Professional Enabler or Gatekeeper? Reframing the Solicitor's Role in AML Compliance

The Language Matters

“Professional enabler” is a term that’s increasingly used in global financial crime reports — often pointing the finger at solicitors and lawyers.

But this language can be misleading. It suggests deliberate complicity, when the vast majority of legal professionals are ethical, diligent, and committed to doing the right thing.

Yes, criminals try to exploit legal services. But that doesn’t make you, as lawyers, enablers.

It makes you a target, even a potential gatekeeper.

How the Legal Sector Is Being Framed

International reports (including those from FATF and AUSTRAC) have identified lawyers, along with accountants and real estate agents, as high-risk for money laundering abuse.

That’s not because solicitors / lawyers are doing anything wrong. It’s because of the gaps that financial criminals can exploit. Here are just three reasons why:

• Legal services add credibility to transactions

• Lawyers have access to structures that obscure ownership

• Trust accounts and legal privilege can reduce transparency

But we need to separate risk of exploitation from wrongdoing. With the new Tranche 2 coming into action, it's time to act fast.

AML Sorted EVENTS - book here

Back to money and compliance ... a transaction that is later linked to crime doesn’t mean that the solicitor (in this example) was complicit, especially if the red flags weren’t visible at the time.

We get it, criminals are really on their game and ahead of our every move, which is why working on your AML compliance is key to protecting you, your clients and your reputation.

Reframing the Role in AML Compliance: From Risk to Responsibility

Lawyers are uniquely positioned to stop money laundering before it happens. That’s what gatekeeping is all about. Your role involves:

• Asking questions others don’t

• Verifying information others assume

• Escalating concerns others ignore

Done well, AML compliance is simply an extension of the values the legal profession already holds such as diligence, fairness, and protection of the rule of law.

Being a Gatekeeper Doesn’t Mean Becoming a Cop

Let’s be honest, if you're a solicitor, you didn’t enter the profession to become financial crime analysts. And no one wants to alienate good clients or introduce friction into transactions.

But gatekeeping doesn’t mean suspicion at every turn. It does mean:

• Understanding the typologies

• Following your internal procedures

• Knowing when something needs to be checked or reported

• And, crucially, documenting those decisions

  
  

It’s not about doing the regulator’s job. It’s about protecting your firm and your clients (and your reputation).

Rebuilding Trust With the Regulator

One of the most powerful things law firms in Australia can do now before Tranche 2 goes live is show the regulator that they take their responsibilities seriously and that they’re capable of managing the risks without overregulation.

That starts with:

• Well-designed AML programs

• Cultural buy-in from leadership

• Practical training and internal awareness

• Transparency and accountability

The better the profession demonstrates its gatekeeping capability, the stronger the argument against excessive external enforcement.

Final Thoughts

You are not the problem. You are part of the solution. The legal sector has a critical role to play in disrupting money laundering — not because it’s failing, but because it’s powerful.

Reclaiming the gatekeeper role in AML compliance isn’t just good compliance, it's good lawyering.

AML Sorted can help strengthen your AML role as a firm-wide gatekeeper

AML Sorted works with Australian law firms to embed AML controls that support legal professionals, not hinder them. Let’s talk or grab a coffee!

Thanks for reading and do stay in touch. Why not subscribe to our mailing list for free webinars and insights?