SRA fine lawyer £78K - one of the largest to date.
06/06/2025
A London law firm has been fined nearly £80,000 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for failures to comply with the anti-money laundering (AML) rules, one of the largest to date.
The SRA announced a £77,784 fine yesterday for Gordons Partnership, an ABS with offices in Chancery Lane and Guildford.
The SRA found that the firm had
- Failed to carry out a client and matter risk assessments (CMRAs) on six files it reviewed covering three years,
- Issues around identification and verification on one file
- A lack of a source of funds checks on four files
Further, between October 2021 and April 2024, the firm failed to
- Maintain fully compliant policies, controls and procedures and
- Carry out an independent audit.
In a regulatory settlement agreement, in which Gordon Partnership admitted the breaches, the SRA said these amounted to “serious AML control environment failings”.
Between a fifth and a third of the firm’s work was in-scope of the 2017 regulations – more than £1m worth of work – and so there was the potential to expose the firm “to a significant risk of being exploited by criminals”.
In deciding a fine was appropriate, the SRA said there was “no evidence of harm” to consumers or third parties. At the same time, the firm has “cooperated fully, has admitted the breaches, shown remorse and remedied the breaches, and there is low risk of repetition”.
SOURCE
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As well as owning and publishing Comsure's copyrighted works, Comsure wishes to use the copyright-protected works of others. To do so, Comsure is applying for exemptions in the UK copyright law. There are certain very specific situations where Comsure is permitted to do so without seeking permission from the owner. These exemptions are in the copyright sections of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended)[www.gov.UK/government/publications/copyright-acts-and-related-laws]. Many situations allow for Comsure to apply for exemptions. These include 1] Non-commercial research and private study, 2] Criticism, review and reporting of current events, 3] the copying of works in any medium as long as the use is to illustrate a point. 4] no posting is for commercial purposes [payment]. (for a full list of exemptions, please read here www.gov.uk/guidance/exceptions-to-copyright]. Concerning the exceptions, Comsure will acknowledge the work of the source author by providing a link to the source material. Comsure claims no ownership of non-Comsure content. The non-Comsure articles posted on the Comsure website are deemed important, relevant, and newsworthy to a Comsure audience (e.g. regulated financial services and professional firms [DNFSBs]). Comsure does not wish to take any credit for the publication, and the publication can be read in full in its original form if you click the articles link that always accompanies the news item. Also, Comsure does not seek any payment for highlighting these important articles. If you want any article removed, Comsure will automatically do so on a reasonable request if you email info@comsuregroup.com.