Beginning in 2026, Australian law firms will be subject to new legal requirements relating to anti-money-laundering (AML) compliance. Below we look at what’s changed and how these law firms can prepare for compliance.
New Australian law imposes AML requirements on law firms
Passed in 2024 and going into effect in 2026, Australia’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) Amendment Bill extends the AML/CTF regime to Australian law firms and other “Tranche 2” entities. The law also introduces new program requirements and enhanced know-your-client (KYC) requirements that all reporting entities in Australia must comply with on or before March 31, 2026.
While AUSTRAC will work directly with the legal industry between now and then to help firms respond to these new requirements, Australian law firms need to start taking proactive steps on their own to prepare for these legal changes — beginning with assessing their client onboarding processes.
The current state of AML compliance in Australian firms
Because Australian law firms have never been subject to AML requirements before, most law firms haven’t voluntarily implemented an AML compliance programme. That said, some forward-looking and internationally operating law firms already have some AML compliance measures in place as part of their new business intake processes to comply with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations.
Now, with the newly passed bill, Australian law firms need to act relatively quickly to prepare for AML compliance in collaboration with AUSTRAC. Although firms will continue to navigate some ambiguity during this initial period, it’s certain they’ll need to take the following actions by the time the law goes into effect:
- Enroll with AUSTRAC
- Appoint a dedicated AML/CTF compliance officer
- Adopt an AML/CTF program consisting of:
- AML/CTF policies
- screening of and ID verification of potential clients
- comprehensive risk assessments fitting the complexity of the firm
- recordkeeping
- reporting of suspicious matters
Taking the next steps toward AML compliance
Developing and adopting an AML/CTF program will be the most time consuming and arduous part of preparing for AUSTRAC regulatory oversight.
If your firm has any flaws in its current processes for client onboarding, the added steps of conducting AML/CTF screening and risk assessments will only make things worse. That’s why now would be a good time to evaluate and possibly redesign all aspects of your firm’s client onboarding system.
How Intapp can help
Intapp’s compliance software solutions are trusted by hundreds of leading law firms around the world to help them improve, accelerate and integrate compliance with AML/CTF regulatory requirements into their processes for new business intake and conflicts-of- interest management. Having decades of experience and in-house industry experts, Intapp also partners with your firm to effectively design new risk assessment processes and systems.
Contact us to learn more about how Intapp can help your firm prepare for 2026.