It has been one of those months when several significant regulatory developments have landed at once, and the team at Enderley Consulting has done its best to cover all of them without either cutting corners or testing the limits of your reading stamina.

This edition runs to eight articles, and the range reflects just how busy the compliance landscape for law firms has become. There is an encouraging shift in tone at the SRA under its new Chief Executive – cautious optimism is the order of the day, but the proof, as ever, will be in the eating. There is the Mazur judgment on litigation delegation, which developed further on 22 April with a clarifying amendment that every litigation practice needs to understand. There is new government guidance that has formally settled the question of which digital ID tools actually satisfy AML obligations – and which do not. There is a timely look at CQS audits, which are arriving at more firms and with less notice than many expect. The FCA has begun making contact with MLROs and MLCOs directly, ahead of taking over AML supervision of the legal sector, and the window to engage with its research closes on 1 May. From 18 May, most law firms will need to be registered with HMRC as ‘tax advisers’ – a requirement that sounds more alarming than it is, but which carries real consequences if ignored. And the SRA has launched a consultation on continuing competence that proposes something genuinely new: mandatory annual ethics discussions for all solicitors.

Finally, there is a case study from Enderley’s own practice: a letting agent who received an HMRC AML fine, challenged it properly, and had it rescinded. A useful reminder that penalty notices are not always the end of the road.

None of this is here to alarm. It is here because being informed – clearly and calmly – is the most effective compliance tool there is.