Legal profession proactively mitigating
money laundering risks

The Law Council recently commissioned an independent expert to analyse the vulnerabilities of the Australian legal profession to money laundering and terrorism financing risk. The report by New Zealand law firm Russ + Associates, Vulnerabilities Analysis—Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing: The Australian Legal Profession is available to read and download here.

Money laundering and terrorism financing are serious crimes with devastating consequences. The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission reports that serious and organised crime groups are increasingly turning to the professions to exploit specialist knowledge and skills to launder profits within complex and globalised financial systems.

Anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regulation aspires to be risk based at all levels. This is the position taken by the leading global agency the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The Law Council of Australia supports a risk-based approach to regulation.

Read more.

London Opening of the Legal Year

Photo credit: The Law Society of England and Wales.

Law Council President, Luke Murphy, attended the Opening of the Legal Year in London on 2 October 2023, together with bar leaders from national, regional and international legal professional associations around the world. The President met with counterpart bar leaders from England and Wales, Scotland, Malaysia, Korea, Canada and Hong Kong among others, as well as the Presidents of LAWASIA, the International Bar Association, Commonwealth Lawyers Association, and Council of Law Societies and Bar Associations of Europe (CCBE).

In addition to the ceremonial events, the President attended a Bar Leaders’ Discussion on the Rule of Law and Independence of the Legal Profession held at Gray’s Inn. The panel consisted of Victor Dawes SC, Chair of the Hong Kong Bar Association; Panagiotis Perakis, President of the CCBE; Sheila Webster, Vice President of the Law Society of Scotland; and Yakubu Maikyau OON SAN, President of the Nigerian Bar Association. Bar leaders from around the world raised developments and issues of concern in their jurisdictions, particularly in relation to judicial independence and legal professional regulation.

While in London, the President attended the Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Crime Conference hosted by the Law Society of England and Wales on 27 September, as well as the first meeting of participants of the Australia-UK Legal Services Regulatory Dialogue established under the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement on 2 October. This meeting, hosted at the UK Ministry of Justice, was convened to agree timeframes and practical matters, in preparation for the first substantive meeting of the Dialogue to be held in the first quarter of 2024.

LCA Submissions

Recently published Law Council Submissions. 

• Personal Insolvency Consultation, Attorney-General's Department.
• Supplementary submission: Counter Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Prohibited Hate Symbols and Other Measures) Bill 2023, Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.
• Statutory Declarations Amendment Bill 2023 (Provisions), Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee.
• Review of the Franchising Code of Conduct, Treasury.
• Review of the regulatory framework for managed investment schemes, Treasury.
• Digital Identity Bill 2023—Exposure Draft Consultation, Department of Finance.
• Proposed measures in response to PwC, Treasury.
• Counter-Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023, Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.

Section Submissions

Recently published Section Submissions. 

• Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Bill 2023, Senate Standing Committees on Environment and Communications, (Legal Practice Section).
• Modernising Individual Tax Residency—Consultation Paper, Treasury, (Business Law Section).
• Draft amendments to Taxation Ruling TR2022/4 and Practical Compliance Guideline PCG 2022/2 post Guardian and BBlood, Australian Tax Office (Business Law Section).

Inquiries and consultations

As of 19 October 2023. 

• Admission of foreign lawyers, Legal Services Council. 
• Review of Australian Mediator and Dispute Resolution System Standards, Mediator Standards Board. 
• Developing the National Housing and Homelessness Plan, Department of Social Services. 
• CP 372 Guidance on insolvent trading safe harbour provisions: Update to RG 217, ASIC. 
• Closing the Gap Review, Productivity Commission.
• Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023, Senate Education and Employment Committees.
• Independent Review of the National Legal Assistance Partnership, Independent Reviewer.
• Best Practice Principles and Standards for Skilled Migration Assessing Authorities, Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. 
• Reforms to the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998 – Exposure draft legislation, The Treasury. 
• Exposure Draft: Family Law Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2023, Attorney-General's Department.
• Review of the Personal Property Securities Act 2009, Attorney-General's Department.
• Unfair trading practices - Consultation Regulation Impact Statement, The Treasury.
• Review of Division 3 of Part III of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979, Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.

News and Media

Media releases/statement:

• Investment to reduce migration backlog welcomed, 6 October 2023.
• Legal profession proactively mitigating money laundering risks, 9 October 2023.
• Law Council of Australia condemns Hamas attack on Israel and calls for adherence to international humanitarian law in response, 13 October 2023.
• Law Council questions continuation and expansion of extraordinary counter terrorism measures, 17 October 2023.

• Judge, law professors explain Voice vote ‘not constitutionally risky', Lawyers Weekly, 9 October 2023. 
• Money laundering risks being mitigated says LCA report, QLS Proctor, 9 October 2023. 
• Cost of living pricing Australians out of legal aid, courtrooms, putting justice on the high shelf, ABC online, 11 October 2023. 
• Australian lawyers mitigating money laundering risks, new report finds, Law Society Journal, 12 October 2023. 
• First female chief justice farewelled as 'leader', Canberra Times, 16 October 2023. 
• 'Respect and affection' for a career of firsts, 17 October 2023. 
• Law Council of Australia report reveals legal profession's measures against money laundering risks, Australasian Lawyer, 18 October 2023. 

Upcoming Events

One of the most anticipated events in the legal and academic calendar is fast approaching – the John Emerson Oration and the CLAANZ Annual Lecture. The Legal Practice Section's Charities and Not-for-Profit Committee, the Charity Law Association of Australia and New Zealand (CLAANZ) and the University of Sydney Law School will be hosting the event in Sydney on 29 November 2023. 

The Oration will be delivered by the Hon Justice Mark Leeming, New South Wales Court of Appeal and Challis Lecturer in Equity Sydney Law School, on ‘Statutory Eucalypts in the Law of Charity’. The address will focus on the often hidden interaction between statute law and equity as it relates to the law of charity.

The Oration offers a unique opportunity for legal professionals, academics, and students to come together to share knowledge, discuss ideas, and network with other like-minded individuals.

Register today and mark your calendar for the John Emerson Oration and CLAANZ Annual Lecture. Registration closes 5pm, 23 November 2023. To learn more about the event or to register, click here. 

The Federal Dispute Resolution Section will be hosting its second Commonwealth Law Conference in Melbourne on 22 – 23 February 2024.

The conference will cover a broad range of topics presented by leading lawyers in federal law, in house counsel, members of the judiciary and federal tribunal members.

Key speakers include:

• The Honourable Chief Justice Mortimer
• The Honourable Paul Le Gay Brereton SC
• The Honourable Justice Emilios Kyrou AO
• The Honourable Justice Button
• Plus more.

Early bird registrations are now open, and close Friday, 10 November 2023. 
Register here.

The Law Council of Australia’s Federal Litigation and Dispute Resolution Section will be hosting its annual Immigration Law Conference on 14-15 March 2024. The conference will be conducted over two days and will canvass current issues in Australian immigration law.

If you would like to be placed on the mailing list for this event, please contact the Section Administrator on the details below. Registrations will open mid to late 2023. Learn more here.

LAWASIA and The Bar Association of India have the great pleasure of inviting their members and other legal professionals to join the 36th LAWASIA Conference from Friday 24 to Monday 27 November 2023 in the bustling city of Bengaluru, India at the Four Seasons Hotel Bengaluru.

The Annual Conference is LAWASIA’s flagship event and the highlight of its professional events program. It is a platform for the convergence of bar leaders, jurists, professional organisations and individual lawyers from across the Asia Pacific, and is designed to facilitate the discussion of regional developments in law, including Family Law, Human Rights & Rule of Law, Business Law, Environmental Law, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Criminal Law, Intellectual Property

As a generalist legal event, the Annual Conference also serves as an important forum for sharing ideas, building professional networks, reinforcing shared professional values, advocating for the rule of law in varied jurisdictions, and advancing the status of the legal profession in the Asia Pacific.

To learn more about the conference and to register, visit the LAWASIA website.