The legal sector is changing faster than ever, and the stakes for ethical decision-making have never been higher. Shifting client expectations, new technologies, and increasing business pressures demand more than a tick-box approach to ethics.
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That's why we've fully redeveloped Ethics for Legal Practice for 2026 - featuring Stephen Mayson (UCL) and Access Legal's Regulatory Director Brian Rogers FCMI, and updated to reflect the latest regulatory developments including the LSB's March 2026 statement and the Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys judgment.

Check out a promo video on our LinkedIn Page: Post | LinkedIn

Formerly titled Ethics for Lawyers, the course has been reframed for all law firm staff - not only solicitors - with content that reflects the ethical responsibilities of everyone working in an authorised firm. The Find, Test, Act decision-making framework has been expanded and deepened, with new scenarios and application moments across the course. Audio narration has been introduced on selected components, and the assessment question bank has been fully refreshed to test applied judgment across all four modules.

CPD: 0.67 hours

We've given our Avoiding Bribery Risks in Law Firms course a thorough refresh for 2026. Scenarios and knowledge checks have been updated across the course, and the assessment bank has been significantly strengthened. We've also added new content reflecting recent legislative developments, including changes to non-disclosure agreements under the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 and the extended enforcement powers of the Serious Fraud Office under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.

This course has been reviewed and updated to reflect the Employment Rights Act 2025, which amended the Employment Rights Act 1996 to make reporting sexual harassment an explicit form of whistleblowing. Further updates are anticipated later in 2026.

CPD: 0.60 hours

On the first Thursday of each month, Brian Rogers hosts a 45-minute compliance update webinar for the legal profession. These sessions have proven very popular with our clients, attracting over 5,000 registrants for the live broadcast. These update webinars focus on current and upcoming events within the legal regulatory space and some of the topics covered in this edition were:

Live broadcast: 07/05/2026

CPD: 1 hour

The webinar covers what the Solicitors Regulation Authority found during its thematic review of the Compliance Officer regime in 2025, particularly, serious issues around the reporting of breaches, and what firms can do to address any compliance gaps they may have.

Live broadcast: 14/05/2026

On-demand recordings of these webinars are made available through our LMS. You can find these recordings, as well as other webinars, inside the 'Monthly Compliance Updates' catalogue. You can also register to attend the live sessions by registering here.

NEW: A standalone data protection complaints procedure has been released ahead of section 103 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 commencing on 19 June 2026, which will require data controllers to establish formal complaints handling procedures including provision of an electronic complaints form and acknowledgment of complaints within 30 days.

Version: 1.0 | Last updated: 27/05/2026

Full redraft as part of the policy realignment programme. The policy has been restructured into the standard five-section format with a clear separation between policy obligations (Section 3) and procedures (Section 4).

Firm-wide risk assessment content has been removed from the policy body and is now captured through the separate AML FWRA Questionnaire (see below).

New or enhanced coverage of proliferation financing (Regulation 18A MLR), overseas entities acquiring UK property (ECTE Act 2022), the Economic Crime Levy (Part 3 Finance Act 2022), and the de minimis and mixed-property exemptions under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.

Pending legislative changes section added covering the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (draft SI laid 25 March 2026, not yet in force).

22 customisation points identified for the Getting Started Wizard. Customisation guide available in the Help Centre.

Version: 7.0 | Last updated: 27/05/2026

The FWRA captures the firm-level risk assessment data required by Regulation 18 MLR, which was previously available in in a .xlsx spreadsheet and had elements embedded in the AML policy, is now transferred to a .docx format.

Structured around the five core risk categories: client risk, geographic risk, product and service risk, transaction risk, and delivery channel risk.

Designed to be completed by the MLRO or MLCO and reviewed at least annually or when the firm's risk profile changes materially.

Version: 3.0 | Last updated: 27/05/2026

This policy relates to the SRA obligations firms have around dealing with own-interest and client conflicts.

The policy has been updated to make it more user friendly and concise, with parts being removed and added to training and guidance materials.

Version: 4.0 | Last updated: 21/05/2026

The policy is designed to help firms meet their obligations under sanctions rules and legislation.

The policy has been updated to make it more user friendly and concise, with parts being removed and added to training and guidance materials.

Version: 1.0 | Last updated: 21/05/2026

The following content has been retired this month and is no longer available in its respective library.

Policies and Precedents for Law Firms

This release will be made available to all GRC for Law Firms and Policies & Precedents for Law Firms subscribers on May 28th 2026.

Please note, if you are a client utilising our ContentServe solution you will need to download the latest Pathways into your LMS. Any in progress users will need to be re-registered in order to see the new versions.

In our next release, scheduled for June 18th 2026, we'll be applying changes across our data protection e-learning courses and policy and precedents library to incorporate section 103 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 commencing on June 19th 2026.

We hope you enjoy this latest content release and if you have any queries, please take a look at our Access LMS Evo Help Centre.

If you would like to find out more information about our Legal Learning products or inquire on adding any of these products to your account you can find more information regarding this here.

Kind Regards

Access Legal Learning Team