Laundering Regulations. SRA enforcement has doubled year-on-year, with fines totalling nearly £1.5 million in the latest reporting period. With the FCA assuming sole AML supervisory responsibility for the legal sector from 2026, the compliance bar is being raised even further. This suite automates every AML obligation specific to legal practice: client risk assessment, customer due diligence, matter-level audit trails, SAR reporting, FATF country risk checking, and SRA inspection-ready documentation.

Designed specifically for law firms — from sole practitioners to multi-partner practices — this suite integrates with your existing case management workflow and ensures that AML compliance is embedded into matter opening rather than bolted on as an afterthought.

Who needs this?

• Law firm partners and compliance officers (COLPs/COFAs)
• Sole practitioners handling conveyancing, corporate, or trust work
• Conveyancing departments processing property transactions
• Corporate and commercial teams acting on M&A and company formations
• Trust and estate practitioners managing complex ownership structures
• MLROs at law firms responsible for SAR reporting to the NCA
• Legal practice managers implementing firm-wide compliance systems

What's included?

• Client risk assessment engine calibrated to SRA's published risk factors for legal services — conveyancing, corporate, trusts, and high-value transactions
• Automated CDD workflow with ID verification, beneficial ownership checks, and source of funds/wealth documentation
• Matter-level audit trail linking every compliance action to the relevant file for SRA inspection purposes
• SAR reporting module with NCA-format templates, internal escalation workflow, and tipping-off safeguards
• FATF country risk checker — automatic flagging when clients, transactions, or funds involve high-risk jurisdictions
• Firm-wide risk assessment generator aligned with SRA and LSAG (Legal Sector Affinity Group) guidance
• Staff training tracker with CPD-eligible AML modules and annual refresher scheduling
• SRA inspection preparation pack — pre-organised evidence files matching the SRA's published inspection framework

Key Benefits

• Avoid SRA fines that averaged £12,500 per firm in 2025 — with some penalties exceeding £50,000 for serious failings
• Protect your practising certificate — SRA can refer persistent non-compliance to the SDT, risking strike-off
• Reduce matter-opening compliance time by 70% with automated CDD and risk assessment workflows
• Satisfy SRA inspection requirements within minutes — all evidence is pre-mapped to the inspection framework
• Eliminate tipping-off risk with built-in SAR workflow controls that restrict file access during reporting
• Prepare seamlessly for FCA supervision from 2026 — the suite already incorporates FCA-standard AML requirements

UK Regulatory Context

Law firms conducting "relevant activities" under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 are supervised by the SRA for AML compliance. The SRA's thematic reviews in 2024-2025 have focused heavily on conveyancing, company/trust formation, and high-value transactions — areas where the National Risk Assessment identifies legal services as particularly vulnerable to money laundering. The SRA now publishes firm-level enforcement outcomes, creating reputational as well as financial risk. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 has expanded beneficial ownership requirements, and the Legal Sector Affinity Group (LSAG) has updated its guidance to reflect these changes. From 2026, the FCA becomes the sole AML supervisor, bringing regulatory expectations closer to those applied to financial services firms — including potential requirements for annual AML returns and more rigorous transaction monitoring.

How it works

1. Configure your firm profile — practice areas, fee earner roles, and matter types — and the system maps your specific AML obligations
2. At matter opening, the CDD workflow guides fee earners through client identification, verification, risk assessment, and source of funds checks
3. Throughout the matter lifecycle, the audit trail automatically records all compliance actions, creating a defensible evidence chain
4. The MLRO dashboard aggregates firm-wide risk data, flags potential SARs, and manages the NCA reporting workflow with tipping-off controls
5. Generate your SRA inspection pack at any time — evidence files are pre-organised by inspection criterion with gap analysis highlighting any outstanding items

Pricing

£199/month — covers unlimited fee earners, automated CDD, matter-level audit trails, SAR reporting, FATF risk checks, staff training, and SRA inspection-ready documentation. Annual billing at £1,999/year (save £389).

⚠️ Legal disclaimer (LEGAL): This product is not legal advice and SummitBridge Horizon Ltd is not authorised by the SRA. Read the full disclaimer below or in our Terms of Service before purchase.