Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing survey of legal practices extended

The closing date for participation in the Australian Institute of Criminology’s (AIC) anti-money laundering/counter-terrorism financing survey has been extended until 31 May. We encourage those managing partners of legal practices who have not completed the survey to please participate.

This survey is your opportunity to assist the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) in its research into the risks associated with money laundering and the financing of terrorism that legal practitioners in Australia may face when acting for their clients.

The research will be used in the process of policy development as the Australian Government is currently considering obligations for members of the legal profession to have a risk-based anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing program in place.

The survey seeks to:

• elicit information on how legal practices perceive the money laundering and financing of terrorism risks posed by their clients and their clients' transactions;
• identify the risk management tools currently employed by legal practices; and
• assess the value of applying anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) legislative regimes to legal practices in Australia.

What are we asking you to do?

The Law Society of New South Wales, the ACT Law Society, the Queensland Law Society, and the Law Institute of Victoria have distributed the survey to all member legal practices and are seeking one response from each practice.

Responses will be entirely anonymous. The survey can be completed in hard copy or online, and sent directly to the AIC, which will analyse the results and prepare a report of the findings. Individuals and practices will not be identifiable or named in any way and the survey results will be presented in aggregate form only.

Completing the survey

The survey takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. It may be completed:

• on the secure internet site at: secure.aic.gov.au/surveymanager/login.asp?anom=33x2x1
• in hard copy by printing out the survey and the glossary and sending the completed document to us attentioned to Matthew Dunn, Principal Policy Officer, Queensland Law Society, GPO Box 1785, Brisbane Q 4001. We will then forward your survey response to the AIC. 

We greatly appreciate your assistance in this research.