Registration and the responsible person
Register the practice with the FIC on goAML (section 43B) and appoint the director or partner responsible for compliance (section 42A), minuted by the firm.
FIC Act Schedule 1 item 1 · Legal Practice Council
FICA Compliance for Legal Practitioners
Attorneys who practise with a trust account are accountable institutions. RCC builds and runs the FIC Act framework the Legal Practice Council inspects against.
A trust account makes a practice an accountable institution.
Item 1 of Schedule 1 to the Financial Intelligence Centre Act lists legal practitioners who practise as attorneys and hold trust accounts. The Legal Practice Council is the supervisory body, and it inspects practices under section 45B of the Act and refers non-compliance for administrative sanction under section 45C. The FIC's sector risk assessment for legal practitioners identifies the services criminals use most: conveyancing and property transactions, the formation and administration of companies and trusts, the holding of funds in trust and the administration of deceased estates.
RCC's FICA implementation service builds the Risk Management and Compliance Programme around those services as your practice actually delivers them, trains the fee earners and secretaries who open files, and keeps the programme inspection-ready.
What the Act requires of a practice
The obligations, in the order to tackle them
The RMCP
A section 42 programme that assesses the practice's own risk by client, matter type, delivery channel and geography, and sets the due diligence, approval and monitoring rules for each risk band.
Client and beneficial-owner due diligence
Identity verified before a mandate is accepted; beneficial owners of companies, trusts and partnerships identified and verified under section 21B; source of funds for high-risk matters and large trust deposits.
Screening
Every client and beneficial owner screened against the targeted financial sanctions lists and assessed for prominent influential person status, with the result on the file.
Reporting
Cash threshold reports for cash of R49 999.99 or more, suspicious and unusual transaction reports within fifteen business days, and terrorist property reports, all through goAML and all recorded.
Records and training
Identification and transaction records kept for five years; every fee earner and support staff member trained on the Act and the RMCP, with attendance registers.
Where practices fail
The findings the LPC publishes
The administrative sanctions published against law firms repeat the same findings: no RMCP or a template RMCP never implemented, clients verified after funds were received in trust, no beneficial ownership on company and trust clients, no screening, no training records, and reports that were never filed because no one in the practice was registered on goAML. Each one is avoidable with a programme designed for the practice and a monitoring cycle that tests it. RCC's compliance monitoring samples files quarterly against the RMCP so that the inspection finds a working programme.
Common questions
Questions we are asked
Is every attorney an accountable institution?+
Item 1 of Schedule 1 applies to legal practitioners who practise as attorneys and hold a trust account. Advocates and practitioners without a trust account are generally outside the item. Confirm your position and keep a note of the reasoning.
Who inspects law practices for FICA compliance?+
The Legal Practice Council is the supervisory body for item 1 accountable institutions and inspects under section 45B of the FIC Act. The Centre may also inspect, and administrative sanctions are published.
Can RCC be the practice's compliance officer?+
The section 42A person responsible for compliance must be a senior person in the practice, usually a director or partner. RCC supports that person with the RMCP, the monitoring, the training and the reporting, and can act as the outsourced compliance function behind them.
What does FICA implementation for a law firm cost?+
A fixed fee for the risk assessment, RMCP and training, quoted after a short scoping call based on the size of the practice and its matter types, with an optional monitoring retainer thereafter.
Related services
Services that go with this one
- FICA implementationRMCP drafting, AML and CFT measures, inspection readiness.Explore fica implementation
- Industry trainingFAIS, FICA, TCF, POPIA and conflict of interest.Explore industry training
- Governance frameworksInternal controls and regulatory readiness that survive scrutiny.Explore governance frameworks
- Compliance monitoringOngoing FAIS, FICA and NCA monitoring, plus outsourced compliance officer services.Explore compliance monitoring
See where your obligations actually stand.
Book a consultation: a structured review of your current obligations, gaps and exposure, with no obligation to proceed.