Consultation on Solicitors' Professional Rules
Calling for submissions
The Law Council of Australia has released a public Consultation Paper and is inviting submissions by 30 March 2026 on proposals to amend two of the Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules, and to introduce a new legal practice rule. These changes will provide greater clarity for solicitors when the Commonwealth’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing reforms commence on 1 July 2026.
Submissions can be sent to the Law Council by email to: mail@lawcouncil.au.
Background
The Law Council, in collaboration with our State and Territory constituent bodies, has developed and is consulting on proposals to amend two of the Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules, and to introduce a new legal practice rule (or equivalent) in response to ethical and professional responsibility challenges that may arise for solicitors from 1 July 2026 under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth) (AML/CTF).
The AML/CTF regime brings significant new obligations for solicitors to whom the regime applies—in particular the obligation on solicitors who provide a “designated service” to report client confidential information in a suspicious matter report (SMR) but to not disclose to the client or any other unauthorised person (referred to in the AML/CTF Act as “tipping off”) that an SMR obligation has arisen or has been satisfied.
Similar obligations and tipping off prohibitions may arise under other provisions of the AML/CTF Act, and under other federal, State and Territory legislation. The proposals canvassed in the Consultation Paper are therefore of general application to solicitors, rather than AML/CTF Act specific.
The proposed amendments to the ASCR do not create new ethical duties or professional responsibilities for solicitors. They have two objectives. One is to make clear that a solicitor has a duty to only give effect to client instructions that are, and continue to be, lawful, proper and competent. The other is to clarify that a solicitor has “just cause” to end a retainer if continuing the retainer would cause the solicitor to breach his or her ethical duties and professional responsibilities, or because the solicitor can no longer act in the client’s best interests, or because the solicitor is not provided with information necessary for the solicitor to meet his or statutory obligations.
The objective of the proposed legal practice rule (or equivalent) is to make clear that retainer agreements should inform a client that the solicitor is subject to statutory reporting obligations that might include reporting client confidential information, that the solicitor may terminate the retainer where continuing to act would cause the solicitor to breach his or her ethical duties and professional responsibilities, and that the law may prohibit a solicitor from providing reasons for termination of the retainer.
Last Updated on 02/03/2026
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