Legal professional privilege and suspicious matter reports

People search “legal professional privilege AML” when a solicitor hopes the words legal professional privilege mean the firm can skip a suspicious matter report. Checked against AUSTRAC's suspicious matter reports page on 4 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. This page does not reproduce that guidance. How a Tranche 2 firm approaches the report is suspicious matter reports for Tranche 2. What you do not tell the client is AML tipping-off: what not to tell the client. The sector map is /tranche-2.

Privilege is not an off switch

A law firm can hold privileged communications and still have to consider a suspicious matter. Privilege attaches to particular communications. It is not a label the firm stamps on the whole client, and it is not a reason to avoid asking whether a report arises. Deciding what is privileged is legal work for the firm, on advice, about that material.

This page stops at the principle. It does not set out what to include, what to withhold, or how to describe a suspicion. It does not give words to use with the client. Telling the client that you are considering a report, or that you have lodged one, is the tipping-off problem, and it has its own page.

• Consider the report anyway. Privilege does not erase the step of deciding whether a suspicious matter arises.
• Privilege is specific. It is a conclusion about communications, not a status that covers every fact the firm happens to know.
• The firm makes the call. This page cannot tell you that a given email or conference is privileged. That is your legal judgment.
• Do not brief the client on the report. What you must not disclose is covered on the tipping-off page. This page does not script a safer way to hint.

Three ideas firms collapse

Where the privilege page stops

This page is the boundary between privilege and the duty to consider a report. It is not the filing guide and it is not the tipping-off page. Read suspicious matter reports for Tranche 2 and AML tipping-off: what not to tell the client.

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. Privilege and reporting are not a customer check, and a verification the program still requires on that file remains client-pays. Confirm the live amounts on FreeAML pricing. FreeAML does not decide whether privilege applies or prepare a suspicious matter report.

Frequently Asked Questions