Compliance Priorities for Sole Practitioners & Small Law Firms - A Proportionate Approach

Introduction

Sole practitioners and small law firms are subject to the same core regulatory obligations as larger practices, but often have significantly less management time, specialist support and compliance infrastructure.

The breadth of requirements relating to AML, supervision, client care, cybersecurity, data protection and business continuity can make it difficult to decide which risks require immediate attention and what proportionate compliance looks like in practice.

Adopting systems designed for much larger firms can also create unnecessary administration without necessarily improving regulatory outcomes.

In this new virtual classroom seminar, Tracy Thompson will explain how sole practitioners and small firms can identify their principal regulatory risks, prioritise limited resources and develop compliance arrangements appropriate to their size, work and client base. The session will focus on creating systems that are workable, sustainable and capable of being evidenced if challenged.

What You Will Learn

This live and interactive session will cover the following:

• Applying a proportionate approach to compliance in a smaller practice
• Identifying and prioritising the risks most relevant to your firm
• Deciding what requires immediate action and what can be monitored
• Managing multiple compliance roles with limited internal resources
• Establishing practical controls for AML, supervision, client care, cybersecurity and data protection
• Identifying when external support or specialist advice may be required
• Managing regulatory deadlines, reviews and competing operational demands
• Maintaining policies and records without creating unnecessary bureaucracy
• Using file reviews, registers and management information to monitor compliance
• Creating a defensible audit trail of decisions, actions and reviews

Recording of live sessions: Soon after the Learn Live session has taken place you will be able to go back and access the recording - should you wish to revisit the material discussed.