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Best Risk Assessment Tools For Law Firms

Before we get started, check out our RegTech Directory! We are listing new tools everyday and we have SWOT analysis on all of them! You can search through various filters like features, functionality and target market!

What is a Risk Assessment?

Client Risk Assessment (CRA) is a process where lawyers have to evaluate the potential risks posed by their new, and existing clients.

The goal is to ensure compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations and protect the firm from legal and reputational damage.

Typically this process is done through Word or Excel. Everyone absolutely hates doing it. It involves a lot of data migration across various platforms.

To give you some context on how big of a problem this is, 90% of AML fines last year for the legal market were all risk assessment related. Refer to this article where I’ve listed a table of fines and explain why this is the biggest problem in the legal market.

In this article we are going to look at some of the providers that offer risk assessment modules as part of their solution.

I’ve asked these providers to help me understand their tool by giving me a demo and some screenshots so I could create this article for you.

Without any further fluff, let’s jump into it:

1) Amiqus

Amiqus‘s Risk Assessment

CategoryDetails
Founded2015
Staff63
LocationScotland, UK
Payment StructurePAYG, Minimum commitment – £250 per month
Key FeaturesKYB, KYC, Screening, Recruitment DBS Checks, Right to Work, Right to rent, Credit checks, Risk Assessment, Open Banking
Strengths1) Strong comprehensive offering for onboarding UK individuals and simple entities.

2) Platform is deep, easy to use and covers all your AML needs!

3) Whilst the risk assessment module is not the greatest, it is still better than Word or Excel. Also Amiqus is widely endorsed across Scotland, that is due to being consumer friendly and always updating the platform.

Examples of their Risk Assessment:


2) Zygos

Zygos‘s Risk Assessment

CategoryDetails
Founded2015
Staff17
LocationGlobal clientele; focus on CSPs & Law in offshore jurisdictions
Payment StructureSubscription based on number of users (around €55)
Key FeaturesComprehensive Practice management software including Billing, KYB, KYC, Screening, Ongoing Monitoring, Client Risk Assessment, Corporate / Entity Administration and Management, Litigation management/workflow
Strengths1) Comprehensive, easy to use and affordable; you can run your entire practice on it.

2) Everything is customisable; risk scores, questions, sections, workflows, practice flows.

4) Since all of your client and practice data sits in one platform, it makes life a lot easier and saves you tons of money on purchasing multiple solutions.

Examples of their Risk Assessment:
Zygos AML Settings
Zygos AML Settings
Zygos Client Risk Assessment form
Zygos Client Risk Assessment form
Zygos Risk overview
Zygos Risk overview


3) First AML

First AML‘s Risk Assessment

CategoryDetails
Founded2017
Staff93
LocationUK, NZ, AU
Payment StructureMulti tier with minimum commitment (they don’t serve SMEs)
Key FeaturesKYB, KYC, Screening, Ongoing Monitoring, Client Risk Assessment, Matter Risk Assessment, Manifest
Strengths1) Market leading KYB/KYC journey

2) Very good client and matter risk assessment module with risk scoring, template, for different practices

3) Can read and unwrap Trusts, bulk remediation capabilities, highly customisable platform

First AML has yet to provide any screenshots on this product.

4) Validient

Validient‘s Risk Assessment

CategoryDetails
Founded2021
Staff7
LocationUK
Payment StructureMulti tier and affordable rates
Key FeaturesKYB, KYC, Screening, Ongoing Monitoring, Client Risk Assessment, Matter Risk Assessment, Firm Wide Risk Assessment, Questionnaires and E-Sig!
Strengths1) Customisable Risk Assessments, well built. with audit trails, ability to leave comments, add, amend or retract questions and download report as PDF

2) The Risk Assessments are dynamic; allowing teams to create their own templates, questions (multiple choices, drop downs, etc) share the file with a senior member for review and sign-off.

3) The questionnaire functionality allows you to collect your CRA answers directly from the client. Also have a great review feature for sign offs.

Examples of their Risk Assessment:

Risk Assessment Tab on client file (notice they also have SARS)

Creating a template risk assessment (they have text, multiple choices, etc)

What it looks like when your answering the questions

Generating a PDF or sending it for review (pretty cool option)

The review options


5) Xama

Xama‘s Risk Assessment

CategoryDetails
Founded2012
Staff7
LocationUK
Payment Structure Subscription Cost Per Client and PAYG Checks (No minimums or credit purchases)
Key FeaturesKYC, UK KYB, Risk Assessment, Screening, Ongoing Monitoring
Strengths1) House a library of templates, create condition based rules to drive uniformity when risk grading clients

2) Cost effective and easy to use platform. Integrates with literally everything

3) Dynamic questions to avoid filling out unnecessary questions (e.g. “what is the clients’ trading name” will only appear if “does the client trade under any other name?” is answered “Yes”.

Examples of their Risk Assessment:
Xama's CRA
Xama's CRA templates
Xamas CRA templates

6) Firmcheck

Firmcheck‘s Risk Assessment

CategoryDetails
Founded2012 (UK Launch 2023)
Staff22
LocationUK, NZ
Payment Structure Subscription Cost Per Client and PAYG Checks (No minimums or credit purchases)
Key FeaturesKYC, UK KYB, Risk Assessment, Screening, Ongoing Monitoring
Strengths1) Multiple risk assessment templates for different entity types e.g. Companies.

2) Very easy to use verification flow that takes you through the entire process.

3) Lots of risk settings and review option for one or multiple reviewers

Examples of their Risk Assessment:
Firmcheck's Risk Assessment
Firmchecks Risk Assessment
Firmcheck's Firm Wide Risk Assessment Creation Flow
Firmchecks Firm Wide Risk Assessment Creation Flow
AML Workflow - Summary
AML Workflow Summary
Firmcheck's Review AML Case Function
Firmchecks Review AML Case Function


7) AML HQ

AML HQ‘s Risk Assessment

CategoryDetails
Founded2022
Staff5
LocationIreland & UK
Payment StructureFree to sign up and trial! Tier based subscription, very affordable.
Key FeaturesKYC, UK KYB, Client Risk Assessment, Firmwide Risk Assessment, Screening, Ongoing Monitoring
Strengths1) The onboarding flow is an absolute breeze!

2) 0 set up required to jump and try the platform!

3) Has both Firm Wide and Client Risk Assessments, ability to upload and the CRA is very easy to use and part of the verification flow

Examples of their Risk Assessment:
AML HQ Client Risk Assessment
AML HQ Client Risk Assessment
Uploading Firm Wide Risk Assessment
Uploading Firm Wide Risk Assessment
AML-HQ-Client-Screen
AML HQ Client Screen

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Arsalan Abbasi

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