GRC for Law Firms
How to be an Effective COFA (Course)
This redesign features filmed content with the Institute of Legal Finance and Management (ILFM). Content has been substantially revised to focus on what it means to hold the COFA role effectively in practice, including protecting yourself, working with fee earners and partners, and building a compliance culture. Regulatory content reflects the SRA's December 2025 Compliance Officers Thematic Review and the anticipated early 2027 role-separation reform. The assessment bank has been entirely rebuilt.
The following SRA Competence Statement requirements are addressed by this course:
Identifying the relevant SRA principles and rules of professional conduct and following them
Taking responsibility for personal learning and development
Reflecting on and learning from practice and learning from other people
Maintaining an adequate and up-to-date understanding of relevant law, policy, and practice
Applying the rules of professional conduct to accounting and financial matters
CPD: 0.67 hours
Cyber Security for Law Firms (Course)
This course has been updated to reflect changes to UK data protection law and the evolving cyber threat landscape.
The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 introduced new obligations for law firms, including changes to how automated decisions affecting individuals must be handled, and a requirement - in force from 19 June 2026 - to accept data protection complaints through any channel, not only a designated form. The course now covers both of these obligations.
New content has been added on AI-enabled impersonation attacks, including deepfake video calls and AI voice cloning. These techniques are increasingly being used to target professionals in financial and legal settings; the NCSC and its international counterparts issued updated guidance on this threat in June 2026.
Four assessment questions have been replaced to better reflect current threats and regulatory requirements, including a new question on the 72-hour window for reporting data breaches to the ICO.
Statistics have been updated to the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025/2026.
CPD: 0.74 hours
Monthly Compliance Update - August 2026 (Webinar)
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:
Review of Legal Regulation
Mandatory Ethics Training
Client Account Interest
Failing to Use AI
Model Complaints Resolution Procedure
CPD: 1 hour
AML Update Webinar - July 2026 (Webinar)
Brian Rogers discusses the latest developments in the AML and sanctions landscapes. During this edition the key topics covered include:
Money Laundering Regulations Update
Transfer of Money Laundering Supervision
Role of the MLRO
Sanctions Update
CPD: 1 hour
Ask Me an AI Question (Webinar)
The annual update webinar takes the form of a fireside chat with Uwais Iqbal, Founder of Simplexico, and Clare Bonsall, Access Legal's Head of Product, with Brian Rogers, Access Legal's Regulatory Director, asking questions around how AI has moved forward in the last 12 months, the mistakes firms have made when using AI, and how the effective use of AI can provide law firms with significant time and cost savings when dealing with client matters and firm management and compliance tasks.
CPD: 1 hour
What does the move to FCA regulation for AML purposes mean for Law Firms? (Webinar)
The webinar takes the form of a fireside chat with Caroline Brady, The Access Group's Chief Risk and Compliance Officer, MLRO, and FCA Approved Person, with Brian Rogers, Access Legal's Regulatory Director asking her questions around her experiences of the FCA regulatory regime, the fit and proper process, and what law firms should start doing to prepare for the transition over the next 18-24 months.
CPD: 1 hour
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.
Policies and Precedents for Law Firms
The following policies have been updated to improve the format and now include customisation guidance to assist firms with the customisation process:
Corporate Social Responsibility v3
Risk Management v2
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion v6
Health and Safety Policy v3
People Management Procedures v2
Artificial Intelligence Policy v4
Whistleblowing v3
Mortgage, Property and Registration Fraud Prevention Policy v4
Anti-Facilitating Tax Evasion Policy v3
Anti-Bribery Policy v3
A number of policies have been updated to reflect section 250 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026, which extends corporate criminal liability to the firm as an entity for offences committed by a senior manager acting within their authority. The updated Risk Management Policy v2 acts as the overriding policy in this regard and the following make reference to the new Act:
Anti Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism Policy v7.2
Guidance for AML Officers on How to Comply with the Money Laundering Regulations v3.6
Complaints & Reporting Policy v4.1
Financial Management Policy v3.1
Compliance Officers - COLP and COFA Guidance Note v2.2
Compliance Plan v1.5
Indemnity in favour of COLP COFA v3.2
Risk Assessment Questionnaire v2.2
Data Protection Policy v3.1
Information management & security Policy v5.1
Sanctions Policy v3.1
The Anti Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism Policy v7.2 has also been updated to reflect the findings of the SRA's refreshed Sectoral Risk Assessment, including updated guidance on AI-enabled impersonation and digital identity verification, cryptoasset and cash-related source of funds considerations, and beneficial ownership red flags such as nominee directors and elevated terrorist financing risk in trust and company services.
The following also appear in the format update list above, as they have been updated for more than one reason: Whistleblowing Policy v3, Anti-Facilitating Tax Evasion Policy v3, Anti-Bribery Policy v3, Artificial Intelligence Policy v4, Health and Safety Policy v3, Mortgage, Property and Registration Fraud Prevention Policy v4, People Management Procedures v2, and the Anti Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism Policy v7.2 (Crime and Policing Act 2026 and SRA Sectoral Risk Assessment).
Retirements
The following content has been retired this month and is no longer available in its respective library.
Monthly Compliance Update - August 2025 [Webinar]
How will this be made available?
These respective updates will be made available to GRC for Law Firms, CQS, and Policies & Precedents for Law Firms subscribers on 27 August 2026.
Please note, if you are a client utilising our ContentServe solution you will need to download the latest Pathways into your LMS.
We hope you enjoy this latest content release and if you have any queries, please look at our Access LMS Evo Help Centre.
What's Coming Next?
Our next release is scheduled for 24 September 2026. It includes updates to our renamed title How to be an effective COLP, and an extensive update to ESG for law firms content, created in partnership with our customer SA Law. Updates to AI for Law Firms has been postponed to October 2026.
Changes Coming to Policies and Precedents for Law Firms
Over the next few months, we'll be continuing with changes to the Policies & Precedents library. Look out for separate communications with more detail as these changes are rolled out. No action is needed right now — we'll keep you informed along the way.
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