Practice areas in and out of scope
In scope: property and conveyancing, trust formation, company formation, M&A advisory with structuring features, client-money management, certain tax-structuring engagements. Out of scope: family, criminal, litigation, employment, immigration, personal injury, most public-law work.
If even one practice area in the firm provides designated services, the firm enrols and the firm has a Program. The Program describes the boundary between designated and non-designated work for the firm.
Brisbane firm patterns
Property-heavy CBD boutiques are squarely in scope. Trust-and-estates boutiques in Toowong, New Farm and Bulimba are typically in scope if their estates work includes testamentary trust setup or discretionary-trust restructuring. M&A boutiques with structuring features are in scope on those engagements.
AUSTRAC's published typology work flags Brisbane as elevated risk for trust-and-company-service abuse in certain mining-sector and family-office contexts. Firms with exposure to those client cohorts should expect enhanced scrutiny on the beneficial-ownership chain.
Implementation for a small Brisbane firm
Time to live for a 3 to 6 lawyer firm is typically 6 to 10 hours over the 14-day trial. That covers enrolment preparation, Program generation, customer-form configuration, CSV import of an existing client book, sanctions screening run across the imported book, and a practice-run of a designated-service engagement end to end.
Pricing is the same as elsewhere: Starter (A$99/mo) for a sole-practitioner firm, Practice (A$249) for 2 to 5 lawyers, Firm (A$499) for 6 to 15. All tiers cover all eleven obligations.
Common questions
Does QLS act as the AML regulator for Queensland firms?
No. QLS regulates practising certificates, professional conduct and trust accounts. AUSTRAC is the AML/CTF regulator under the Commonwealth Act. The two operate independently.
Can Caltury produce a Program QLS would accept?
QLS does not accredit AML/CTF Programs (that is AUSTRAC's role). Caltury produces a Program tailored to a QLD small law firm, with Part A and Part B referencing the Legal Profession Act framework and the QLS conduct rules. You sign it as the named Compliance Officer.
Our firm does some conveyancing. Does the conveyancer regime apply?
No. Queensland does not have a separate conveyancer profession; conveyancing in QLD is done by solicitors at law firms. The law-firm designated services capture the work. Caltury handles a QLD law firm doing conveyancing through the same workflow.
What if our firm is mostly litigation with one transactional partner?
The whole firm enrols even if only one partner does designated-service work. The Program identifies which engagements are in scope. The remainder of the firm operates without additional AML obligations beyond practice-wide training and record-keeping.
This page is general information about Australian AML/CTF obligations. It is not legal advice. AUSTRAC has not reviewed this content. For situations specific to your practice consult an Australian-qualified lawyer or AML/CTF adviser.