Who supervises law firms for AML compliance in the UAE?
AML/CFT supervision of law firms, legal consultancy offices, and notaries public in the UAE is carried out by the Ministry of Justice acting as the competent supervisory authority for the legal sector. The Ministry assesses money laundering and terrorist financing risks across the sector, conducts desk-based and on-site inspections, maintains statistics on measures taken, and can impose administrative penalties where firms fall short.
This sector-specific supervision sits alongside the wider framework, in which each supervisory authority monitors its own population of regulated businesses. Law firms should therefore expect requests for their risk assessment, policies, due diligence files, and training records, and should be able to demonstrate that their AML programme is proportionate to the risks of the services they provide. Trust and company service providers, by contrast, are supervised by the Ministry of Economy and Tourism.
Legal Reference (UAE):
· Federal Decree-Law No. 10 of 2025, Article 16 — sets the supervision, monitoring, and inspection duties of supervisory authorities.
· Ministry of Justice guidance for lawyers on combating money laundering — sets the supervisory expectations for the legal profession.
For more details, consult the full text of Federal Decree-Law No. 10 of 2025 or seek guidance from your AML compliance officer.