Wire Instruction Verification Checklist for Law Firms
Verify wire instructions before sending settlement or closing funds. A practical law-firm checklist for callbacks, payment approval, records, and fraud response.
Blog post - By Securing Your Law Firm
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The settlement is signed. The closing date is near. An email arrives in the existing conversation:
The name looks right. The matter details are accurate. The deadline is real.
None of that proves the new account belongs to the intended recipient.
This is the issue for a small or midsize firm: one trusted-looking message can change where client or settlement funds go. A compromised mailbox, look-alike domain, or impersonated client can make a fraudulent request look like a normal part of the matter. The FBI describes these business email compromise techniques.
The answer is not asking staff to become fraud investigators. It is giving them a short process they must follow before money moves.
The five-minute wire verification checklist
Use this process for first-time instructions and every change. A request does not need to say “updated” to require verification.
1. Pause the payment
Do not enter unverified instructions into the payment queue. Confirm the matter, amount, beneficiary, purpose, and person authorized to approve the disbursement. Compare the request with the settlement agreement, closing statement, or other controlling document.
Keep the previous instructions. Do not overwrite them. A verified bank destination and authority to release funds are separate checks; the firm needs both.
2. Call using a trusted number
Use a number recorded before the request, such as one verified during client intake or transaction setup. Do not use a number from the email, attachment, text message, or signature block.
Ask for the person authorized to confirm the payment. An inbound call or reply saying “yes, that is correct” does not replace your own callback. If contact details have changed, re-establish them independently before proceeding.
3. Confirm the complete destination
Do not ask only, “Did you send this?” Confirm the beneficiary, receiving bank, routing or SWIFT details, account number, amount, and purpose through the firm’s approved process. Compare those details with the payment entry.
Escalate any beneficiary mismatch, third-party account, conflicting version, or request outside the agreed transaction. Keep full banking details in the restricted payment record, not ordinary email or widely accessible matter notes.
4. Require a second review
Before release, a second authorized person should compare the verification record with the actual payment entry. They should check the beneficiary, destination, amount, and approval—not simply accept “the attorney said it was fine.”
For a small firm, the office manager may prepare the transfer and the responsible attorney review it. A solo practice should document an alternative review with its bank. If the instructions change again, repeat the process.
5. Record the decision
Keep a short record with the payment documentation:
- Matter, amount, beneficiary, and purpose
- Instruction version or date
- Person reached, role, number used, and source of that number
- Details confirmed and discrepancies resolved
- Reviewer and approval
- Transfer reference and receipt confirmation, if available
A bank confirmation proves that a transfer occurred. It does not prove that the recipient was correct.
A callback script staff can use
Do not disclose confidential matter or banking information until you have established that you reached the appropriate person.
Make the process part of the client relationship
At the start of any matter involving wires, give the client your verified phone number and explain the callback rule. Ask the client to call before sending funds and whenever they receive a supposed change—even if it appears to come from the firm.
Clients should not have to invent a verification process on closing day. Give them one contact and a backup if the usual attorney is unavailable.
If the money already went to a suspicious account
Call the sending bank’s fraud team immediately and request a recall. Provide the transaction reference, amount, time, and destination. If the client sent the wire, tell the client to contact their bank immediately.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center advises prompt bank contact and an IC3 complaint. Recovery is not guaranteed.
Preserve messages, headers, attachments, payment records, and call notes. Alert the responsible attorney and incident lead. Have IT investigate possible account compromise, and involve appropriate counsel for client communications, insurer notice, and other reporting decisions. Do not wait for the technical investigation before contacting the bank.
For the broader response sequence, see Attorney Incident Response: Your First 72-Hour Playbook.
Turn the checklist into a firm control
A checklist only works when people know it before a real payment is at risk. Give staff a fictional settlement-payment change and ask:
- Who pauses the payment?
- Where is the trusted callback number?
- Who approves the release?
Security Awareness Training helps attorneys and staff practice these decisions through short, recurring scenarios with feedback and completion records.
Technical controls matter too. Email Security for Law Firms helps firms address authentication and mailbox risks that make impersonation more convincing. For a broader view of what an outsider can already see about your firm, start with the free Zero-Access Exposure Review™.
The right sequence is simple: pause the change, call a trusted number, confirm the complete destination, obtain approval, and keep the record.
This article is informational and does not constitute legal, banking, or compliance advice. Adapt payment procedures to your firm’s policies, bank requirements, trust-account obligations, and applicable professional rules.