AML Compliance Support for Law Firms
Audits, risk assessments and training
Most of my eight years in compliance has been spent inside law firms, in AML and compliance roles at Horwich Farrelly, Gunnercooke and Fieldfisher. During my year at Peacock Risk Management I completed over ten AML file audits for legal practices.
I know what an SRA-facing AML framework has to stand up to, because I have maintained one from the inside.
How I help law firms
Where firms most often fall short
The SRA continues to find firms whose firm-wide risk assessment does not reflect the work they actually do, matter files missing source of funds evidence, and training records that cannot demonstrate who was trained on what. The common thread is rarely bad intent. It is a framework written once, filed, and never made to fit the practice.
Firm-wide risk assessment. Your FWRA is the document everything else hangs from. I will review yours against your actual practice areas, client base and delivery channels, or write one from scratch if you do not have one that holds up.
Matter file audits. Independent sampling of live and closed matters against your own procedures and LSAG guidance. You get a schedule of findings by severity, the common themes behind them, and specific remediation actions.
Client due diligence and source of funds. Where CDD is being taken but is not landing: trust and corporate structures, PEPs, high-risk jurisdictions, and the source of funds evidence that most often falls short.
Policies, controls and procedures. AML policies, CDD procedures and PCPs written for how your firm actually opens and runs matters.
Training for fee earners and support staff. Sessions built on your file types and your risks, delivered to groups of around ten. Fee earners engage with a scenario from their own practice area and switch off during generic slides.