We want to give our clients early notice of a change to the way we open new matters.
From 1 July 2026, law firms come within Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime (the AML/CTF Act). These obligations already apply to banks and many financial businesses, and they are now being extended to professions such as ours. The practical effect is that, for certain types of work, we are required to check who our client is before we begin acting.
If you also deal with an accountant, broker, lender or real estate agent on the same matter, you may notice them asking for similar information, for the same reason.
What the law asks of us
For the matters this applies to, we are required to take reasonable steps to:
- confirm your identity, and the identity of anyone instructing us on your behalf;
- understand where the money in a transaction is coming from, where that is relevant; and
- identify the people who own or control any company, trust or self-managed superannuation fund involved in your matter.
How it will work in practice
Where these checks apply, we need to complete them before we can start work, so we will usually raise them with you right at the outset of a matter.
To make this as quick and secure as possible, we use InfoTrack, an established verification platform. In most cases we will send you a short message by text or email with a secure link, and you can confirm your identity online in a few minutes.
There is a modest third-party and administrative cost to running these checks. We pass this on at cost, shown as a clearly itemised disbursement, and it is set out in your costs agreement so there are no surprises.
Is there anything you need to do?
Not for now. You don’t need to take any steps in advance. If your matter requires these checks, we will guide you through them when the time comes.
If you have any questions, please get in touch and we would be glad to help.
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