Your role
Compliance officer (AML)
Your work as a law firm's compliance officer: client identification and risk ratings, conflict reviews, and the firm's compliance in one place.
Kila describes the role: “Verifies client identification and risk ratings and keeps the internal suspicious transaction log; reports to the LSK.” At Wanjiru & Otieno Advocates, Rose Nyambura is the compliance officer.
When you sign in
Link to this section: When you sign inKila opens Compliance: “The firm’s professional obligations, the evidence it keeps, and what needs attention.” Each card says what needs attention: Practising certificates and CPD, Policies, Privacy and incidents, Firm risk register, Rules catalogue, Conflict register, AML cases, Client money exceptions, Retention and legal holds, Compliance analytics and Audit trail.
Your menu has My dashboard and Approvals, Clients, Intake, Documents, the AI assistant, Client money, and under The firm, Compliance and Practice configuration. It has no Matters and no Billing.
Your work
Link to this section: Your work- Identify a client: verify the client’s identification and risk rating.
- Decide a conflict review: you review possible conflicts with the partners.
The law says
The page itself says: “Kila helps the firm keep its obligations and keeps the evidence. It does not certify that the firm is compliant: the partners, the compliance officer and the firm’s advisers decide that.” Client identification rests on the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act, as the due diligence case names it. Since its 2023 amendments, advocates are reporting persons under that Act, and the Law Society of Kenya is their supervisory body. In practice an advocate reports a suspicious transaction to the LSK, which passes it to the Financial Reporting Centre: that is why Kila says the role “reports to the LSK”. Follow the LSK’s current guidance on how to report.
What you can do
Link to this section: What you can doEverything the role is allowed to do
- General
- View dashboard
- Customers
- View customers
- Practice
- Record and verify client identification (KYC) and risk ratings; Keep the internal suspicious transaction log and report to the LSK
- Legal practice
- Review conflict search results: clear, escalate or decline (waiving stays with matters.conflict.waive); Place and release legal holds and keep retention schedules; The compliance centre: policies, rules, privacy requests, incidents and practising records; The audit trail explorer; Turn AI on or off, set its policies and review its logs
- Finance
- View the client account: balances held per client and matter, and the client ledger
What needs someone else
Link to this section: What needs someone elseNo approval limits: anything that needs approval goes to someone else.
A high-risk client’s enhanced due diligence goes to a partner: Decide the firm’s approvals.
- Secretary or receptionist: who takes the client’s details in.
- Legal practice: how Kila works for a law firm.