Risk and Compliance Questions and Answers

With more than 200 questions and answers, this book offers succinct, practical and navigable wisdom from two highly regarded compliance thought-leaders. I loved this FAQ approach – a sort of compliance comfort blanket, where there is no such thing as a silly question, with practice-oriented, step-by-step solutions.

The format is novel and refreshingly simple: key compliance-themed questions are answered using boxes with bullet points. I read this book in an afternoon and was enthralled.

Of course, gnarly questions over anti-money laundering and other financial crime take centre stage. But the book also sheds light on other often awkward practical areas, such as the SRA Accounts Rules, professional ethics, conflicts, and confidentiality.

I particularly liked the suggestions for AML risk assessments as these are not well understood in practice. Also impressive was the discussion on cryptocurrencies.

There are also savvy shortcuts, such as the practical list of tax evasion red flags on page 139 which can be lifted straight from the page and spliced into an effective policy or procedure.

There is a section on preparing for an SRA audit – a particular comfort, perhaps, for MLCOs.

Who should buy this book? Anyone who needs to know about compliance. COLPs and MLCOs are guaranteed to find nuggets of wisdom, but so are many lawyers, team leaders and supervisors because of the range of topics the book covers.

Potentially, it is not just a reference resource but a flexible tool for awareness-raising, reinforcing knowledge, self-study, checking your own instincts, and validating issues for any doubters on your teams. The list of benefits is long.

I can see it being used not just as a first port of call to dip into when the need arises, but also as a tool for auditing your own compliance processes. There are some excellent summaries here which could also form the basis of informal training sessions, inductions, and risk discussions.

This is an indispensable volume.

Fiona du Feu spent over 20 years in private practice. She now runs her own risk and compliance consultancy for lawyers