Practice areas in and out of scope
Out of scope: litigation, family, criminal, employment, immigration, personal injury, most administrative law. In scope: property and conveyancing matters, trust formation, company formation, commercial structuring with ownership-obscuring features, client-money management, certain forms of tax structuring.
If even one current engagement is a designated service, the whole firm enrols and the whole firm has a Program. The obligation set does not scale with the share of designated-service work; it attaches once.
Melbourne firm patterns to plan for
Inner-suburb property and estates boutiques in Hawthorn, Camberwell, Kew and Brighton are squarely in scope. CBD commercial boutiques doing M&A advisory may be in scope depending on whether the work crosses into structuring. Outer-suburb general practices with a property line are in scope on the property line.
Melbourne has historically had a deep concentration of family-office structuring practices in the eastern suburbs. Those practices have material exposure to designated services through trust formation and structuring work, and they should expect enhanced scrutiny on beneficial-ownership capture.
What Caltury sets up
AUSTRAC enrolment, an AML/CTF Program tailored to a Victorian law firm, a customer onboarding flow branched by entity type, sanctions and PEP screening, ongoing CDD scheduling, SMR / TTR / IFTI report drafting, 7-year retention vault, and a training module. The Program names the LIV professional conduct framework explicitly so it reads as written for a practising Victorian firm.
Time to live for a 3 to 6 lawyer firm is typically a week of part-time work spread over the 14-day trial. The ongoing operator load is light: 15 to 30 minutes per new designated-service engagement plus 15 to 30 minutes when a report is lodged.
Common questions
We hold trust account funds under LIV trust account rules. Does AUSTRAC change that?
No. The trust account framework under the Legal Profession Uniform Law continues to apply, regulated by the LIV. AUSTRAC adds the AML/CTF Program, CDD and reporting layer on top, with no change to the trust account rules themselves.
Does Caltury produce a Program that LIV would accept?
LIV does not accredit AML/CTF Programs (that is AUSTRAC's role under the Act). Caltury produces a Program that matches the form and content AUSTRAC expects to see for a Victorian law firm, including Part A risk methodology and Part B customer identification procedure. You sign it as the AML/CTF Compliance Officer.
We work in barrister chambers. Are we in scope?
Most barrister work (litigation, advice, opinion) is not a designated service. Barristers do not typically hold client money in trust. If a chambers practice expands into transactional advisory that includes structuring with ownership-obscuring features, scope can change.
Can multiple users at the firm access Caltury simultaneously?
Yes. The Practice tier supports 5 named users, the Firm tier supports 15. Each user gets their own login. The audit log records actions per user for the full retention period.
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.