Astris Law Launches HeadStart Counsel for Tranche 2

From 1 July 2026 the AML/CTF regime extends to an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 new Australian businesses. Today we are launching HeadStart Counsel, the Tranche 2 legal practice of Astris Law and the legal advisory arm to the HeadStart Docs™ compliance platform.

HeadStart Counsel is the registered trading name under which Astris Law provides its Tranche 2 legal practice: compliance advice, the are-we-in-or-are-we-out question, the edge cases and the questions with no published authority. It is the legal advisory arm that works alongside HeadStart Docs™, the AML/CTF Tranche 2 compliance platform.

HeadStart Docs™ is a separate entity: a software-as-a-service AML/CTF compliance platform for Tranche 2 reporting entities. It provides more than 2,500 pages of AML/CTF policy documents, ML/TF risk assessments, CDD procedures and registers across twelve sector editions. Behind the documents sits a compliance portal of roughly 410,000 lines of code: screening, a compliance calendar, version-controlled records and registers, plus integrations with practice management tools like Clio. The documents are deliberately accessible, where the market was quoting thousands of dollars for static template packs.

The two roles are deliberately separate. HeadStart Docs™ provides the compliance platform and its documents. It does not give legal advice. Its documents must be reviewed and tailored to your circumstances. Legal advice comes from HeadStart Counsel, a law practice. The platform from HeadStart Docs™. The advice from a law firm.

The sector editions cover the five sectors AUSTRAC wrote free starter kits for and the sectors it did not: real estate agents, buyers' agents, property developers, conveyancers, lawyers, accountants, insolvency practitioners, business brokers, trust and company service providers, nominee director providers, virtual office and registered address providers and dealers in precious metals, stones and products. Each edition is scoped to the designated services that sector actually triggers under Tables 5 and 6 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth) and the AML/CTF Rules 2025.

Businesses providing designated services from 1 July 2026 must enrol with AUSTRAC by 29 July 2026.

For the full analysis of where the reform stands and the questions we are being asked in the final weeks, read our companion article: Tranche 2 Starts in Three Weeks. Here Is What We Have Been Building.

HeadStart Counsel: headstartcounsel.astrislaw.com
HeadStart Docs™: headstartdocs.com.au
Astris Law: (07) 3519 5616

Disclosure of interest. HeadStart Counsel is a registered trading name of Astris Law. HeadStart Docs™ is a separately incorporated AML/CTF compliance platform provider, not a law practice, sharing the same ultimate beneficial owner and director as Astris Law. This post is general information only and does not constitute legal advice.

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