Legal Aid and CLC exemptions

People search “legal aid AML exemption” when a private firm does one legally aided matter and assumes the legal-aid exemption covers the file. Checked against the AML/CTF Rules on the legislation register on 4 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. This page does not reproduce that guidance. Ordinary law-firm checks are AML checks for lawyers. The service test is the designated services decision tree. The sector map is /tranche-2.

The body is the question, not the grant

Legal aid AML exemption is searched by two different offices. One is a legal aid commission or a community legal centre asking about an exemption in the Rules. The other is a private firm that did a single aided matter and wants the same answer. They are not the same body; A grant of aid pays for a matter; it does not change who provides the designated service.

This page does not reproduce the exemption, does not quote a chapter, and does not decide that a commission or a centre is exempt. The Rules on the legislation register are the text. A centre should read that text with advice. A two-partner firm with one aided conveyance or one aided dispute should go back to its own services and its own program; the grant is a funding fact; it is not a customer-due-diligence waiver printed on this page.

• Name the body. A commission, a centre, and a private firm are three offices. The exemption question does not travel with the funding.
• A grant is not the test. The client being aided does not exempt the private firm that acts.
• Do not paste the Rules into the program from memory. This page does not reproduce them. The register does.
• Private firms still have designated services. If you provide one, the program applies. Funding does not delete it.

Who is asking

Where this page stops

This page is the body-versus-grant distinction. It is not the lawyer’s how-to. That page is Tranche 2 for lawyers.

What the client pays

On FreeAML the firm suite is A$0. The firm emails the client a link. Verification is client-pays. On the public list a personal KYC check is A$20 and a company or trust KYB check is A$40. Use KYB when the customer is a company or a trust. An exemption opinion is not included in the firm suite. Confirm the live amounts on FreeAML pricing. FreeAML does not decide that a legal aid file or a centre is exempt.

Frequently Asked Questions