Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is the independent regulator of solicitors and law firms in England and Wales. It is the supervisory authority under MLR 2017 for SRA-regulated firms — issuing AML guidance, conducting thematic and on-site reviews, and imposing fines, conditions, or strike-offs for failures. SRA fines for individual AML breaches can reach £25,000; firm-level fines can exceed £250m for traditional firms (lower caps apply to alternative business structures).
SRA-regulated firms are inspected on a risk-based cycle, with conveyancing-heavy and TCSP-active practices receiving more attention. The SRA expects every firm to have a current firm-wide risk assessment, a written AML programme, named MLCO and MLRO, and CDD records open for inspection.
Other terms that go with Solicitors Regulation Authority
A supervisory authority is the body responsible for overseeing AML compliance within a particular sector. For accountants not belonging to a professional body, the supervisory authority is HMRC. Members of recognised professional bodies (ICAEW, ACCA, CIMA, and others) are supervised by those bodies instead. For law firms in England and Wales, the supervisory authority is the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), with parallel regulators in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Supervisory authorities set standards, conduct reviews, and can impose sanctions.
The Legal Sector Affinity Group is the umbrella of UK legal sector AML supervisors — including the SRA, Bar Standards Board, CILEx Regulation, the Law Society of Scotland, the Law Society of Northern Ireland, and the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. LSAG publishes the consolidated AML guidance for the legal sector, which is the practical reference SRA inspectors use to benchmark firm practice.
The Money Laundering Compliance Officer is a senior individual responsible under MLR 2017 Regulation 21 for overseeing a firm's overall AML compliance programme — including the firm-wide risk assessment, policies, training, and the relationship with the supervisor. In SRA-regulated firms, the MLCO is a distinct role from the MLRO: the MLCO owns the AML *system*; the MLRO owns SAR reporting under POCA.
Put Solicitors Regulation Authority into practice with Certivus
Knowing the term is the first step. Certivus gives you the workflows — client intake, CDD, EDD, PEP and sanctions screening, audit-ready records — to apply it across every client.
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