Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

Risk register definition

What does Risk register mean? A risk register is the trustee board’s working record of the material risks facing a pension scheme and how those risks are prioritised and managed. It typically lists each risk (for example, employer covenant, investment, funding/liquidity, administration, cyber/data, legal and regulatory compliance, conflicts, and ESG/climate), rates likelihood and impact (often showing inherent and residual risk against risk appetite), identifies a risk owner, and records existing controls, mitigation actions, review dates and current status. The term is not defined in legislation or case law; it is a descriptive governance tool used across legal and pensions practice. In England & Wales, Scotland and...

Legal risk registers for in-house lawyers: a practical guide to identification, categorisation, probability–impact scoring, ownership, controls, RAG rating, design, and ongoing review

Published by a LexisNexis Risk & Compliance expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note is aimed at in-house counsel. It sets out how to build a legal Risk register — a device for gathering all legal risk details in one location — by classifying each legal threat the organisation encounters, assigning a score to each, and then determining the controls or mitigations to apply effectively across the enterprise as appropriate.

To craft a robust legal risk register, start by spotting the legal exposures your business confronts. It is also worthwhile to gauge your organisation’s tolerance for risk at this stage.

What is risk?

Many organisations maintain a written definition, against which their overall risk environment — and the legal component within it — can be recognised and mapped. If your organisation already has a definition, evaluate it and, if it proves practical, you are well placed to consider what amounts to legal risk. If not, you should assist the organisation in developing a usable definition.

A clear, practical way to express risk is: Risk = probability x impact. Thus, for any particular legal risk your business faces, two questions arise:

how probable is occurrence, ie what is the likelihood?
if that risk does in fact materialise, as noted in this definition...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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