Law Society set to introduce new AML supervisory attestation process

Introducing the AML attestation process

The Anti-Money Laundering (AML) team is launching a new supervisory attestation process. This will be an ongoing piece of work reaching all practices who may not fall under the scope of our full high-risk AML inspection process.

We will contact practices selected as part of the first tranche of the attestation process this month, November 2022.

Anti-Money Laundering attestation - background

Anti-Money Laundering in the legal sector is a continued area of focus, with an increased awareness of the multitude of ways in which the legitimate services provided by legal practices can be used for illegitimate purposes.

The work we do within the Law Society of Scotland AML team reflects this – as an effective AML professional body supervisor, we continue to develop a range of tools to assess the risk of our population and of our individual members. These include thematic reviews, desk-based reviews, specific file audits, the AML Certificate, and our new attestation process. These ensure we not only supervise effectively but that we also aid practices in compliance with their obligations through creating focused and relevant educational materials and training events.

Adopting a risk-based approach allows us to be robust, fair, and responsible - balancing the commercial realities and the environment in which our members operate with our overarching legal responsibility to ensure our members are complying with their AML obligations.

What does this mean for our members?　

The attestation document issued to the selected practices will seek assurances across the 36 Key Compliance Principles of the Legal Sector Affinity Guidance (LSAG), Section 3. The principles cover all the key AML considerations, and evidence of adherence to these principles will help to demonstrate compliance in any future AML inspection of your practice.

The collection of largely qualitative responses as part of this attestation is in addition to the quantitative data collected as part of the annual AML certificate exercise.

What will we do with this information?

Generally, the AML team will not seek to undertake any further detailed assurance of AML controls following attestation responses, however, to meet our supervisory obligations, we will undertake risk-based sampling on the responses received to verify the information submitted.

For those selected, we look forward to working with you as your supervisor - your cooperation and participation is required to minimise the AML risks to you, your business, your clients and to the profession as a whole.

Members can contact Dale Trahms in our AML team with any queries at aml@lawscot.org.uk.