Yes, but only when they provide a designated service. From 1 July 2026 a law firm that provides any service listed in Table 6 of the AML/CTF Act 2006, such as conveyancing, buying or selling a company, or creating a trust, becomes a reporting entity under AUSTRAC. Not all legal work is captured; the scope is deliberately limited to the transactional services most exploited for money laundering. Enrolment with AUSTRAC has been open since 31 March 2026.Sometimes. Receiving, holding, controlling or managing a client's money or property to assist in a transaction is a designated service under item 3 of Table 6, so funds moving through a trust account in connection with a transaction must be monitored and the source of funds established for higher-risk matters. There is an exception where holding money is genuinely incidental to a non-designated service, for example a criminal defence firm holding funds for barrister's fees. Allowing a client to use a trust account as a de facto bank account does not qualify for the exception and is a designated service.

Designated services for lawyers are the nine Table 6 items, which cover transactional and structural work rather than advice or advocacy. The practice areas most commonly in scope are conveyancing and property (item 1), mergers and acquisitions and corporate law (items 2, 4 and 6), transactional trust and estate work (items 3 and 6), and corporate secretarial and registered office services (items 7 and 8). Family, criminal, employment, intellectual property and most administrative law are generally out of scope unless a specific Table 6 activity arises.

Usually not. Barristers generally provide advice and advocacy and do not handle client money or facilitate transactions, so in most cases their work is not a Table 6 designated service, though each barrister must assess their own practice. Duty lawyers and legal aid providers, whose work focuses on criminal, family and civil advocacy rather than transactional services, almost certainly do not provide designated services and are not reporting entities. Where uncertain, the individual practitioner should seek legal advice.

Legal professional privilege (LPP) is recognised under the AML/CTF Act as a ground to withhold privileged information from AUSTRAC, but it does not exempt lawyers from the regime. If all the grounds of suspicion in a Suspicious Matter Report (SMR) are subject to LPP, the lawyer may not need to submit the report, but where only part is privileged the lawyer must report to the extent possible and complete an LPP form. Communications made to facilitate a crime or fraud are not privileged (the crime-fraud exception), so a client using a lawyer to launder money cannot shield those communications.

The tipping off offence prohibits a reporting entity from disclosing to a client (or anyone else) that a Suspicious Matter Report has been filed or is being considered, or that AUSTRAC is investigating. For lawyers this creates tension with the professional duty of candour, because a firm must not reveal the AML/CTF reason if it needs to act inconsistently with the client's interests, such as terminating a retainer. Lawyers must comply with the tipping off rule while managing their professional conduct obligations carefully.

Sometimes. Receiving, holding, controlling or managing a client's money or property to assist in a transaction is a designated service under item 3 of Table 6, so funds moving through a trust account in connection with a transaction must be monitored and the source of funds established for higher-risk matters. There is an exception where holding money is genuinely incidental to a non-designated service, for example a criminal defence firm holding funds for barrister's fees. Allowing a client to use a trust account as a de facto bank account does not qualify for the exception and is a designated service.