4 June 2026
The latest wave of anti-money laundering (AML) fines from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has reinforced a pattern that The Professional Alternative believes demands urgent attention.
The eLearning platform believes that law firms are continuing to fall short on compliance, not because they lack policies, but because their people lack the training to make those policies work effectively.
As first reported by Legal Futures, in the last six months, the SRA has fined 59 firms a total of £600,000 for breaching basic AML rules, with common failures including the absence of firm-wide risk assessments, inadequate controls and procedures and a failure to conduct client and matter risk assessments (CMRAs).
For The Professional Alternative, the figures are striking but not surprising given the lack of effective AML compliance training within many firms they speak with.
Paul Fletcher, Managing Director at The Professional Alternative, said: “What these cases consistently reveal is not a shortage of regulation or even a shortage of guidance.
“They reveal a shortage of genuine understanding at the levels where it matters most – from the fee earner reviewing a file to the support staff processing a transaction and the manager who ought to be asking the right questions – if training is absent firms fall down.
“A firm can have an AML policy document running to 40 pages, which can be reassuring to regulators and clients, but if the people responsible for applying it have never been properly trained on what it means in practice, that document offers very little protection when the SRA comes calling.”
One of the cases cited in the SRA’s latest enforcement activity involved an eight-year failure to conduct CMRAs, with the regulator noting that this had resulted in a poor understanding of client risk and insufficient scrutiny being applied to matters.
In another, an inspection of six client files found that not one contained a CMRA, with several also lacking adequate source of funds checks.
These are failures of embedded practice according to The Professional Alternative.
“Compliance frameworks are only as strong as the people operating within them,” added Paul.
“The SRA has made clear that it expects firms to demonstrate not just that they have controls in place, but that those controls are understood and applied consistently.
“That kind of demonstrable competence does not happen by accident. It comes from a structured, role-relevant training programme that staff actually complete and that firms can evidence.”
The stakes are rising. With the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) expected to take over as the supervisor of lawyers’ AML activity, analysts have warned that accreditations, such as the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS), could become an aggravating factor in enforcement cases rather than a mitigating one, on the basis that accredited firms have given clients a quality assurance they have failed to uphold. Of the 59 firms fined in the past six months, 53 held CQS accreditation.
“The regulatory environment is changing significantly,” explained Paul. “The SRA’s approach has historically centred on transparency and settlement, but this is clearly changing and the time to address training gaps is now, not after a supervision visit has identified them.”
The Professional Alternative provides eLearning courses developed and approved by legal professionals, specifically designed to help firms meet their obligations under the SRA Standards and Regulations and the Money Laundering Regulations.
Its AML and financial crime suite covers firm-wide risk assessment, CMRA processes, source of funds obligations, counter-terrorist financing and the practical application of AML controls in a busy legal practice.
To find out more about our compliance training, book a demo or download our compliance guide.