The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLR 2017), SI 2017/692, as amended, identify professional bodies with responsibility for AML supervision. The Law Society is the named supervisor for solicitors and law firms in England and Wales, however the Law Society delegates regulatory activities to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), which means the SRA is responsible for ensuring the solicitors and firms it supervises comply with the MLR 2017.

This Practice Note is a ‘how to guide’ providing guidance on how to prepare for an anti-money laundering (AML) inspection by the SRA. It is based on the SRA’s Guidance on our firm inspections’, and SRA AML annual reports, and includes Law Society guidance, and market insight from firms that have been subject to an SRA AML inspection.

SRA AML inspections began in 2019 and are part of the SRA’s role in checking firms are complying with the MLR 2017 and ensuring firms have effective AML policies in place. These external SRA AML inspections are different from