Compliance officer for legal practice meaning

Reporting suspicions Checklist This Checklist consolidates duties arising from the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA 2002) and the Terrorism Act 2000 (TA 2000) concerning the requirement to disclose knowledge or suspicion of money laundering, terrorist financing or proliferation financing. It also captures recommended good practice to help prevent money laundering and the funding of terrorism, drawn from the latest SRA Preventing Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism thematic review (March 2018), together with a range of SRA AML reports and publications. The Checklist directs you to relevant Precedents you may adopt or tailor to meet these obligations and suggestions. A section is provided for you to record whether each step has been completed, and to add comments or note actions. For further guidance, see Practice Note: Reporting suspicions of money laundering and terrorist financing—law firms. Requirement ☐ Appoint a nominated officer — Compulsory. The nominated officer is the individual designated to receive suspicious activity reports (SARs) under TA 2000 and POCA 2002. See subtopic:...

Checklist for overseas partners on preventing bribery Policies and procedures Does the company have a clear, robust and practical code of ethics that expressly states zero tolerance for bribery and corruption? Is that code backed by proportionate policies? Is there visible top-level commitment from the Board, and does a suitably experienced senior officer oversee the anti-bribery framework? Are anti-bribery policies and procedures a standing agenda item at Board meetings? Are the Board’s discussions on these policies and procedures comprehensively recorded in the minutes? Is there a Board sub-committee charged with updating and enforcing the anti-bribery policies and procedures? Do the company’s General Counsel and, where applicable, the legal/compliance team have specific expertise in anti-bribery legislation and practice? If not, (a) are external lawyers with the requisite knowledge retained; and (b) is an appropriate internal training programme considered? Do Board members receive the same anti-bribery training as other staff? ...

This Checklist outlines the principal considerations to address and the actions necessary to be undertaken when customising a shelf company limited by shares...

This flowchart shows how to determine whether you need to carry out a data protection impact assessment (DPIA) for a specific project, and the steps to complete one if required. It also outlines post‑DPIA tasks, including weaving the DPIA’s findings into your project plan and keeping the assessment under review. See also Precedents: Data protection impact assessment—DPIA and Data protection impact assessment—DPIA—short form, which draws on a template issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO’s comprehensive Data Protection Impact Assessments guidance sets out seven steps to running a DPIA. This flowchart is designed to cover those seven stages, and it also mirrors the ICO’s expectations for post‑DPIA activity, namely: integrating the outcomes of your DPIA into your project plans, and monitoring the ongoing performance of the DPIA Note 1: Identify the need for a DPIA If you have a data protection officer (DPO), seek their advice. For further information, see Practice Note: How to complete a data protection impact...

Stage 1—preparing to bring a claim and pre-action matters Guidance on UK trade mark infringement, offences, passing off, interim injunctions, running IP disputes, privilege, dispute resolution (mediation and arbitration), and the Disclosure Scheme; plus checklists and forms (injunction, application, hearing) Stage 2—Letter before action alleging infringement Notes on infringement, passing off, unjustified threats and drafting; includes a trade mark letter of claim precedent Stage 3—commencing proceedings Procedure, defences and exceptions, IPEC flowchart, pleadings and initial disclosure precedents, and CPR/Part 36 forms Stage 4—case management Procedure and Disclosure Scheme notes, court guides (Chancery, Patents Court, IPEC and Small Claims), and case management questionnaires, Disclosure Review Document, Certificate of Compliance, budgets and directions Stage 5—disclosure and evidence Surveys and witness evidence (PD 57AC), privilege, disclosure (including electronic) and flexible trials; witness statement and Extended Disclosure precedents; affidavits, applications and certificates Stage 6—trial...

Is the risk assessment overseen at the highest level in the company? To demonstrate commitment from the top to anti-bribery controls, a company officer or a member of the Board should be designated to supervise the anti-bribery and risk assessment process. See Practice Note: Anti-bribery and corruption policy. Consider: Do senior management or the Board hold ultimate responsibility for the risk assessment process? Have duties for anti-bribery and corruption been delegated; if so, to whom and on what basis? How is this recorded? Has the company allocated bribery risk assessment to employees (for example, a compliance officer) who report directly to the Board? How has the company ensured the risk assessment is fit for purpose and able to withstand scrutiny?...

In this issue: Children's social care Planning Social housing Local government finance Social care Public procurement Education Healthcare Governance LexTalk®Local Government: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content New Q&As Children's social care When is a fact-finding hearing needed to inform risk assessment? (G (A Child: Scope of Fact-Finding)) In G (A Child: Scope of Fact-Finding), the Court of Appeal considered whether refusing to order a fact-finding hearing about allegations that a mother caused the fatal injuries to an older child seven years earlier was erroneous, where the purpose was to inform the risk assessment and overall welfare evaluation in proceedings about her new baby. The majority concluded it was not, and that the assessment of risk could take into account a broad spectrum of potential outcomes even without specific findings as to the circumstances of the older child’s death. That outcome, however, was plainly...

In this issue: Investigating criminal conduct Decision to prosecute and alternatives to prosecution Criminal procedure and evidence Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Cybercrime and data protection offences Environmental offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Investigating criminal conduct Policing reimagined—structural reform, centralisation and the rise of AI The Police Reform White Paper, issued in January 2026, maps out seven strands of change. Together, these proposals reshape the overall make-up of police services across the UK, raise expected policing standards, and enhance officer welfare and efficiency. Bianca Brasoveanu of Mountford Chambers reviews how the plans seek to refine intelligence-sharing, rebuild public trust, reinforce neighbourhood policing, and promote officer wellbeing. She also warns of significant legal concerns, particularly the prospect of executive influence over operational independence and the evidential robustness of AI-based identification, both likely...

As the acquisition progresses, Deloitte UK partner and head of RegTech, Kent Mackenzie, will join Corlytics as its chief operating officer. ‘The Corlytics business and this Deloitte UK RegTech platform fit remarkably well, and together can provide a truly distinctive, end-to-end platform for the market,’ he said in a statement. ‘This is a gamechanger for our clients and the industry. Working as one, we can thoroughly tackle the most critical challenges clients are desperate to resolve, and enhance the value and intelligence applied to regulatory content and management.’ The name of the Deloitte UK RegTech platform has not been revealed. ‘Having built...

This Practice Note sets out advice for law firms on responding to client account fraud and outlines the applicable legal and regulatory duties. Client funds are inviolable and their careful stewardship is essential and paramount. What is client account fraud? A firm suffers client account fraud where money is unlawfully taken from its client account. Immediate steps to take Act swiftly to limit harm in the immediate aftermath of client account fraud. Do everything possible to prevent further loss and disruption promptly. Form a fraud response team and appoint someone to lead the incident without delay; suitable choices include: the compliance officer for finance and administration (COFA) the finance director the compliance officer for legal practice (COLP) the nominated officer the senior partner another appropriately senior person within the firm The SRA warning notice, Money missing from client account, states that if you discover that funds are missing, you must take steps to ensure...

Mitigating the risk You should establish procedures requiring staff to disclose (usually to the nominated officer) any knowledge or suspicion concerning: money laundering, terrorist financing or proliferation financing sanctions breaches fraud tax evasion bribery and corruption organised crime See further section: Mitigating the risk. The nominated officer is, in specified situations, obliged to relay that knowledge or suspicion to the National Crime Agency (NCA) by submitting a suspicious activity report (SAR), or, depending on the report’s character, to another authority via suitable routes. The NCA assigns SARs to trained financial crime investigators for further enquiries. Intelligence derived from SARs may then be passed by the NCA to other law enforcement or government agencies (LEAs), which may require additional information. Where LEAs seek more material following a SAR, it will generally be obtained through enforcement action, usually by way of a production order. This How-to guide offers direction on managing financial crime investigations and addresses related topics such...

Why do you need to obtain a CSOP valuation? When granting a company share option plan (CSOP) option, you must determine the market value of the underlying shares to ensure that: the exercise price complies with CSOP statutory rules, meaning it is not manifestly below their market value (disregarding any restrictions) at the grant date, or at an earlier point agreed with an HMRC officer—for more detail, see The CSOP exercise price below the CSOP maximum individual limit is not breached, which restricts any person to holding no more than £60,000 of unexercised qualifying CSOP options—for how this is worked out, see The CSOP individual limit below In addition, once a CSOP option has been granted, the shares’ market value may still be relevant where: the exercise price fails to satisfy the above requirements (which may give rise to tax—see Practice Note: CSOP—income tax and NICs treatment of options—Income tax and NICs on the grant of CSOP options) ...

1 General information Date complaint received [ Enter date ] How was the complaint received? ☐ Email ☐ Letter ☐ In person ☐ Telephone ☐ Other—[ please specify ] When replying to the complainant, choose the most appropriate communication method. Date complaint acknowledged [ Enter a date that should be 30 days from the date you received the complaint. ] Proposed deadline for responding to complaint [ Enter a date that meets the expectation that you will handle the complaint without any delay. ] Person investigating complaint and completing this record [ Provide details of the individual who investigated the complaint and completed this report. This could be your data protection officer. ] Date of report [ Enter date ] 2 Complainant Name of data subject ...

1 Introduction This role description and profile concerns the combined post of Deputy Money Laundering Compliance Officer (MLCO) and Deputy nominated officer (nominated officer). Any references to MLR 2017 relate to the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, SI 2017/692, as amended. 2 MLCO/nominated officer role holder details Firm name [ Insert firm name ] Name of Deputy MLCO/nominated officer [ Insert name ] Reports to: MLCO/nominated officer [ Insert name of MLCO/nominated officer ] Working pattern ☐ Full time ☐ Part time Details of any additional positions within the firm [ Insert details ] Date of appointment by the firm [ Insert date ] 3 Role summary 3.1 Serve as deputy to the firm’s MLCO/nominated officer...

A: General information Date of review [ insert date ] Person(s) carrying out the review [ insert name(s) and/or role(s) ] B: Review and findings Is your Data protection policy fully up to date and appropriate for its intended purpose? ☐ Yes ☐ No If no, kindly set out any amendments required and make sure you record an action at section C below to update your Data protection policy accordingly Are you satisfied that your Data protection procedures are operating effectively, in particular the procedures that relate to: your obligations regarding the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)? providing clients with a notice about data processing?...