New legal obligations for law firms
From 1 July 2026, Australian law firms must comply with new anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) laws when providing certain types of legal work. As a result, we may need to ask you for identification and other information that was not previously required.
These obligations come from the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth). The Act exists to stop criminals using legitimate services – including legal services – to disguise the source of illegally obtained money or to fund terrorism. Australia’s approach reflects internationally agreed standards, and brings the legal profession into a regime that has applied to banks and other financial institutions for many years.
The law requires us to take reasonable steps to identify our clients, assess risk, and report certain matters to the regulator, AUSTRAC (the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre).
When do these requirements apply?
Not every piece of legal work is covered. The obligations only apply where we are providing a “designated service” – broadly, services such as:
If your matter involves a designated service, we will let you know what information and documents we need from you before work can begin.
A full description of designated services is available from AUSTRAC here.
Customer due diligence
Where the AML/CTF Act applies, we must take reasonable steps to verify certain information about you before acting.
We use InfoTrack to collect and verify the required information securely. You will receive a link to complete the onboarding steps online. This will usually include identity verification, client authorisation, and questions about you, the transaction, and, where required, the source of funds.
For individuals, this usually includes confirming your full name, date of birth and residential address. You will be asked to upload or scan identity documents such as your driver’s licence, passport, birth certificate and/or Medicare card.
If you are instructing us on behalf of a company, trust, partnership or other entity, we will also need information about that entity and the people who own, control or benefit from it, including directors, shareholders, trustees and beneficiaries.
In some matters, we may need to ask further questions or request additional documents before we can proceed.
If you cannot provide the required information
If we are unable to obtain the information and documents the law requires, we may not be able to act for you in relation to that matter. This applies even if you have been a client for many years, because the AML/CTF Act applies to all clients in relation to designated services, without exception.
How your information is handled
We collect this information to comply with our legal obligations under the AML/CTF Act – including verifying your identity, assessing money laundering and terrorism financing risk, and meeting our recordkeeping and reporting obligations to AUSTRAC. We may need to share information with AUSTRAC, other regulators, or third parties who assist with identity verification, where the law requires or permits this. Further detail about how your personal information is collected, used, stored and disclosed is set out in our Privacy Policy. A separate privacy collection notice may apply to your matter.
Questions?
If you have any questions or concerns about why we are asking for this information, please contact team member who is acting for you.
See here for more information on the AML/CTF laws.
(Adapted information from The Law Society of Tasmania)