Today's Conveyancer Podcast: Recent Episodes
Today's Conveyancer
The Today's Conveyancer Podcast introduces listeners to the wide array of individuals and organisations who contribute to the success of the conveyancing industry. With a mix of business and industry insight, innovation, and knowledge sharing, the podcast is a "must-listen" for property professionals.
Having completed half of 2026 it's a good time to sit down with regular contributors Ben Robinson and Rob Gurney of Landmark and Ochresoft respectively to look at what has happened in the property market over the first half of 2026, and what it's in store for the second half.
Looking at Landmark's own data, there is a really mixed picture. Listings remain reasonably strong, but demand is falling, evidenced by falling number of sold properties. Conveyancers remain steady but be careful reading too much into comparisons with 2025 warns Gurney. The run up to , and immediate aftermath of the end of SDLT incentives significantly distorts the first half of 2025.
Many of the demand side challenges discussed in previous podcasts remain; it will be interesting to see how the Summer, a traditionally quieter time for the property market, pans out, and whether the country benefits from a "Burnham bounce" given the imminent arrival of a new Labour leader, and prime minister.
Listen in for the latest market insight and opinions.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
Having supported a high profile conveyancing firm secure investment Lanterna Consulting co‑founders Simon Farthing and Shona Kaye are well placed to tackle the topic of how law firms can present themselves to secure private equity investment.
Investors are looking to scrutinise scalability, data foundations and operational maturity they explain. Firms without a coherent technology strategy risk being overlooked.
In a wide-ranging discussion the pair explore how outdated systems, patchy adoption, and decisions driven more by anecdote than strategy hold firms back. Kaye notes that many firms still rely on platforms decades old, propped up by internal developers and workarounds that mask deeper structural issues . The market, they argue, is now at a crossroads. Traditional, on‑premise systems remain deeply embedded, but modern cloud‑based, low‑code platforms are rapidly maturing and firms must decide whether to evolve or be left behind.
Private equity, they say, is looking for alignment between business strategy and tech strategy, between user needs and leadership assumptions, and between ambition and capability. Success involved getting the right people in the room; department heads, everyday users, and those who understand the firm’s unique processes.
The concept best‑of‑breed ecosystems has emerged, where a core case management “system of record” is enhanced with specialist tools. Integration, data quality and API openness now matter as much as functionality.
So how can firms make the right technology decisions to enhance their prospects of private equity investment? Listen in to find out...
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
In a post on social media Marc Lansdell, founder of Evolve Law and the guest for this Today's Conveyancer Podcast, boldly stated his firm had put up conveyancing fees; and he had not seen any loss of work or negative impact on his business.
Despite difficult market conditions Lansdell explains how the decision was reasonably straightforward once he understood his own data, and the potential impact any increase might have. By analysing conversion rates against fee levels, the firm identified a point where higher fees could generate greater profitability without materially affecting instruction volumes.. as a result average fees increased by c. £500 per matter, which more than offset the c. 2% reduction in conversion rates.
But higher prices only work if you consistently deliver what you say you will. The practicalities of selling higher-priced conveyancing services include strong review profiles, trusted introducer relationships and consistency in service standards.
Data driven decision making is a key topic of discussion, acknowledging that when the business was small, some of the decisions might have been more based on gut and instinct. Now though nearly all major business decisions at Evolve Law are informed by detailed performance metrics. He adds he has harnessed AI to help with business intelligence and management insights, enabling faster and more informed decision-making.
Evolve have also invested in a training academy for staff; adopting a "grown you own" approach at a time when recruitment is one of the biggest challenges facing conveyancers. The academy goes beyond legal training, combining technical conveyancing knowledge with customer service skills, business development awareness, wellbeing education, and an understanding of firm finances. The aim is to create well-rounded conveyancers who are equipped for the demands of modern legal practice. Lansdell argues that successful conveyancers need far more than legal expertise; they must be able to communicate effectively, manage workloads, understand clients, and maintain their own wellbeing.
Refreshingly candid, Lansdell shares how he sees a modern conveyancing firm can navigate market pressures while investing in growth, innovation and long-term sustainability.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
The planning landscape is shifting at pace and for conveyancers, the risks are no longer confined to the red line on a title plan. That’s the warning from DevAssist founder Paul Addison and OnPoint Data co‑founder Jeremy Dorkins in the latest Today’s Conveyancer Podcast, where both argue that future development risk is now a core part of modern due diligence.
Addison launched DevAssist to tackle what lies outside the red line. As he puts it, “there’s a 46% chance… something could be happening just outside those boundaries”, something capable of affecting views, amenity or value. With the government’s accelerated push for housing, those odds are only rising.
The National Planning Policy Framework has been “injected with steroids” with the re‑introduced five‑year housing supply requirement triggering a surge in opportunistic applications. Councils unable to demonstrate supply face the tilted balance, where “benefit outweighs harm” and large schemes on greenfield land become difficult to resist.
Yet most buyers remain unaware of the deeper planning pipeline and you know just who they are going to blame when they find out their view is about to be blighted. Bird & Bird made it “abundantly clear” that solicitors must report on planning data or searches says Addison. "If something untoward does happen… the first point of call will be the conveyancing solicitor" adds Dorkins.
The podcast is a must listen for conveyancers who don't know their greybelt from their SHELAA.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
How do law firm owners pass on their business? Their culture and legacy? At a time when private equity investment is increasingly popular and offers a potentially lucrative route to exit, firms are also exploring the opportunities presented by alternatives; including Employee owned Trusts (EoTs).
As Mark Slade former CEO and current CTO of Fidler and Pepper explains in this latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast, his firm has recently opted to become an EoT.
He candidly discusses how the directors began to explore their succession planning; initially a trade sale was an option. He says they explored private equity too. But the more he and co‑owner (and brother) Matt explored these routes, the more uneasy they became. Redundancies. Loss of identity. Earn‑outs. Reporting to new bosses. The risk of being “kicked into touch” after decades of service. None of it aligned with the firm they had built.
The success of another firm prompted Slade to look into EoT and he discovered what it offered was what he and Matt were looking for. A future shaped by the people who built the business; protection for long‑serving staff; flexibility for his co-directors, a structure that rewarded loyalty and performance; and importantly, a legacy bigger than any partner.
It's not a "quick-win"... the payout is long‑term. The business must continue to perform. Succession still matters. But the reaction from staff, who were aware of plans to look at what the future of the business looked like, was immediate and emotional.
Slade concludes an EOT deserves a serious look for firms looking at their succession planning.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
After a baptism of fire when just 16 days into her new role as CEO of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX) Jennifer Coupland was thrust into one of the biggest crises legal services has faced since the Legal Services Act with the Mazur ruling and subsequent appeal.
In a wide ranging discussion on the Today's Conveyancer Podcast, Coupland discusses how she handled the immediate aftermath of the decision, the appeal, and how she plans to shape the organisation going forward after plans to bring CILEX under SRA regulation were shelved.
She leads CILEX after a successful period running the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, transforming the perception of apprenticeships into a respected and sought-after career route. She sees strong parallels with CILEX’s model of “earning while learning,” which she believes is vital for improving diversity and accessibility in the legal profession.
Although CILEX was ultimately successful in its Mazur appeal, the ordeal was a "really, really tough 10 months for some of our members" says Coupland who adds the case exposed outdated aspects of the Legal Services Act 2007 and advocates for a sector-wide review to modernise legislation.
Through the course of the podcast she also highlights the need to improve consumer understanding of legal services, particularly awareness of specialist providers and the importance of quality, regulation, and affordability. Internally, Coupland has navigated challenges around potential regulatory alignment with bodies like the SRA, ultimately pausing plans but maintaining a commitment to reducing duplication and complexity.
Looking ahead, CILEX’s five-year strategy focuses on growth, education, influencing legal reform, and raising the organisation’s profile, with member engagement seen as crucial to its future direction.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
“Consumers don’t care about data. They care about whether something will stop them buying the property."
Former conveyancer and mortgage broker, and now Chief Commercial Officer at property due diligence search provider Martello Jess Green joins the latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast to explore the changing world of environmental search reports.
Climate risk (well documented!), data overload, and rising lender scrutiny all contribute to the stresses and strains of day to day conveyancing; and suppliers need to step up and support, rather than drowning conveyancers in 40 page PDFs.
Less repetition, and stop treating environmental risk as a tick‑box exercise. Instead trusted data allied to expert interpretation helps lawyers advise, not firefight says Green.
She says Martello are trying to find the right balance between interpreting environmental data that was never designed for lawyers, and delivering robust reports which show the “homework” behind risk, giving conveyancers clarity instead of noise. “Consumers don’t care about data. They care about whether something will stop them buying the property,” she says .
Armed with a new mines and minerals report she says Martelllo are trying to get to a point where conveyancers stop copying and pasting, and start working with clean, structured, shareable information that works for them and for their clients.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
The latest Today’s Conveyancer Podcast turns its attention to one of the profession’s most persistent, and least openly discussed, challenges: the impact of maternity leave on women’s careers in law.
While the legal sector is not alone in perpetuating the motherhood penalty, the measurable career disadvantage experienced by women after having children, the podcast explores the unique pressure the legal sector presents around billable hours, PQE structures and the absence of traditional line management which compound the issue.
Returning mothers must “claw back” work, visibility and confidence say Sara Lyons and Hannah Bradshaw, former employment lawyers and co‑founders of Blue Sky; both of whom have personally experienced the issue and who now coach hundreds of female lawyers going through similar experiences.
Lyons and Bradshaw are clear; this is not a theoretical concept, nor a “woke invention”, but an economic and structural reality that continues to shape women’s progression in the legal sector. 78% of women on their programme report experiencing the motherhood penalty, while 77.8% worry about the impact of maternity leave on their long‑term career prospects. These figures, they argue, should be a wake‑up call for firms that still consider themselves “equal opportunities employers” while operating within systems that are anything but gender‑neutral.
There is a cultural discomfort that surrounds maternity‑related discussions in law firms they say. Silence is damaging; women want clarity, support and honest dialogue about career progression, not well‑meaning but vague reassurances.
“You can have it all... just not all at the same time" is the mantra firms and employees need to adopt.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
Professional indemnity insurance is a fickle market. Conveyancing firms are once again navigating a market that remains challenging, nuanced, and increasingly shaped by risk culture rather than raw numbers.
Renewal season is the backdrop to this latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast discussion with Miller Insurance account managers Marianne McWilliams and Phil Limb who lift the lid on what insurers are really looking for and why firms need to rethink how they present themselves.
Appetite for conveyancing work has improved say McWilliams and Limb, but insurers are scrutinising firms more closely than ever, particularly around expertise, file supervision and risk management.
Limb reiterates the point many insurers have made in recent years; dabbling is dangerous. Firms undertaking only a handful of transactions must demonstrate robust systems, specialist case management and clear referral points. “If you are doing a low amount of conveyancing, it’s about proving the expertise… and that you’ve got referral points at certain critical points” .
Technology is now central to that story. Specialist case management systems, automated checkpoints and emerging AI tools can all strengthen a firm’s risk profile but only when used intelligently. McWilliams cautions that AI requires rigorous due diligence and human oversight: “if you ask the wrong prompt… you’re not going to get the right answer” .
Insurers are also watching emerging risks closely, from crypto‑related funds to cyber incidents.
The takeaway is clear: firms must articulate their risk culture, not just their compliance. Insurers want clarity, candour and evidence of control. Conveyancers who can demonstrate that story will be the ones securing the best outcomes when it comes round to renewal.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
Are law firms making the most of their technology investment? Most businesses only use a fraction of the capability of their existing technology, underestimating what platforms such as Microsoft 365 or their case management systems can already do. As a result, firms often purchase overlapping software that performs similar functions, increasing cost and complexity without delivering real value.
Its a pet subject for legal technology consultants Stephen Lucas and Mike Taylor who join Today's Conveyancer Podcast host David Opie for this latest episode exploring how law firms can improve efficiency, reduce duplication, and understand the “art of the possible” when it comes to legal tech, automation and AI.
The first part of that process involves understanding what systems are in place, what the firm actually needs to achieve, and where simple changes or integrations can unlock efficiencies. Poor technology decisions are often made because firms do not clearly define their requirements before engaging with vendors. Sales processes can oversell functionality, leading to costly long-term contracts and difficult system migrations.
In the age of artificial intelligence, both are advocates of robotic process automation (RPA) as a practical solution for interoperability and automation; helping where systems cannot easily integrate. RPA allows “robots” to replicate human actions, logging into portals, copying and pasting data, triggering workflows, at far greater speed and accuracy. Tasks that might take a member of staff ten minutes can often be completed in under a minute, without errors, and even run outside office hours. By eliminating repetitive administrative tasks, firms not only save money but also reduce risk, improve compliance, and free staff to focus on higher-value work. Importantly automation does not typically lead to resistance from employees. Instead, staff often welcome it, as it removes frustrating and monotonous tasks from their daily workload.
When it comes to AI closed, UK-hosted AI environments, rather than the large language models like ChatGPT, CoPilot and Claude, that allow firms to benefit from document summarisation, case analysis and risk identification without exposing confidential information. And rather than trying to do everything all at once, a process-driven approach will yield better results; mapping the end-to-end legal workflow, identifying pain points, and introducing technology incrementally.
Ultimately, say Lucas and Taylor, firms don't need to be spending thousands of pounds on new technology; rather they should be focusing on maximising the functionality of existing technology with simple interconnectivity solutions.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
In a slightly shorter podcast host David Opie welcomes on usual guests Ben Robinson and Rob Gurney of Landmark to discuss their latest Property Trends Report for the first quarter of 2026.
It's a mixed picture with plenty to be positive about... but how much of the last three months remains relevant against a backdrop of geo-political uncertainty? Particularly in the wake of the recent decision by the Bank of England to hold interest rates, and signal a return to interest rate rises in the event inflation remains well above its stated target of 2%.
What does this mean for conveyancers and the wider property market? Listen in to find out...
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
What do conveyancers need to know about the pending requirements for those "interacting" with HMRC to register as tax advisers.
To take a deep dive into the issue the Today's Conveyancer Podcast welcomes Ian Quayle, CEO of IQ Legal Training, and Ryan Hannah, Managing Director of Compass. With the registration window opening imminently and clarity still frustratingly thin on the ground what do we know, and more importantly, what are we still waiting for.
There is a risk, says Quayle, registering as a tax adviser risks creating a dangerous mismatch between what conveyancers are and what clients may now assume them to be. The potential for negligence claims, client confusion and professional overreach looms large.
There is also an issue here around fairness; every taxpayer, says Hannah, deserves accurate, consistent application of the law, and the current system leaves too much to chance. He highlights the routine, everyday transactions - not necessarily the sprawling country piles - as the real breeding ground for costly mistakes.
The podcast explores unanswered questions around registration, the spectre of fines and suspensions, the inadequacy of existing guidance, the implications of outsourcing, and the uncomfortable reality that conveyancers may soon be held to higher tax‑advice standards than ever before.
Is that such a bad thing? Does forcing registration on the sector set out to improve standards in this constantly thorny issue? Discuss...
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
With a 50 year career in property (he claims to have started when he was 3!) there is little Mike Day hasn't seen or heard.
In this latest episode of the Today's Conveyancer Podcast, Day sits down with David Opie to discuss a career which has taken him to the very top of estate agency and conveyancing operations as board member at Connells and becoming heavily involved in building one of the UK’s earliest large‑scale, panel‑based conveyancing businesses.
Day even remembers the days before the internet and mobile phones; but he says, the fundamentals of the home‑buying process remain much the same.
Despite the technological evolution of both the estate agency and conveyancing sector, the persistent lack of integration continues to hamper progress; borne out in extended transaction timescales.
All the talk of instructing solicitors at the point of listing is not new... Day gives a compelling example from Connells where they cut transaction times from 13 to 10 weeks by instructing their panel firms at listing; allowing the business to turn its pipeline faster and adding £8 million to the bottom line. The fact the industry is still debating early instruction 25 years later, he says, highlights how fragmented the sector remains. He fears unless the government mandates structural changes, such as upfront information or compulsory early instruction, progress will remain painfully slow.
On referral fees you'd expect the estate agent in him to provide a robust defence, but with caveats. He argues referral fees can be justified when the agent genuinely adds value through marketing and onboarding work. The problem, he says, is that many agents simply pass over a phone number and expect to earn a fee. At the same time, excessive referral fees have squeezed conveyancers’ margins so tightly that service quality, investment in people, and technology have inevitably suffered. Transparency, he says, is essential, and the industry has not always delivered it.
Training, standards, fees, technology, management and Rightmove are all on the agenda in this fascinating discussion with one of the property industry's most experienced, and colourful characters.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
There are excellent conveyancers across England and Wales, but they lack time, tools, and structural support to deliver the service they want.
That is the view of founder and CEO of Eden Conveyancing Bruce Griffin who joins host David Opie on the latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast.
A residential and commercial property purchase fraught with delays, poor communication, and opaque processes drove Griffin to truly put his money where his mouth is, and launch Eden Conveyancing. Quite the plunge for someone who had spent 25 yeras in technology and property data. Coming from a data‑driven environment, he was struck by how inconsistent, even fundamentally flawed, property information is across the UK, from address identification to planning and energy data.
Convinced he could create a positive experience around a life‑defining moment, he set about making the experience clearer, more transparent, and even enjoyable, especially for first‑time buyers; but acknowledges he was naïve coming into the sector. Collaboration, he says, is fundamental to efforts to improve the process
"I thought very naively, we could come in, create a great experience, and nothing could touch that."
Running a conveyancing business is a constant juggling act. Property lawyers handle numerous cases simultaneously, and even with automation, their mental bandwidth is stretched. The industry expects high output while suppressing fees, leading to burnout and an exodus of experienced lawyers. Firms that aggressively undercut pricing contribute to these pressures and degrade service quality. Without industry‑wide pricing reform and alignment, conveyancers will continue to leave faster than new recruits enter.
At Eden, balancing caseloads has been an evolving process. An internal allocation algorithm considers lawyer experience, case complexity, and existing volume to distribute work appropriately. Crucially, lawyers can override this system by signalling when they are at or below capacity. Client satisfaction surveys then validate whether workloads are affecting service quality.
Looking ahead, Bruce hopes the recent government consultation will drive digital standardisation, mandating common data formats, practices, and ultimately a fully digital conveyancing workflow. Incremental change, not a big‑bang overhaul, is key. He predicts more consolidation in the sector; firms unprepared for digitisation may exit the market. Eden, meanwhile, intends to scale, focusing especially on transforming the first‑time buyer experience and creating a rewarding working environment to attract and retain conveyancers.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
In this special National Conveyancing Month edition of the Today’s Conveyancer Podcast, host David Opie welcomes Convey Law Managing Director Janine Wellington to discuss her views on talent, training, culture, and the systemic challenges facing modern conveyancing.
In a career which has taken her from fee earner to senior leader, Wellington discusses the challenges the profession faces in attracting and retaining conveyancers; at a time when in their heart or hearts, most conveyancers would hesitate to recommend the career to their own children!
Wellington shares how Convey Law have implemented structured training, progression pathways, and pastoral support, including; a multi‑stage “Convey Law Pathway” combining practical training, academic modules; a strong emphasis on developing resilience, tenacity, and confidence; clear progression ladder; and a culture that encourages juniors to ask questions, set boundaries, and develop people‑skills essential for client care.
She acknowledges she benefits from the time, money, and technology investment the firm can make by virtue of its size but with many firms still reliant on outdated systems or a lack of dedicated training structures, career development harder to achieve.
The prevalence of hybrid working brings additional obstacles as the traditional model of “learning by osmosis”, sitting beside experienced colleagues, listening to calls, and gaining confidence through constant informal interaction, is diminished.
Culture, regulation, AML and due diligence, tax advisers status, digitisation are all topics the podcast as the discussion meanders around the rigors of coalface conveyancing.
Despite everything though, Wellington is optimistic. She believes the profession can return to being a rewarding, respected career. Better fees, better recognition, and clearer guidance are essential. Above all, she insists, people will always need to buy and sell homes; the industry has no choice but to evolve.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
The latest episode of the Today’s Conveyancer podcast welcomes Senior Ombudsman at the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) Clair Daniel to explore the current landscape of legal complaints handling, the challenges facing firms, and the strategic work underway to improve first‑tier resolution across the legal sector.
The backdrop to the discussion is the increase in the number of cases in which LeO identify poor complaints handling, up from 46% in 2023/24 to 49% in 2024/25; and efforts to stop complaints at source by equipping firms to better deal with issues before they become complaints.
Daniel says demand for LeO’s services has risen sharply, across all areas of law, with several likely drivers: rising customer expectations shaped by instantaneous digital communication, cost‑of‑living pressures increasing the inclination to complain, and sheer volume of transactions. Communication and delay remain the two most common causes of complaint—together accounting for around 47% of complaints. Often, complaints arise from mismanaged expectations, such as unclear service‑level agreements or clients misunderstanding the steps and timeframes in transactions.
There is the increasing role AI plays in complaints to consider. LeO is increasingly seeing (as are firms) consumers rely on tools such as ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot to produce lengthy, formalised, and at times overly legalistic complaints, complete with copied‑and‑pasted case law. While understandable, this can hinder early, informal resolution. She encourages firms to avoid mirroring an escalated tone, instead refocusing on the core issue and maintaining a professional, calm approach.
Keen to dispel misconceptions about LeO Daniel reiterates the ombudsman is strictly impartial and supports firms as much as consumers, including dismissing complaints where service has clearly been reasonable. To help firms get matters right at first tier, LeO provides resources such as the technical advice desk, sector insights, and forthcoming Model Complaints Resolution Procedure, complete with templates and toolkits. A new learning platform with training and webinars is scheduled for 2026.
Listen in to hear more about LeO's attitude to setting and managing client expectations early, strategies to handle AI‑generated complaints effectively, and internal communication and processes that reduce escalation risk and improve client trust.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
The latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast welcomes two of the property industry’s most outspoken voices: Peter Ambrose, Managing Director of The Partnership, and Russell Quirk, co‑founder and director of Proper PR. Both are known for their forthright views and are regular contributors to property discourse. Both have been on the podcast before and arrive ready to dissect the challenges facing home buying and selling in early 2026.
In a lively and combative discussion they trade blows on conveyancing, estate agency, risk, reform and changing client expectations.
Interestingly both conveyancing and estate agency share similar challenges; they both need to retain good staff, with the rise of the consultancy model quietly removing capacity from the system. They both need to deal better with pressure from clients, delays, and rising levels of frustration.
How then to tackle the issue? Typically radical, Quirk suggests a model whereby estate agents take on more of the legal work, like the Florida model where agents handle contracts and insurance replaces much of the legal process. Ambrose pushes back, pointing to the UK’s unique land ownership structure and the central role of mortgage lenders. Insurance, he says, can help, but it cannot replace due diligence.
There is also a widening gap between perception and reality. Social media may be full of doom, he says, but the data shows a functioning market - albeit one split between a sluggish top end and a buoyant sub‑£1.5m segment. His criticism is sharp: too many agents overvalue, under‑deliver, and lack the skills older generations took for granted.
What they do agree on is this: the system is slow, expectations are rising, and change is overdue. But whether that change comes from technology, insurance, regulation or cultural shift remains a live debate.
An entertaining and hugely insightful episode from two of the property sector's most knowledgeable voices.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
The latest Today’s Conveyancer podcast marks a major milestone for property due diligence and environmental search provider Groundsure, which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary
Podcast host David Opie is joined by CEO Malcolm Smith and Customer Engagement Director Catherine Shiers to reflect on the evolution of the industry, the shifting expectations of consumers, and the innovations shaping the future of due diligence.
It's a very different world from the one Smith joined 18 years ago when Groundsure’s entire data asset, limited though it was, was stored on a single director’s laptop, which staff would wait for when producing reports. Today, the organisation operates a robust, secure, cloud‑based architecture, reflecting decades of investment in technology, process improvement and data accuracy.
The biggest shift, he adds, is the move from being perceived as an “environmental checks” company to being understood, internally and externally, as a content and data business. Everything Groundsure produces, from search reports to interpreted assessments, is built from curated datasets, continuously cleaned, quality assured, and refined to ensure reliability and property‑specific accuracy. This precision is central to the increasingly high‑stakes decisions conveyancers and their clients make.
The demands of consumers are also changing notes Shiers. The modern homebuyer is far more informed than the clients of a decade ago. If earlier in her career there was a greater acceptance of the interpretation of the reports, now with greater public awareness of things like climate, flood and ground stability risk, and the increasing use of AI, clients are more inquisitive, more knowledgeable and more willing to question search findings.
High‑profile issues such as climate change, flooding, PFAS contamination and even TV documentaries like Toxic Town have pushed environmental risk into the public consciousness and there is an expectation of deeper, more accurate insight
As conveyancing, and the wider sectors served by Groundsure, develop, there is an understanding within the business traditional paper-based or pdf desktop reports need to deliver the data in a more accessible structure; with direct integration with case management and other third party tools.
The discussion finishes on the next steps for up front and material information. How much is too much? And what are the commercial realities associated with providing so much data up front. While formats and delivery models will change, what matters is data integrity, relevance and clarity says Smith. The aim is not to add more risks to reports but to continue improving accuracy, usability and adaptability across workflows. Search alerts, digital outputs and adaptable data layers help ensure firms receive the right information at the right time, without overwhelming clients or inflating fees. And unlike the HIPs era, Malcolm emphasises that quality, not volume, must guide this evolution.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
Property transaction fall throughs is the topic of the latest Today’s Conveyancer podcast; specifically how to tackle situations when there is an issue between exchange and completion.
Although admittedly rare, the consequences can be chastening; and this was certainly the case for the sister of former director of FTSE 100 wealth‑management business St James's Place Peter Thompson.
A protracted sale of the family home, complicated by divorce proceedings, fell through on the day of completion. Although the purchaser forfeited their 10%, the knock on impact for Peter's sister was much more consequential.
The experience led to the creation of Clozesure. a property purchase option contract. Once a seller has accepted an offer, they may apply for Clozesure, which validates the agreed sale price and guarantees to buy the property within 10 days for 90% of the agreed sale price in the event of the sale collapsing; funds that allow the seller to complete their onward purchase and prevent a chain collapse.
The discussion explores how the business is funded with backing from bridging finance and high net worth investors; the practicalities of picking up a property in 10 days and what that means for conveyancers on the other side; and the disposal of acquired properties.
With home buying and selling reform firmly on the government's agenda, Thompson is confident a service which provides greater certainty post-exchange, will complement any proposals to tackle pre-exchange fall throughs, such as reservation agreements.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
From South Africa to the suburbs... the latest Today's Conveyancer podcast welcomes property market digital transformation specialists e4 Strategic on to discuss the property market evolution achieved in their native South Africa, and how they are now looking at what can be done to introduce similar initiatives in the UK.
Joining podcast host David Opie is e4 Strategic CEO Simon Slater to discuss the origins of the business in turning a very analogue process in the country into a fully digital workflow environment. During his 20+ years with the business he has overseen the development of a platform that today connects all major stakeholders involved in a South African property transaction. This includes the “Big Six” mortgage lenders, virtually all conveyancing firms in the country, major municipalities, tax authorities, and the Deeds Office – South Africa’s equivalent of HM Land Registry. Referencing the discussions happening in the UK, this deep integration means that South African transactions benefit from a unified flow of data. Lenders, conveyancers, and government bodies all access the same information, much of it fed through the infrastructure developed by e4. The result is real‑time visibility across the entire workflow, from mortgage offer to final registration.
But, like others who have come to the UK from other jurisdictions, Slater acknowledges the structural differences between the South African and UK home‑moving markets Although the South African conveyancing system shares roots in English law, there are notable differences. For example, property offers are binding at the outset, much like in Scotland, removing some of the uncertainty familiar to practitioners in England and Wales.
When e4 arrived in the UK in 2021, Slater and his team quickly identified a familiar opportunity: improving the relationship between lenders and conveyancers by digitising the core interactions that sit at the heart of every transaction. At present, these interactions are overwhelmingly reliant on slow, manual channels. Email remains the dominant tool, often burdened with long PDF attachments and cumbersome document trails. Lenders receive “thousands” of post‑valuation queries every month, with conveyancers equally frustrated by the lack of clarity and response times.
In the time since the property market has moved to become much more receptive to change in Slater's view. Momentum is being driven by: government consultations on home‑moving reform; lender concern about the financial impact of fall‑throughs (estimated at £1.5bn annually); the growing recognition that digitisation is no longer optional; and an industry‑wide desire for transparency and performance metrics.
E4 aims to provide the digital infrastructure that can support this shift: a central platform enabling real‑time communication, structured workflows, secure document exchanges, and data‑driven decision‑making.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
In the first of the regular series with Rob Gurney and Ben Robinson, the Today's Conveyancer once again delves into the latest numbers from Landmark's Property Trends report, looking at the final quarter of 2025.
In a year of two halves, the first half of 2025 was characterised by strong transaction numbers , driven in part by the stamp duty‑related push to progress home moves ahead of the 31st March deadline, and optimism surrounding the relatively newly elected government.
The second half told a different story, as uncertainty around the Budget led many sellers to hesitate, with falling listings and reduced supply and demand contributing to widespread asking price reductions reported by major portals.
But before we get too doom and gloom, it is worth reminding ourselves of the context of the time. New lawyer instructions in Q4 2025 were 17 per cent lower than the same period in 2024, with November alone down 25 per cent year on year. However comparisons to a market artificially inflated by the rush to complete ahead of the SDLT deadline do not compare apples with apples says Gurney.
And when completions are examined, the picture looks less severe, with Q4 2025 completions down only 6 per cent year on year; with December a standout month with the highest number of completions per working day in any month of the year apart from SDLT-influenced March.
The completions‑to‑instructions ratio reached 121 per cent, one of the highest on record, reflecting both subdued new instructions and an extraordinary pre‑Christmas effort to clear pipelines. However, he warns this year‑end surge inevitably left firms entering January with smaller, less mature pipelines, contributing to a quieter start to 2026. Focusing on the underlying numbers rather than headline comparisons will be essential as the market moves through the first quarter of 2026.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
In the first episode of the latest series of the Today's Conveyancer Podcast, host David Opie dives into the fast‑evolving world of digital property logbooks joined by Sally Holdway, Director of Homeowners Passport and Sale & Purchase Lead at the Residential Logbook Association (RLBA), and Nigel Walley, CEO of Chimni and Chair of the RLBA.
Recorded in the run up to the end of the government's home buying and selling consultation, the discussion explores a view of home moving with property logbooks at the heart of the transaction.
Both Sally and Nigel explain how much of the work done by the RLBA has flown under the radar. While public momentum around logbooks may have seemed slow, Nigel makes it clear that providers have been quietly building the infrastructure for years. Over half a million logbooks are already in circulation, with estate agents and conveyancers steadily adopting them.
Success though will be reliant on the information contained in logbooks being 'conveyancer grade' adds Sally; accurate, trusted, and sourced to the same standards conveyancers rely on. That means Land Registry feeds, LLC1 data, and protocol‑compliant forms - not lightweight consumer tools
Its a core theme of government's consultation on material information and digital sale packs. Both highlight how logbooks sit at the centre of this shift. Digital sale‑ready packs built from title documents, plans, leases, and protocol forms allow conveyancers to issue contracts the same day an offer is accepted. Time savings of up to 20% are already being recorded.
And then there is the long term value not just in terms of an archive for the property data, but also a foundation for an ongoing relationship with their conveyancer. This is the modern equivalent of the old deeds store; only smarter, searchable, and always up to date.
If conveyancers want efficiency, reduced risk, and stronger client retention, the message from the RLBA is clear: logbooks are no longer emerging, they’re here.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Legal Software and InfoTrack
In the latest episode of the Today’s Conveyancer podcast, host David Opie is joined by Omar Fatha Rally, founder and CEO of Tellida Limited, to explore the realities of offshoring in the conveyancing sector.
The discussion explores the differences between outsourcing and offshoring, and the opportunities presented by using organisations based in similar legal jurisdictions.
Throughout the conversation, the two discuss common misconceptions around offshoring, with Omar keen to highlight the legal and educational alignment between Sri Lanka and the UK; and the importance his business places on due diligence - Tellida’s ISO 27001 certification, GDPR compliance, and rigorous internal training programmes are all part of its commitment to data security and quality assurance.
With offices in the UK and Sri Lanka, the firm has been delivering outsourced support services for over 15 years. While traditionally focused on finance and accounting, the company has seen rapid growth in conveyancing support, offering firms a way to ease staffing pressures and improve turnaround times.
Omar shares his journey from accountancy into business process outsourcing, and explains how Tellida’s Sri Lankan teams now support UK conveyancers with everything from onboarding to post-completion. The only exception, he notes, is the legal requirement for exchange to be handled by a UK-qualified professional.
The discussion also covers supervision, liability, and regulatory compliance. Omar explains how Tellida works within SRA and CLC expectations, with UK firms retaining oversight and control. He is also clear about the lines of resopnsibility and liabilities of both the law firm, and Tellida; a question he acknowledges is gets asked 'a lot!'
“It’s not about replacing people" says Omar. "It’s about helping firms grow, improve client service, and keep the industry moving.”
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
With the growth and consolidation within legal technology it can be a minefield for firms to navigate how to choose the best technology for their business which both serves them now and supports with their future plans.
Even experienced professionals can find the balance between investment, efficiency and compliance challenging. Its a topic on which Cathy Kirby and David Baskerville, legal technology consultants from Baskerville Drummond LLP are well placed to provide their expert insight as the latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast unpacks the complexities of legal tech, infrastructure, and strategic planning for law firms navigating digital transformation.
The discussion explores how law firms often underutilise their existing technology, likening it to using only 5% of Microsoft Word’s capabilities. Cathy and David stress the importance of understanding infrastructure readiness, data governance, and internal processes before adopting new tools or AI solutions.
They highlight the challenges of integrating systems across departments with differing workflows, and the resurgence of “best of breed” strategies as firms seek more specialised solutions. The conversation also covers the limitations of APIs, the risks of data leakage, and the importance of knowing where master records reside.
One topic they are both unequivocal on is cybersecurity, urging firms to prioritise due diligence, supplier audits, and accreditations like Cyber Essentials and ISO. They note increasing pressure from insurers and regulators, and the growing role of these standards in tenders and M&A activity.
The episode closes with a powerful reminder: law firms must invest in their IT teams. Cathy and David advocate for mentoring, training, and realistic expectations - emphasising that no single IT manager can be expert in everything from security to strategy.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
David Opie, host of the Today’s Conveyancer Podcast, welcomes back PEXA UK for a timely update. Since first joining the podcast nearly two years ago much has changed both for PEXA and in the property market.
Joining him is Angela Hesketh, PEXA's Head of Market Development, who shares insights into PEXA’s journey since arriving on UK shores some five years ago.
The conversation revisits PEXA’s Australian origins, where it handles 92% of property transactions. Angela clarifies that while the UK system shares similarities, PEXA UK has built its infrastructure from scratch to suit local needs.
A payments scheme operating from within the Bank of England, PEXA started out in remortgage, recently surpassing £200m in processed payments.
With the property market undergoing significant digitisation PEXA anticipate its recently launched sale and purchase proposition will play it part in supporting the transformation of the sector.
There are lots of questions to answer
- is this another example of a network needing all participants engaged to benefit?
- what happens to client account and interest?
- where does PEXA fit with other industry initiatives like the Property Data Trust Framework; the and technology solutions already launched from Zoopla and LMS?
- how much does the digitisation of HM Land Registry drive (or hold back) solutions like PEXA?
and much more.
Angela highlights the importance of building the “plumbing” first which for PEXA includes FCA approval for its third party managed accounts (TPMA) solution. PEXA Pay, a key innovation, enables direct movement of lender funds without routing through client accounts. Angela explains how this reduces risk and improves transparency, especially as the UK explores alternatives to traditional client account models.
The discussion covers innovation, digitisation, technology and the future of conveyancing as Angela shares her experience both in her role at PEXA and as a former conveyancer herself.
*Ahead of Fraud Awareness Week PEXA are hosting a series of webinars designed to help educate the sector on the evolving risks of fraud posed to property. PEXA is bringing together industry experts to explore how conveyancers can ‘build confidence through stronger processes, tools, and a secure digital experience’.
Speakers from the CLC, Credas, Ctrl-Shift, Dutton Gregory, DSIT, Select ID, National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, Marsh, Muve and SRA will discuss the latest developments in cybercrime, digital identity, insurance, and how to improve efficiency while reducing fraud exposure.*
CLICK HERE to find out more register your attendance.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
In the latest, shorter episode of the Today’s Conveyancer podcast, host David Opie is joined by Rob Gurney, Managing Director at Ochresoft, and Ben Robinson, Managing Director at Landmark Estate Agency Services, to discuss the latest statistics to come out of the quarterly Property Trends Report.
But there's not much to say... the property market is subdued. Despite a “return to normality” following the spring’s SDLT disruptions there has been little sign of the traditional end of Summer bounce. Instructions in July and September were steady at 98% compared with the previous year, while August dipped to 87%. Completions followed suit, although a spike in September’s said more about the weak 2024 market that genuine recovery.
Bringing the estate agency view to proceedings, Ben Robinson highlights a record level of price reductions, with some areas seeing more cuts than listings. Supply and demand have both declined, suggesting a shared hesitancy among buyers and sellers. Speculative movers are holding back, wary of potential changes in stamp duty and broader economic uncertainty ahead of the budget.
So the conversation instead turns to a new industry charter aiming to reduce transaction times to 28 days. Project 28 isn’t about technology - it’s about behavioural change. Early instruction of the seller’s conveyancer and trusted upfront data are key commitments. The goal is to improve certainty, reduce fall-throughs, and lift the entire sector.
And where individual elements of the sector have little macroeconomic impact, initiatives like Project 28 offer a practical path forward. In a market defined by caution, collaboration and early action may be the key to unlocking progress.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, SmartSearch and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
As more than half of lawyers say they anticipate leaving their role within the next five years because of poor mental health and wellbeing, the latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast tackles the issue head on with a wide ranging discussion on what organisations can do to protect their staff.
Joining the podcast are Trish McLellan and Niamh Warnock of LawCare; a mental health and wellbeing charity focused on the legal services sector. It has published the results of its survey into the wellbeing of those working across legal services; with concerning results.
Alongside the half of lawyers who said they anticipates leaving their role in the next 5 years, a third said they anticipated leaving the legal sector completely. The normalisation of overworking plays a sizeable role in high levels of burnout and anxiety undermining mental health and wellbeing. 79% of respondents said they regularly work beyond their contracted hours, with nearly 10% saying they worked 21 or more hours.
Half of respondents said they had experienced anxiety either often, very often, or all of the time over the last 12 months.
All of which suggests the sector faces a 'turning point' with both Trish and Niamh keen to point out there are things organisations can do proactively to support staff and tackle the nearly two thirds of workers who consider their mental health to be ‘poor’.
"What’s needed is strong leadership and the commitment to put them in place" said LawCare CEO Elizabeth Rimmer.
There are clear, practical steps that can be taken right now and outlined in the report that lead to a healthier sector, including actively managing workloads to prevent burnout, embedding flexible and hybrid working practices that recognise and support diverse needs and evaluating workplace mental health and wellbeing initiatives to ensure they deliver real impact - equipping people coming into the profession to help them have a sustainable career in law.
The case has been made; we don’t need more evidence. It is time to move on from discussing the problems to implementing solutions.
Read Life in the Law 2025 here on the LawCare website.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, SmartSearch and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
After the furore of the fifth edition of the TA6 property information protocol form, the Law Society launched a consultation which informed its approach to a further updated TA6 form.
In this podcast Sarah Sargent, explains and explores some of the output of the consultation and how it informed the working party's approach to the updated 6th edition launched this week.
Sargent, Head of Residential Conveyancing at Flint Bishop, is an experienced conveyancer with over 20 years in residential property and joined the Law Society’s working group in late 2024 after the backlash to the 5th edition. She explains how her commitment to improving upfront information in property transactions motivated her to contribute to the revision process. The 6th edition, she notes, is the product of nearly a year of weekly meetings, each lasting up to two hours, involving deep analysis of member feedback, consultation data, and practical conveyancing experience.
The committee exhaustively reviewed the 1,000 responses to the consultation from conveyancer members which offered measured insights that helped shape the form’s practical improvements. Notably, the committee decided early on to separate material information from the TA6, allowing for clearer focus and usability.
A wholesale review of home buyer understanding and usability of the form, and its liabilities, is reflected in clearer explanatory notes and structure, developed through user testing involving in-depth interviews with conveyancers and sellers, as well as eye-tracked usability studies. These efforts ensured the form is both visually intuitive and logically structured for professionals and clients alike.
Alongside the removal of the much-maligned material information, key changes in the 6th edition include a reduction in length, now 15 sections, and the removal of questions on council tax, asking price, building safety, and accessibility. The form now includes more ‘not known’ options for when sellers don’t know the answer to certain questions.
One of the criticisms levelled at the process of updating the TA protocol forms is the lack of practical, day-to-day experience of frontline conveyancing. But nothing could be further from the truth concludes Sargent, refuting claims the committee is out of touch, and emphasising the group’s collective expertise and hands-on knowledge of the challenges faced by conveyancers in delivering this updated form.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, SmartSearch and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
In this episode of the Today's Conveyancer Podcast host David Opie is joined by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers' Director of Strategy and External Relations to discuss the regulator's view of the big issues facing conveyancing.
The podcast was initially recorded in the days before the government's home buying and selling reforms consultation with much of the discussion focussing on the risks identified in the CLC's annual Risk Agenda.
A key topic is the changing nature of client accounts, prompted by the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s consultation. Despite the SRA's confirmation it is not likely to change the operation of client account in the short term, Stephen warns firms not to rely on the current model indefinitely. He confirms the CLC has no immediate plans to mandate alternatives but recognises reduced risk of funds interception in a world where solicitors and conveyancers complete fewer bank transfers; and highlights the current discussions on redirecting interest earned on client accounts toward legal aid funding as in other jurisdictions.
Stephen also tackles the recent Mazur litigation ruling which redefines the role of unqualified individuals conducting reserved legal activities. Stephen clarifies that the ruling pertains strictly to litigation and does not affect conveyancing. He is clear, although concedes the wording in the legislation isn't(!), under the Legal Services Act 2007, conveyancing and probate may be performed by non-qualified staff under supervision, a model widely used and fully compliant with current legislation.
The conversation covers post-completion, complaints handling, cryptocurrency and AML, auction houses and the future of conveyancing; observing that government legislation is paving the way for initiatives like digital ID verification, conditional contracts, and shared data frameworks; the CLC remains engaged with industry stakeholders to ensure that regulatory infrastructure supports this transformation while safeguarding consumers.
The podcast swerves into a brief segue regarding the home buying and selling consultation and separate material information consultation, a whole podcast in itself. Stephen says the CLC welcomes the move which could bring a level of mandation to the process and start to see pressure from home movers through the adoption of material information and service comparisons outlined in the consultation.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, SmartSearch and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
...so the proverb goes.
In this latest episode of the Today's Conveyancer podcast the topic of conversation turns to the increasing use of open AI and tools like Google's Gemini, and ChatGPT to help consumers understand more about the conveyancing process; in turn challenging the advice provided by the profession and eroding the trust between lawyer and client.
Peter Ambrose, CEO of The Partnership and a regular contributor to the podcast known for his forthright views, shares his concerns that AI tools like ChatGPT are changing how consumers engage with legal services. Clients are now using these platforms to analyse contracts and generate complaints - often after completion - creating new challenges for law firms. In his own firm he acknowledges the impact it is having and shares some of his own strategies to support staff and placate clients.
While AI can’t replace legal expertise, it’s fuelling unrealistic expectations and undermining professional judgement. Conveyancers must now defend decisions made months earlier, often against machine-generated critiques.
It is critical says Peter firms embrace this challenge. With AI making it easier for clients to challenge decisions, firms must ensure their records are watertight. How many times have we talked about the importance of clear and contemporaneous documentation. Peter’s advice is pragmatic: adapt now, or risk being left behind. Adopt AI and make it work for you. He believes communication - not just legal knowledge - will be the key differentiator for firms in the future.
With the proliferation of technology in legal services Peter urges the sector to evolve before it’s overtaken.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, SmartSearch and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
In the third and final instalment of his "Perfect" trilogy, former CEO of the fastest growing law firm at the time-turned consultant Simon McCrum shares his views on what it takes to be the Perfect Partner in a legal business.
Through the course of his book, and in previous podcasts, Simon has explored what it takes to create 'The Perfect Legal Business' and 'The Perfect Lawyer.' In this Today's Conveyancer podcast, Simon discusses what it takes to be 'The Perfect Partner' and how through the three books the roles fit together.
He introduces the concept of the 'four-legged stool' essential to law firm success: clients, colleagues, cash, and compliance. Each leg represents a critical pillar, and missing any one of them destabilises the entire operation.
In The Perfect Lawyer Simon explores lawyer behaviours and the importance of aligning legal professionals with the firm’s broader goals. However, Simon’s journey led him to a deeper realization: the true drivers of change and culture within firms are the partners. These individuals hold disproportionate influence, and their behaviours—whether constructive or toxic—can make or break a firm’s trajectory.
In The Perfect Partner, Simon reframes partners as “influencers,” arguing that leadership is not about title but about behaviour and impact. He outlines two key dimensions: first, whether a partner’s behaviour earns trust and influence; and second, how that influence is directed. A partner who is chaotic, bullying, or disengaged cannot lead effectively. Conversely, those who are consistent, respectful, and strategic can galvanize their teams and drive meaningful change.
The book also critiques traditional law firm structures, particularly the paralysis-by-committee that often stifles progress. Marketing, too, comes under scrutiny as Simon argues law firm marketing should prioritise developing existing clients and using that success as a differentiator, rather than chasing new leads with generic messaging.
The trilogy is designed to be read independently, but together they chart Simon’s evolution from managing partner to legal business consultant. Each book builds on the last, culminating in a comprehensive blueprint for sustainable success in the legal sector. And the message is clear; real transformation begins with leadership, and The Perfect Partner offers a candid, actionable guide for partners—and aspiring partners—who want to lead with purpose and impact.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, SmartSearch and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
Bamboo is an emerging threat that’s quietly taking root in gardens and, increasingly, in legal disputes according to Emily Grant, Director of Operations at Environet UK, who joins the latest Today's Conveyancer podcast.
Emily is a seasoned environmental scientist and a familiar voice in the conveyancing space, having provided expertise on Japanese knotweed and other invasive species. With the spotlight on bamboo she explains the risks it poses to property and how to identify it; including the difference between clump-forming and running bamboo, highlighting the latter’s ability to spread aggressively through soil, under fences, and even into buildings. Emily shares real-world horror stories of bamboo infiltrating floor voids, damaging patios, and even sprouting through kitchen appliances. Unlike Japanese knotweed, bamboo isn’t currently covered by legislation or flagged on the TA6 form, making it a hidden risk for buyers and conveyancers alike.
The conversation explores the blurred lines of responsibility between surveyors, conveyancers, and homeowners. Emily stresses the importance of early identification and professional remediation, especially as nuisance claims related to bamboo encroachment become more common. She also touches on the lack of public awareness and the need for education across the property sector.
And providing advice for conveyancers and home movers, Emily wraps up saying whether bamboo is present or suspected, don’t ignore it—recommend a specialist report and protect clients from costly surprises. With remediation bills running into the tens of thousands, for the cost of a report home owners and conveyancers can be reassured one way or the other.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, SmartSearch and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
In this episode of the Today's Conveyancer podcast, host David Opie welcomes Scott Bozinis, CEO of InfoTrack UK, for a candid and wide-ranging conversation marking a decade of innovation in the UK conveyancing sector.
In a rare interview Bozinis discusses his journey since launching InfoTrack in the UK ten years ago. A technologist at heart, someone more comfortable behind a keyboard than in front of a microphone, Bozinis is the driving force behind InfoTrack’s hugely successful UK journey. He shares insights that are both personal and industry-defining. Originally from Australia, Scott reflects on his unexpected move to the UK, the early challenges of launching a business from scratch, and the cultural and operational differences between the two property markets.
The conversation explores InfoTrack’s evolution from a fledgling startup to a major player in UK legal technology. Bozinis discusses the pivotal acquisition of STL, which provided the local expertise and infrastructure needed to scale. He also touches on the importance of solving practical problems without disrupting established workflows—focusing on automation, integration, and user experience.
The conversation turns to broader property challenges, including the role of open-source collaboration, the balance between commercial success and industry stewardship, and the future of conveyancing technology. Bozinis shares his vision for the next five years, emphasising incremental innovation and the importance of working together to improve the home-buying experience.
The episode closes with reflections on personal milestones, including InfoTrack’s receipt of the King’s Award and hopes for a more seamless, enjoyable property transaction process for all. This is a thoughtful and inspiring listen for anyone interested in legal tech, entrepreneurship, or the future of conveyancing in the UK.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, SmartSearch and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
In the regular quarterly update looking at the latest statistics from Landmark, Today's Conveyancer Podcast host David Opie is joined by Ben Robinson and Rob Gurney of Landmark to pore over the latest Property Trends report covering the second quarter of 2025.
This is the first opportunity to review the impact of the stamp duty deadline on 31st March 2025, with a 79% year-on-year surge in completions compared to March 2024. There was an expected dip in April, down a third year on year and the interesting inference from the stats in the quarter's report is the subdued recovery, which is ongoing now in July, says Gurney.
In the first half of the year the market is 8% up, driven by the SDLT deadline and with listing volumes up 5% on 2024 there is a desire to move; but with so many properties on the market, it's a buyer's paradise and there is much less urgency says Robinson, resulting in a realignment of asking price and reduced transaction speed.
Summary of Q2 year-on-year activity for England and Wales:
- In England and Wales listings volumes were up 5% in Q2 ‘25 compared to Q2 ‘24.
- In England and Wales SSTC volumes in Q2 ‘25 were down 7% in Q2 ‘25 compared to Q2 ‘24.
- Completion volumes, in England and Wales, were down 20% in Q2 ‘25 compared to Q2 ’24.
Listen in to this shorter podcast for the latest insight and opinion.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, SmartSearch and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
In this episode of the Today's Conveyancer Podcast, host David Opie is joined by Richard Flemmings, CEO and founder of Map Impact, and Oliver Baldock, Director at Ashfield Solutions. Together, they unpack the Wennington wildfire of July 2022—an event that triggered the London Fire Brigade’s busiest day since World War II—and explore its implications for the property sector.
Richard and Ollie bring specialist insight into climate risk and environmental consultancy, offering a detailed account of how the fire unfolded, why it caught experts off guard, and what it signals about the UK’s increasing exposure to climate-related hazards.
The discussion moves beyond the immediate damage to examine the long-term consequences—from land contamination and insurance gaps to the emotional toll on affected homeowners. The panel also considers the evolving role of conveyancers, the expectations set out in the Law Society’s climate guidance, and how lenders and insurers are responding to the challenge.
With climate events becoming more frequent and severe, this episode highlights the need for joined-up thinking across the property lifecycle. It’s a timely and thought-provoking conversation for professionals navigating the future of home ownership in a changing climate.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, SmartSearch and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
In this episode of the Today’s Conveyancer Podcast, host David Opie sits down with Louise Wise of Relatus to shed light on the complex world of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) and how proactive advice can transform outcomes for conveyancers and clients alike.
Drawing on her transition from family law solicitor to specialist in property taxation, Louise shares the journey that led her to become a leading voice in SDLT advisory. She explains how Relatus evolved from assisting consumers with business rate relief to specialising in SDLT and partnering more closely with legal professionals.
The conversation tackles the practical risks conveyancers face, especially around compliance checks, liability, and the nuances of under- or overpaying stamp duty. Louise outlines the importance of correctly identifying property types, assessing client circumstances, and understanding legislative grey areas.
They also explore overlooked considerations such as incentives on new-build properties, purchaser characteristics, and the implications of developer contributions.
With a clear focus on risk mitigation, collaboration, and accuracy, this episode is an essential listen for conveyancers seeking clarity, protection, and a more robust approach to SDLT reporting. Louise’s insights reveal why outsourcing tax advice could soon become as routine as ordering searches.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
In this episode of the Today's Conveyancer Podcast, host David Opie is joined by Thomas Mieszkowski, a partner in the corporate team at Walker Morris LLP. The conversation takes a deep dive into mergers and acquisitions in the legal sector, with a special focus on private equity’s increasing interest in law firms.
Thomas shares insights from his recent experience advising on the sale of two mixed-practice firms to private equity-backed consolidators. He explains what makes law firms appealing to investors—from their recurring revenue and low overheads to the potential for market consolidation in a highly fragmented sector.
The discussion also explores why firms are pursuing investment in the first place. Key drivers include the need for capital to fund tech innovation, evolving succession planning pressures, and the desire to reduce financial risk while enabling growth.
David and Thomas consider what private equity is looking for in a prospective acquisition: strong financial fundamentals, cultural fit, a capable management team, and scalable operations. They touch on deal structures, talent retention strategies, and how firms are positioning themselves for potential sale.
This episode offers a timely and practical look at how private equity is reshaping law firm ownership—and what the future might hold for the sector.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
David Opie hosts the latest episode of the Today's Conveyancer Podcast, featuring guest Nick Huntley, Commercial Director at Rello. With extensive experience across estate agency, property portals, and conveyancing technology, Nick offers a wealth of knowledge on sales progression and chain management.
The discussion explores Rello's innovative approach to streamlining home-moving transactions, combining experienced professionals with cutting-edge technology. Nick emphasizes the importance of providing a single source of truth in property chains, ensuring greater transparency, reducing inefficiencies, and improving communication between estate agents, conveyancers, and mortgage brokers.
Nick also highlights the evolving role of AI in property transactions, discussing how automation can complement human expertise rather than replace it. He touches on upcoming changes in material information requirements, the potential benefits of early conveyancer instruction at the point of listing, and how greater collaboration can enhance the process.
This episode offers a fresh perspective on the intersection of technology and property transactions, demonstrating how industry-wide cooperation can improve speed and efficiency in home-moving. Listeners gain valuable insights into the future of sales progression and how solutions like Rello can help reshape the experience.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
In this episode of the Today's Conveyancer podcast, host David Opie welcomes Gavin Burton, Co-founder and trainer at Beruku Knowledge, to discuss the evolving threats of identity fraud, deep fakes, and artificial intelligence in the legal sector. With a distinguished 26-year career in the Metropolitan Police, Gavin led a specialised team focused on ID fraud, making his insights into fraudulent identity documents invaluable.
The conversation explores the increasing availability of counterfeit documents online, the challenges law enforcement faces in tracking perpetrators, and how social media and encrypted messaging services facilitate fraud. Gavin details how criminals manipulate biometric chips and forge machine-readable zones to bypass security checks.
For legal professionals, this discussion underscores the importance of robust ID verification processes, technology-driven solutions, and ongoing awareness training to mitigate risks. Gavin highlights how regulators are imposing significant fines for anti-money laundering failures, reinforcing the need for vigilance in adapting to emerging threats.
His expertise offers a compelling case for leveraging advanced AI tools while understanding the limitations of physical document verification. This episode provides critical insights into fraud prevention, regulation, and technology in modern legal practice.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
The latest podcast explores the transformative potential of artificial intelligence in conveyancing, focusing on its ability to enhance efficiency, reduce administrative burdens, and improve risk management. Host David Opie is joined by Chris Harris, the founder of Collaborative Conveyancing, who shares insights into how AI-driven tools can streamline tasks such as document analysis, inquiry management, and property searches.
A key takeaway is the shift in client expectations, as AI enables faster information retrieval and response times. Clients are increasingly using AI to fact-check legal processes, which raises new challenges for conveyancers in maintaining trust and transparency.
The discussion delves into the ethical considerations and regulatory challenges surrounding AI adoption, emphasizing the importance of human oversight to mitigate risks such as misinformation and data security concerns. While AI can automate routine processes, the necessity for legal expertise remains crucial in complex property transactions.
Chris Harris presents real-world examples of AI applications, including automated inquiry handling and AI-driven voice assistants for conveyancing quotes. While AI will not replace conveyancers, it is poised to reshape workflows, allowing professionals to focus on complex legal matters rather than routine administrative tasks.
Ultimately, the conversation underscores that AI is not a threat but a tool that, when implemented responsibly, can empower conveyancers and enhance the property transaction process.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
The latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast welcomes PJ Singh and George Levett of Conveyancer Plus to discuss how they are working with firms to help them manage their pipelines, and create a consistent pipeline of work, rather than become over-reliant on third part lead sources.
The discussion covers how using outsourced services can bring down complaints around communications (conveyancing is the most complained about areas of consumer of law), ensure consistency in pricing and process, which sets expectations accordingly at the outset of the relationship.
Interestingly, analysis of their service identifies the average call duration with a prospective client is over 8 minutes; and despite the array of communications options (instant messaging, email, live chat etc) George says 80% of enquiries prefer phone calls.
The result is a 95% conversion on estate agent and broker referrals (vs. industry average of 70–80%); near 30% conversion on comparison site leads (vs. typical 5–10%); and 60% conversion on website leads (vs. typical 30–40%).
Only by understanding your numbers in relation to live files and soon-to-be -completed matters can firms be proactive with their business development and ensure they are making data-driven decisions on workload and future bottlenecks.
PJ and George share their experience of working with firms to improve their conversion rates; not just from the point of view of direct engagement with clients, but also the lessons being learnt around what should be on firm's social media, what should be on their websites, and how consumers respond.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
Expert legal trainer Ian Quayle of IQ Legal Training returns in this series of bitesize Today's Conveyancer Podcast episodes to explore a range of topics around conveyancing.
"Transaction Tips" draws on Ian's extensive experience in and around the property sector discussing important topics conveyancers need to be thinking about.
The latest episode considers the bizarre case of Patarkatsishvili and another -v- Woodward-Fisher; better known as the £32.5 million property in London, where the buyer successfully rescinded the contract due to a concealed infestation of clothes moths.
The case serves as a cautionary tale about the importance of full and honest disclosure in the conveyancing process says Ian who provides a comprehensive overview of the case, as well as commentary on the impact for conveyancers when it comes to full disclosure on the TA forms, and the impact on the material information debate.
Ian warns conveyancers to clearly define their role and liability in their retainers, especially when information is shared before formal instruction. He adds misrepresentation—especially fraudulent or reckless—can lead to rescission and damages; Conveyancers must be cautious in advising clients and should avoid assuming liability for pre-instruction disclosures; and reminds us the case underscores the growing importance of transparency, due diligence, and clear legal boundaries in property transactions.
Ian will be back throughout the rest of the year with more Transaction Tips on the Today's Conveyancer Podcast. For information about the training Ian runs please visit www.todaysmedia.co.uk/todays-legal-training.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
Following the publication of The Law Society Climate Change Risk Property Practice Note Today's Conveyancer Podcast host David Opie speaks to former Groundsure CEO and now consultant to the market Dan Montagnani about what the Practice Note does, and critically, doesn't include and what action property lawyers might take as a result.
Building on the guidance published in 2022, the Practice Note provides property-specific outcomes with clarity no doubt welcomed as it helps define the boundaries of legal responsibility and provides a framework for managing client expectations.
Historically, climate risk in UK property law has focused heavily on flooding. However, the new guidance broadens the scope to include:
Wildfires – increasingly common in the UK, with recent events on Dartmoor and the Manchester Moors.
Drought and water stress – which can affect ground stability and infrastructure.
Heat stress – particularly in urban environments, impacting livability and energy efficiency.
While flooding remains a significant concern (with one in six UK properties at risk), the legal and practical implications of these other issues are becoming more pronounced and must be considered in property transactions.
And it's important to say this is not being driven by the search industry, adds Dan, highlighting the work ongoing across surveying (surveyors and lawyers share a collective responsibility to inform clients) lending and insurance sectors where climate risk is being factored in decision-making driven by both market forces and regulatory pressure.
As has been said before, the guidance reinforces that property lawyers are not expected to assess climate risks themselves but are responsible for:
- Identifying when a property may be affected by climate-related risks.
- Advising clients to seek further information, such as through environmental or climate-specific searches.
- Ensuring clients understand the implications, particularly regarding insurance availability, mortgage lending, and long-term property value.
Importantly, lawyers should clearly define the scope of their services in the retainer, especially if they choose to exclude climate risk advice. However, doing so may require significant effort to ensure clients understand the consequences of that exclusion.
In terms of market acceptance Dan draws parallels with the evolution of contaminated land searches, which took a decade to become standard practice. He predicted that climate searches will become routine much faster due to the availability of the data, regulatory momentum and greater consumer pressure.
By embracing climate risk assessments, clearly communicating with clients, and leveraging available data, conveyancers can not only protect themselves from liability but also enhance the quality and integrity of their service he concludes.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
In the regular quarterly update looking at the latest statistics from Landmark, Today's Conveyancer Podcast host David Opie is joined by Ben Robinson and Rob Gurney of Landmark to pore over the latest Property Trends report covering the first quarter of 2025.
Given the changes to stamp duty thresholds on 1st April 2025 there is no surprise the first quarter of the year has seen a sizeable increase in the number of completions, up 30% in the first quarter year-on-year and a staggering 71% on March 2024.
And the good news keeps on coming with key indicators of continuing stability looking positive for the remainder of 2025; including an 8% rise in mortgage valuation volumes year on year driven by greater interest rate stability (the podcast was recorded just before the Bank of England rates cut announcement on 8th May). Sold Subject to Contract (SSTC) activity was also up month-on-month, with the 4.4% increase suggesting new activity entering the pipeline regardless of SDLT changes.
Summary of Q1 year-on-year activity for England and Wales:
- Listing volumes up 1%
- SSTC down 9%
- Search order volumes up 8%
- Completions up 30%
Listen in to this shorter podcast for the latest insight and opinion.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
Since Labour came to power 12 months ago they have made home ownership one of their key messages. The headlines have focused on their ambitions to build 1.5m new homes over the course of this Parliament and in February they announced they would be 'modernising' home buying and selling process to make it fit for the 21st Century; but what does it really mean for conveyancers?
The latest Today's Conveyancer podcast welcomes two protagonists who are involved in these efforts Nick Chadbourne, CEO of LMS, and Angela Hesketh, Head of Market Development at PEXA who both join the discussion in their roles representing the Open Property Data Association (OPDA).
In the short term there are two ongoing projects; a A 12-week assessment of the needs of industry, specifically around data sharing and standardisation.
The second project is led by Land Registry, and aims to digitise data points managed by central government and local authorities with the ambition to streamline data access and improve efficiency
The OPDA's role is on creating the framework both for collecting and storing data associated with property transactions; and subsequently enabling it to be shared and relied upon. Nick describes the process as providing a 'vouch' validating its origin and reliability, allowing conveyancers to make informed decisions without extensive rechecking.
ID has been widely touted as a user case; instead of verifying ID 3,4,5 times throughout a transaction it can instead be verified once and relied upon thereafter. There are specific issues particular to property explains Angela, and work is ongoing to create a supplementary code to existing digital identity legislation that meets these unique needs.
Both Nick and Angela are excited about the potential; a world in which conveyancers can trust the data they receive and focus on delivering a high-quality service without the burden of extensive verification and reverification. Alongside bringing more of that verified data to the fore at the outset of the transaction and being able to rely upon it, this shift would allow conveyancers to concentrate on their core responsibilities and improve the overall customer journey.
Listen in to hear how the government's modernisation agenda is shaping up and how it impacts conveyancers and the wider property profession.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
The latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast welcomes workplace culture and staff retention specialist Andre Thomas of Thomas Telman to discuss the critical importance of cultivating a positive workplace culture and the direct impact this has on staff retention and overall business success.
The firm has created a empirical methodology by which culture can be measured through engagement surveys, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews. He identifies 15 key data points for assessing culture, including career development, psychological safety, retention rates, and recruitment costs. By gathering both quantitative and qualitative data, firms can gain a comprehensive understanding of their workplace culture and identify areas for improvement.
Throughout the discussion Andre shares some of the detail of this methodology which can reduce the likelihood of errors and claims (engaged and satisfied employees are less likely to make mistakes), create positive cultures where employees feel valued, and aligned with the company's values increasing productivity, and plays a sizeable role in attracting and retaining top talent and ultimately improving profitability.
Andre Thomas explains that many firms fail to take culture seriously due to a lack of clear definition and measurement. He argues that culture is not about superficial perks like table tennis tables or bean bags but about the genuine employee experience. Conversely, a toxic culture is marked by poor communication, lack of psychological safety, and high turnover.
He encourages firms to be open about their findings and involve employees in the process of making improvements; trust and transparency are the foundations of a positive workplace culture, which in turn drives staff retention and business success.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
In the latest episode of the Today's Conveyancer podcast, host David Opie welcomes Rob Gurney, Managing Director of Ochresoft to discuss how long conveyancing actually takes; and why lower the lower transaction volumes of the last couple of years haven't seen corresponding falls in completion times.
A new report from Landmark which interrogates the data held in the Ochresoft conveyancing workflows shows despite lower transaction volumes and advancements in technology, the time taken for property transactions has doubled since 2007. The average time from instruction to completion has increased from 85 days in 2007 to 160 days in 2024 for sales, and from 75 days to 120 days for purchases.
There is, says Rob, a need for fundamental changes in the conveyancing process, including early instruction of lawyers and the adoption of technology. Rob has previously been on the Today's Conveyancer podcast discussing the perfect contract pack; conveyancing nirvana, where unnecessary enquiries are eradicated, and the process is streamlined to meet modern consumer expectations.
For the time being issues around staffing (a 15% fall in qualified conveyancing numbers since the pandemic has caused bottlenecks); increased responsibility during the transaction meaning conveyancers now deal with roughly double the number of requirements they previously did; and regulatory changes including AML and BSA all have an impact on timelines.
But there are factors within conveyancers' control says Rob, suggesting the earlier instruction of lawyers would go some way to streamlining the process later down the line. Instruction at the point of listing provides time to prepare documentation and data in advance. With search turnarounds now down to c.10 days, fewer complaints can be made about delays here, but ordering them in good time will help.
And despite an 8 day reduction in the time it takes to deal with pre-contract enquiries between 2023 and 2024, the current 52-day average is double the time it took in 2007.
Let's not forget, concludes Rob, we're all trying to achieve the same thing and no one gets paid until the transaction completes. For estate agents, shorter transaction times mean faster pipeline turnover and increased revenue. For lenders and consumers, delays can lead to financial losses due to expiring mortgage offers and changing interest rates. And for conveyancers faster transactions means better fees and happier clients.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
This latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast welcomes conveyancing post-completion specialist Priscilla Sinder to discuss the importance of investment in post-completion to avoid costly mistakes.
In the wake of March 2025 when SDLT thresholds prompting a sizeable increase in demand and transaction volumes, post-completion work is under scrutiny.
Post-completion, says Priscilla, is one of those jobs that falls down the list of priorities because it doesn't generate any revenue. The skills have been diluted and education and training is critical to bridge the knowledge gap around post completion work
She highlights the sometimes forgotten compliance and risk aspects of post-completion, including the potential for litigation if applications are not submitted on time. The elephant in the room are the delays at HMLR but we have to look at the impact of the pandemic and be a little forgiving says Priscilla and be patient the agency's recruitment and technology plans will drive improvements.
Through her own training programmes Priscilla advocates the adoption of post-completion policies which provide a framework against which firms can ensure they are operating in a compliant manner. A main, overarching policy can be complemented by sub-post completion policies including Post-Completion Compliance Policy, a File Management Policy, a Reply to Requisition Policy and more.
Checklists are a key tool to help eliminate errors, improve accuracy and save time. Having checklists in place will ensure errors are spotted pre-submission, requisition rates are reduced, and ensure consistency in how applications are processed and submitted says Priscilla.
The podcast concludes with a discussion on the importance of post-completion specialisation and the need for continuous education and training in the field.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
The first of a new series of discussions on the Today's Conveyancer Podcast, host David Opie is joined by expert legal trainer Ian Quayle of IQ Legal Training, to explore a range of topics around conveyancing.
"Transaction Tips" will draw on Ian's extensive experience in and around the property sector discussing important topics conveyancers need to be thinking about.
In this first discussion on scoping the retainer, Ian shares his expertise of what to include, and more importantly, what not to include in client retainers. The retainers establishes our relationship with the client and starts to create and manage expectations.
He also explores best practice around ensuring retainers remain under review; and the firm have evidence on file the client has read and understood it. In the ever-changing world of conveyancing; and with issues like Building Safety Act and the upcoming changes to TA6 Protocol Forms, it's more important than ever to ensure retainers remain as relevant and up to date as possible.
Ian warns firms against what he describes as "retainer creep"; an issue where a firm ends up doing something as part of the transaction they expressly exclude from the retainer; using the example of a boundary query. In such cases firms must expand the retainer or end up at risk of liability.
Ian will be back throughout the rest of the year with more Transaction Tips on the Today's Conveyancer Podcast. For information about the training Ian runs please visit www.todaysmedia.co.uk/todays-legal-training.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
Travis Scholes, Commercial Director at LMS, joins Today's Conveyancer Podcast host David Opie to discuss the National Property Transaction Network (NPTN); an enablement platform where all those involved in the property transaction can interact in a way that creates greater efficiencies in the process.
Discussing the evolution of the concept Travis explains how the last 5 years has seen the level of digitisation within each of the property silos develop astronomically; what's missing is a place where all those different elements of digitisation can work best together and and make the best use of that digital maturity that has taken place.
We've got to make that burden to change easier, says Travis. We see NPTN as a way to knock down some of the roadblocks by creating a really open system into which anybody can plug; decoupling the LMS products and services from the network so they're not mandated and any one can plug their supply chain into it.
The more people use a single platform to leverage the efficiencies the more powerful the data becomes, the more efficient the process becomes. We can also reduce the administrative burden by de-duplicating data entry points and creating more transparency
Change will be evolutionary, not revolutionary. The big bang approach where everyone has to stop what they're doing and adopt a completely new way of working is impossible. And we're still going through a process of helping the profession understand what this change looks like. In addition we've got to overcome some of the "technology fatigue" that has crept in; the idea that people become tired of hearing about the next big thing.
In an entertaining, informative, and typically honest, discussion Travis explains how and why LMS are keen to play their part int he next iteration of the property market.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
Rob Houghton, CEO of reallymoving joins the Today's Conveyancer Podcast to discuss what home moving was like before the iPhone.
reallymoving.com is a comparison site for for home moving services and recently celebrated 25 years in business.
In a fascinating discussion about the evolution of online marketing, Rob discusses what the world of online was like in 1999 and the evolution of web search in the following years. He explains how the model of bidding for keywords developed, alongside the process of building websites that provided information for consumers.
One of the criticisms directed at comparison sites is they simply encourage the race to the bottom on price; that by providing information driven by price, firms have no choice but to offer lower prices to be competitive.
It's a fair comment says Rob, but critically he describes reallymoving as a "comparison site", not a "price comparison site." Semantics perhaps but an important distinction he says as while price is important, there are other factors like reviews, location, and information about a firm's approach to client communication (home moving milestone apps etc) that inform a client's decision.
He says after price, reviews is the next most important way people choose their conveyancer, adding most people who convert through the website do not choose the lowest price.
Given the changes the business has been through over the last 25 years, looking ahead for the next 25 years is hugely challenging. No question the continued digitisation of the industry will continue apace say Rob, and as far as lead generation is concerned, there will be a deeper integration between lead generators and firms, and firms and their clients; almost certainly powered by artificial intelligence.
But Rob concludes on the thought that in 1999 comparison sites were largely an unknown quantity. Fast forward 25 years and they are now commonplace and are hugely powerful and important to the consumer experience when it comes to travel, leisure, financial services and many other sectors. Law firms take note!
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
Podcast host David Opie in joined by CEO of the charity LawCare, Elizabeth Rimmer, to discuss their latest "Life in the Law" surveys which are now open for completion until Friday 21st March.
LawCare supports and promotes mental health and wellbeing across the legal services sector. They have 2 main focuses. Their first is in providing direct support on and offline for those who wish to reach out. Their second focus is on providing wider education and advocacy of mental health planning and promotion across the law. Importantly, says Elizabeth, LawCare help organisations understand how they can better support their people through identifying risk factors in the work place that undermine people's mental health
The survey last ran in 2020 with the results published in 2021 and found 69% of respondents said that had experienced poor mental health. Addressing some of the reasons why the survey found 1 in 5 respondents had experienced bullying and workplace harassment; and less than half of respondents with line management responsibilities had any formal training.
In 2025 there are 2 surveys to complete; one for individuals and one for organisations. More information about how to complete the surveys is on the LawCare website (Life in the Law) and below.
The surveys are asking questions about wellbeing, hours people work, psychological safety, burnout, management and support, and bullying and harassment.
For organisations, the survey is looking into whats steps are organisations taking to address the factors of poor mental health. Good mental health is a strategic investment, says Elizabeth. Staff who have positive mental health are going to be more effective, more productive, more likely to stay in the organisations.
The objective of the surveys is to help produce evidence based best practice for firms to practically implement into their organisations. This needs to be done properly, strategically, and you need to give people capacity to deliver it concludes Elizabeth.
Complete the surveys via the links below:
- Life in the Law 2025 (Individuals)
- Life in the Law 2025 (Organisations)
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast welcomes Group Chief Commercial Officer at First4Lawyers, Nick Delaney, to discuss their first foray in conveyancing services.
The Group, best known for its FCA-regulated claims management company and SRA-regulated volume Road Traffic Accident work, has been going for 16 years and has launched F4LPlus; a comparison and lead generation service for consumers seeking conveyancing services.
Throughout the discussion Nick explains how the project has developed over the past 18 months in an effort to diversify the business; and why conveyancing, rather than other consumer legal services such as wills, probate, employment and family services, has been the testing ground.
Nick says the service is about helping consumers make a choice about who they want to use; but recognises the challenge services like F4LPlus and other comparison tools have in differentiating their panel firms.
Geography, consumer reviews and carefully curated profiles are among the selection criteria presented to enquirers in an effort to try and give the consumer more than the price to look at.
If there are lessons to be learnt from the extensive experience in high volume personal injury and clinical negligence matters First4Lawyers are best known for, it is recognising the importance of a sales process for the leads generated. Successful firms are the ones who have people at the front end helping clients, says Nick. The speed at which consumers get a response plays a key role in their decision-making process.
And above all "firms who are good at picking up the phone and speaking to the consumer get more work" - Nick is unequivocal about this. You can automate much of the enquiry management process but at some point you need to pick up the phone and speak to people, he adds.
Tackling criticism often leveled at comparison sites around the quality of leads, F4LPlus say they have firms converting 20%+ of their leads such are the verification stages the software requires, including creating an account, going through an initial fact fine, including timescales and budget, and working with firms to create an efficient follow up process.
Conveyancing is the testing ground for the new service, with Nick hopeful of expanding into other areas of law in the future.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
The Today's Conveyancer Podcast welcomes back Dan Warburton, a law firm consultant and trainer who specialises in helping individuals delegate work more effectively; in the process junior staff are elevated, the individual has a happier work/life balance, and ultimately the firm can be more profitable.
It's a soapbox Dan has jumped on before having appeared previously on the podcast to discuss “the skill of profitable delegation;” creating leaders who can deliver high levels of performance across their team. Few partners achieve what Dan describes as a “transition out of being a technician in the business to being a business owner"; it should be their objective to remove themselves from a position where the structure and success of the organisation relies on them.
This discussion centres on the launch of Dan's book "Delegate Now to Supercharge Your Profits" in which he outlines the secrets to his methodology;
- including the key differences between "delegation" and "profitable delegation" - "It’s easy to delegate work away ineffectively... It’s a very different skill to delegate work away and have it handled to a high standard whilst gaining a great reputation and making a firm reliably profitable.")
- Proactive and reactive management - "I’ve come to see that there really is no other way than leading regular one-on-one calls to lead and manage team members effectively."
- Leading teams in a way that makes them loyal to you
Throughout the podcast Dan discusses tips and tactics for how to work with individuals in the business to help them become more efficient, effective and confident members of the team which in turn enables leaders to lead, rather than remaining forever in the The Law Technician’s Valley of Doom - It’s where partners are all burned out from working long hours and cannot see how to increase their firms’ profits without working even longer hours.
They cannot stop working, and they cannot take breaks to recharge their batteries very often. They take holidays infrequently because their firms rely on them so much to keep operating.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
A new consumer awareness website has been launched to help conveyancers and home movers understand the risks associated with coastal erosion. CoastClear is a partnership launched by Groundsure with Chief Customer Officer David Kempster joining the latest Today's Conveyancer podcast to explain more about the objectives behind the initiative.
There are c.10,000 homes that are now at serious, imminent risk of falling off a cliff; and by 2050 that will quadruple to 40,000. There is, says David, a degree of rose tinted spectacles when it comes to purchasing property near the coast. People buy with their heart, not their head, and this is an effort to raise consumer awareness of the associated risks.
Coastal erosion creates a lending risk as the coastline moves steadily closer to homes nearby, particularly in areas like Norfolk and Suffolk. Coupled with the general trend toward longer mortgages, properties which may at one time have been considered fine to lend on, become unmortgageable. Unlike flood, which can be cleared and cleaned, coastal erosion causes a total loss of asset for both the bank and homeowners, and they simply won't lend.
In a similar vein, when it comes to remortgaging, lending decisions evolve during the course of property ownership as the sea edges closer to the property.
While the website (www.coastclear.co.uk) is aimed at consumers, the partnership is part of the wider climate considerations that home movers, and conveyancers now undertake. We're already reporting on ground stability and subsidence says David, this is one element to flag which affected home movers. It is also part of the Law Society's climate guidance which is due to be ratified in the coming months.
Home movers increasingly want and need this information and so as professionals should we be pointing them at resources that can help. Conveyancers are encouraged to engage with it and make sure they're signposting home movers to the postcode checker on the website which will provide an indicating of whether the property is at risk.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
How do law firms choose the right technology? Its a conundrum many law firms face and with so much technology available to them, how can they be sure they're selecting the right option for them?
Chris Williams of Novus Strategy & Consulting joins the Today's Conveyancer podcast to share his thoughts and insight on the topic; borne out of his experience working across the property transaction, and notably with lenders in recent years.
In simple terms, he says firms should focus on solutions which align with their strategy, client needs, and operational goals. And when outlining what strategy firm's might adopt, Chris adds strategy is "where you play and how you win."
But in the current technology climate, where there seems to be rapid change, and moving goalposts if you take the example of settlement where the future remains uncertain; how do firms know if they're "winning"? And how can they prepare for something that may or may not happen?
There is lots of time to prepare, says Chris. The market does not move quickly and we can see what is coming down the track. The key is to work with vendors and partners who can provide interoperability and scalability for long term success
Alongside settlement, which is one discussion point to consider, Chris adds there is an evolution of the mortgage process coming; which in turn is going to drive some of the work around data standardisation and horizontal data integration; the idea that in each of the existing verticals (lending, brokering, estate agency and conveyancing) there is significant progress on digitisation and the next step is to bring that all together and create greater connectivity throughout the course of the transaction.
Drawing on the experience of the retail sector, which went through its own digital (r)evolution, in Chris's view the individual sections of the market are reaching digital maturity to enable the connectivity currently missing to develop and sees the home moving process could look very different in just a few years' time.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
In the second episode of the new series of the Today's Conveyancer podcast former Google-exec turned prop-tech entrepreneur Gemma Young discusses her journey on helping improve the home moving process.
In a wide ranging discussion Gemma and Today's Conveyancer podcast host David Opie explore the work being done to digitise the relationships between estate agents and conveyancers, and the conveyancing process. In her words Gemma is witnessing what she considers to be a shift in mindset around organisations prepared to collaborate more now, than ever before.
And if there is a takeaway from the discussion it is for professionals to invest time in 2025 to find out what is happening from a technology and process point of view, and who is leading that charge.
How do we move from the current situation where 1 in 3 property transactions fall through, to creating greater certainty in the process; and by extension reinvesting billion of pounds back in to the UK economy?
There is no silver bullet and Gemma discusses the work being done on to connect so much that is being in silos; improving the quality of data through the Property Data Trust Framework (PDTF) and enabling that to be shared throughout the transaction rather than the extensive duplication in the current process; and educating professionals and consumers on what that change looks like.
There's an opportunity to fundamentally make a change in how we transact property says Gemma, and if I was speaking to conveyancers I would say lean in, learn, read, and find out more about what's happening in the space.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
Ben Robinson and Rob Gurney of Landmark join host David Opie on the first Today's Conveyancer Podcast of 2025 to discuss the recently published Property Trends Report covering the final quarter of 2024.
A regular feature of the podcast, the report looks data from within the Landmark group around property listings, sold-subject-to-contract numbers, search order volumes and completions; benchmarking the numbers against 2019 - the last year the property market might be considered to have been normal before the turmoil of COVID-19 and the ensuing turbulence.
Reviewing the year's numbers there is a case to consider the property market has settled into a new normal ahead of 2025, with much of the data tracking at around two-thirds 2019 volumes.
"6 years is a long time ago" says Ben Robinson, "if we think back we had the 2006 'before normal,' and we got to 2010-11 before people realised that wasn't the normal anymore. It will be interesting to see where that new normal levels off."
The latest report reveals
- Listing volumes were up 8% in Q4 ‘24 vs Q4 ‘19.
- Sold subject to contract (SSTC) volumes in Q4 ‘24 were down 33% when compared to Q4 ‘19 volumes.
- Completions have fallen by 37% in Q4 ’24 vs Q4 ‘19.
- Search order volumes in Q4 2024 were down 18% vs Q4 2019 levels, albeit December 2019 volumes were also comparatively low.
But with the market artificially stimulated by the stamp duty relief deadline for first time buyers coming in March what does the rest of 2025 hold for the property market? Listen in to hear Ben and Rob's thoughts and predictions.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
"Houseful" is probably best known for the property portal Zoopla, but the technology giant is steadily building an array of property and data businesses and has under it's umbrella estate agent software Alto, new homes software Yourkeys and Hometrack, a UK provider of automated valuations and property insights.
Their latest venture, Movemnt, launched in July 2024 and through their relationship with LMS soon said it was working with 6 of the top 10 conveyancers by volume in the country; somewhat flying in under the radar.
In this latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast, host David Opie is joined by Houseful Product Director, Owen Rogers, tasked with developing their first foray into the conveyancing market.
Owen explains Movemnt is a network where conveyancers can connect with the Houseful ecosystem of estate agents and consumers. It will enable conveyancers to grow their business and provide an 'integration layer' for the exchange of data and communication.
Challenged on Movemnt being another panel management solution, Owen says distribution is a key component of the tool and there will be expectations on, for example, uniform onboarding but the solution is being pitched as a 'data exchange, a connectivity layer' integrating data from conveyancer's systems to other players in the home transaction.
Which leads on to material and up front information which Owen says is a 'catalyst event' for the industry driving the importance of conveyancers up the transaction. The other key driver for change is the Data (Use and Access) Bill which has been introduced into Parliament which seeks to enable data to be used and shared with relevant permissions. Owen sees it compelling the industry to share data, at the request of consumers and will remove much of the current duplication of effort. But, he warns, it will still be incumbent on technology providers like Houseful to work with insurers to support property professionals in their use and reliance on shared data.
Given there is much work going on silos around solving the current issues on material and up front information, reliance on third party data and duplication, is Houseful simply bringing another technology product to market that doesn't solve the fundamental issue that moving home is a hugely collaborative and complicated affair, bringing multiple parties together.
No, says Owen, through its relationships with estate agents, lenders, and consumers, in many ways conveyancing was a missing part of the jigsaw for the business; "I can't think of another business that is as well positioned with its product, distribution, development house, and partnerships as Houseful."
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
Having talked about keeping the search industry on its toes in their previous appearance on the podcast, Kevin Johnson and Jeremy Dorkins of On Point Data join the latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast to provide update on their progress over the last 18 months, climate change, the quality of search information and advice for practitioners, and the pace of technological change in the property sector.
With the Law Society Property Conference hosting a panel discussion on the topic, and updated guidance for practitioners recently published, climate change is a hot potato for conveyancers. The Law Society is clear, where further guidance is required, conveyancers must refer to the data providers; a sentiment echoed by Kevin:
Solicitors are are not subject matter experts on climate change, or planning for example. It is our role to firms in touch with the right people to help them best advise their clients.
Another issue Jeremy sees is the wrong reports being requested for the type of land use and transaction they're conducting and it is the role of search companies to ensure the reports which best suit conveyancers' need is recommended.
On the progress of technology and speed of change both agree the "train has left the station" but there is still a lot of technology solving individual problems; where there needs to be a much more cohesive effort. It's likely, says Kevin, we need government intervention to really make progress.
But there are signs we're moving in the right direction adds Jeremy; don't forget it wasn't that long ago we were printing reams of pdfs, using DX and franking machines to send piles of paper search reports to firms. It was a big step forward for lawyers to be accepting reports by pdf and email.. and these steps keep happening as technology improves.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
The Today's Conveyancer Podcast once again brings you the results of the latest Property Trends Report, published by Landmark.
Host David Opie is joined by regular guest Ben Robinson, Managing Director of Landmark Estate Agency Services. This time Landmark Divisional Director Mike Holden joins to lend his expertise to the discussion which looks at the property market statistics for Q3 2024.
This shorter podcast looks at trends across property listing volumes, Sold Subject to Contract (SSTC) numbers, searches ordered and completions and benchmarks current numbers against 2019 data; the last time the property market was in a broadly "normal" cycle.
This latest report sees supply return to the market, with listing volumes above 2019 numbers but with most other measures well below, there is a sense that many movers await the promised reductions in interest rates, and the upcoming budget at the end of October.
Listen in to this shorter podcast which explores the broader trends behind the data and looks ahead at what's in store for the remainder of 2024 and into 2025.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
Firms and businesses who want to be found locally online for their products and services need to consider 149 different factors in order to ensure their online presence is search engine friendly.
This is according to Ben Marley, formerly of Rightmove, feefo and ESTAS, who joins the latest Today's Conveyancer podcast to discuss the launch of Geocale; a Google business profile management service that helps firms and businesses to be found, be chosen and be recommended in their locality.
The business was borne out of his experience working with firms to improve their online presence and focuses on helping organisations set up their Google My Business account, and manage it proactively, to appear higher on the map rankings.
And while we know most searches for services start online, if you needed any more evidence of searches for legal services with a local intent, Ben highlights there are 27,000 searches p/m for the term "Solicitor near me"; and 12,000 p/m for "Conveyancer near me".
These 149 factors influence the search results Google provides for search queries and the more you can align with what Google is looking for, the ore likely you are to appear both on the map, and higher up in the search results.
During the discussion Ben shares his top tips for firms for how they can improve some of the fundamental mistakes he sees on a daily basis; including ensuring names, addresses and opening times match up; being clear about locality; and requesting and responding to online reviews.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
Ryan Sparrow, a digital content specialist in the legal division of The Access Group joins podcast host David Opie to discuss a newly published report on the current state of conveyancing.
"The State of the UK Conveyancing Market", now in its third year, draws on data and expertise from a range of sources including HM Land Registry, technology and data providers, and industry commentators.
The picture is mixed; transaction volumes are down 20% on last year, the number of active conveyancers in the market is down 9%. There are fewer firms dong more cases, and more firms doing fewer cases; the bottom 50% of active firms have completed on average 47 cases p/a... less than one a week. Over 1000 firms have done 10 cases or fewer; of which nearly 300 have completed just one case.
There is some leeway in the exact numbers given delays at HMLR and some data, like new-build, being skewed, but there is a general trend.
"It raises the question of dabbling" says Ryan. "Do these firms have the appropriate expertise and risk management measures in place around things like anti-money laundering for example, which is a huge issue for conveyancers."
At the other end of the scale, the largest conveyancer completed 11,000 purchase transactions last year; 2% of the market total. The numbers fall dramatically thereafter with the 4th largest conveyancer completed just 50% of that number, and once you get down to the 50th largest by transaction volume, the number of transactions is c.10% of the largest. The report itself also looks at the breakdown regionally.
Other issues raised by the report include client complaints around communication and delays (a growing problem year on year identified by the Legal Ombudsman), business development and referrals.
The third edition of "The State of the UK Conveyancing Market" is available to download now.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.
Sayinthen Vivekanantham is the latest guest on the Today's Conveyancer Podcast to discuss his second career as founder of prop-tech solution Homey.
In his first career Say was a medical doctor until a few years ago when his side-hustle in developing a small property portfolio turned into a passion for helping estate agents and conveyancers work better together.
Homey has two sides; an estate agent referral element, and a client on-boarding element. Homey can facilitate the flow of work between estate agents and conveyancers, enabling firms to 'make more money from a captive referral base' says Say.
There is an opportunity to incorporate referral fees, but Say is clear Homey doesn't have a position on whether referral fees are good or bad. However, whoever is building technology in the property space would be foolish to ignore the way in which many transactions are currently instructed via a financial incentive; we can't be 'utopian' about this issues he adds.
Clearly referral fees squeeze margins so our focus should be on how we can play our part in creating greater efficiency in the process and raising fees. Say adds the profession must also play its part and encourage greater commerciality amongst staff. The law is a vocation, and the motivation to do a good job is admirable, but ultimately we must ensure we make the right commercial decisions to enable firms to grow; and do the right thing by your staff and shareholders/partners.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Celebrating 25 years in business, X-Press Legal Services co-founder Dave Lister joins the latest Today's Conveyancer podcast to discuss the changes he has seen in his time in the industry.
X-Press Legal Services, a search and ancillary services provider, is run by Dave and his wife Lynne, and their 3 adult children. The origins go back to Lynne's time in publishing when as the editor of a franchise magazine, she was introduced to the Property Search Group (PSG). The rest, as they say, is history.
In the 25 years since the business has seen the search industry change beyond almost all recognition. In the early days everything was paper-based, there was no digital services, says Dave. And they would spend hours and days hopping between local authorities to get the information.
He empathises with the sentiment that conveyancers are under far too much pressure; everything we do is to help the conveyancer and make their life easier says Dave.
There is still a place for the personal touch, recounting a recent call with a client about an issue identified with lead mining. You can't automate the process, he adds, there are too many rabbit holes. You won't ever remove the human from the process.
He calls on the profession to continue to collaborate and work together; and set expectations accordingly when it comes to access to data; let's not confuse the word "open" with the word "free" - these companies have spent huge sums of money building these data sets; we can't expect them to provide access free of charge.
Dave says he will continue to play an active part in the business despite approaching a milestone birthday, and continues to enjoy working in the sector and alongside his family.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
As one of the disruptors in the wake of the Legal Services Act 2007 QualitySolicitors (QS) was launched in 2009 with the ambition to help the high street fight back against the anticipated onslaught of major brands entering the legal market - so-called 'Tesco Law.'
QS grew rapidly, with firms up and down the country adopting the familiar black and pink branding, adding the name "QualitySolicitors" to their firm name to create greater brand recognition. In 2011 an investment of c.£100m saw Palamon Capital Partners take a majority stake in the group.
In the years since QS has remained steadfast in its support for the high street and, after a short stint as part of Metamorph, emerged relatively unscathed following a Management Buyout (MBO) in 2022.
On this latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast, host David Opie welcomes CEO Richard Skelley and Chief Operating Officer Victoria Browning to discuss what's next for QS.
There is still much continuity; Victoria has been with the business since 2016 overseeing much of the work done to support firms with recruitment and business development, employer branding and conveyancing panel services. And equally there are breaks from the past; QS firms no longer need to rebrand their firm for example.
The business is now focused on 4 key principles, explains Richard. The QS Way: A Philosophy for Sustainable Growth covers People, Process & Procedures, Power of Many, and Profile - principles supported by continued to efforts to help firms through the QualitySolicitors consumer-facing website which still generates 1m hits annually.
And membership has been reviewed with a new tiered approach offering free, 'lite' and full options for firms. It is, says Richard, a much more flexible approach than previously.
We've kept the great bits QS had - we have over 100 sites across the country and still have clients that joined right at the start - and augmented it with a range new options based on member feedback, concludes Richard, adding we are always happy to talk to firms interested in learning more about how QS can support them in the growth ambitions.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In a wide ranging interview Deputy Vice President of the Law Society Mark Evans talks to Today's Conveyancer podcast host David Opie about his experience of working in property law, and more recently his role as a Tutor at the University Of Law.
In October Mark will transition from Deputy Vice President to the role of Vice-President, and ultimately President of the Law Society in 2025, and discusses his view of conveyancing and the challenges and opportunities facing the profession.
The Law Society's upcoming Property Law Conference in October will cover many of the topics conveyancers need to know about; including the next round of guidance on climate change, legislative updates, TA6 consultation and technology and Mark encourages practitioners to attend and stay up to date on the latest sector goings on.
As a tutor at the University of Law, Mark is on the frontline of education and eulogises to his students about the importance having a home remains to the general public. We will always need conveyancers, says Mark, and goes on to defend students and newly-qualified conveyancers from some of the criticism levelled at them and their understanding of land law.
It is incumbent on firms to ensure they continually invest and train their staff and ultimately support them to be better at their jobs.
The discussion finishes with a synopsis of the Law Society's current work on the TA6 consultation. With a timetable now in place, and having chaired the recent Special General Meeting personally, Mark says he is pleased to see the level of engagement from around the profession and is looking forward to being involved in the consolation in the coming months.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has recently requested law firms complete an anti-money laundering and sanctions data collection exercise. The SRA is required by Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) to take a risk-based approach to supervision and is requesting firms complete the requested information as full as possible.
It will, they say enable them to "see the distribution of risk across the legal profession, which in turn informs our programme of inspections and our guidance."
The latest Today's Conveyancer podcast welcomes Gavin Ball of HiveRisk to tackle the tricky topic of what firms need to be thinking about when it comes to completing the information, and wider considerations when it comes to firms' anti-money laundering policies, processes and procedures.
In 2024 alone law firms have been fine £200,000 directly relating to failures in their anti-money laundering and sanctions processes.
Gavin goes on to discuss the areas he sees firms failing on as a compliance specialist. He talks technology and how it can help firms with their compliance obligations but warns the key is understanding what the information is telling you... in their audits the SRA will challenge firms and staff to interpret reports provided through technology and how to interpret its content.
Gavin also discusses politically exposed persons (PEPs), sanctions, and how to deal with reporting suspicious activity (SARs) to the National Crime Agency (NCA) in this informative and insightful podcast.
The deadline for firms to complete the SRA form is by 13.00 on 23 September 2024
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
A general election, interest rates, mortgage rates and the European Championships... a perfect storm of economic, political and social issues have come together to continue to strangle the property market according to the latest Landmark Property Trends Report for the second quarter of 2024.
The report tracks property listing volumes, Sold Subject to Contract (SSTC) numbers, searches ordered and completions and benchmark current numbers against 2019 data; the last time the property market was in a broadly "normal" cycle.
Podcast host David Opie is joined by Managing Director of Ochresoft Rob Gurney, and Managing Director of Landmark Estate Agency Services Ben Robinson to discuss the results of the latest report which identifies listings being 6% up on 2019, SSTC 32% down on 2019 levels, and completions some 40% down.
It all points to a disconnect between the start of the transaction, which is positive with more properties coming to market and more choice, and the end of the transaction.
"The property market is not like a waterfall flowing freely from top to bottom" says Rob Gurney. "Rather it's much more like a bottle of ketchup, needing intermittent taps to encourage progress, with a splurge of completions anticipated soon."
When exactly that will be remains up for debate.
"The Summer holidays has traditionally seen a slowdown in property activity before ramping up in the Autumn" adds Ben Robinson.
"Most of the reasons we've seen for the property market being held back seem to have been alleviated," concludes Rob Gurney.
Watch this space...
CLICK HERE to review the Landmark Property Trends Report Q2 2024
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Movera CEO Nick Hale joins the latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast to discuss the his, and Movera's, progress since his last appearance on the podcast in July 2023.
Across its businesses Movera touch c.25% of all remortgage and sale and purchase transactions. Having been in the role for 2 years, Nick reflects on what he wishes he'd known when taking on the role, that he knows now.
He shares the objectives of Movera which is to improve the home moving experience for people, partners and clients, in a sector where none of those have been particularly well served. He describes how they have adopted a mantra of making the home moving experience "digital when it can be, and personal when it needs to be" recognising that people are at the heart of the business, and that they are one half of a legal system which has players "across the value chain."
It is clear, says Nick, change had started, and it will accelerate with the emergence of players who have the capacity and ability to make decisive change in the home moving process.
He explains how their own investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and automation is designed to help his team spend more time using their technical skills; and says over the past 12 months they have delivered over 500 remortgage transactions in less than 48 hours, and 1500 in less than 5 days. It is, he adds, their ambition to 'lead the market on merit' and points to their net promoter score (NPS) "high 60s early 70s."
Drawn on the criticisms levelled at volume conveyancing businesses Nick hits back at comments online and at a recent conference describing these organisations as "factory muppets."
He suggests that language is not acceptable, or professional and is indicative of a lack of understanding and respect for the larger organisations. Within his own he says they have created career pathways; introduced the Movera Academy which all staff go through and introduces learning interventions and upskilling across the business; improved their NPS scores; with a team who are committed according to their latest feedback
There is, he adds, a bigger story here, highlighting the frustration and tension in the sector. But we can use technology to release that tension. There is a growing group of people and businesses who want to make improvements to the sector
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
A collaboration between conveyancing firm Simply Conveyancing and property technology business Orbital Witness is the topic of discussion in the latest Today's Conveyancer podcast .
Host David Opie is joined by Sue Bence, Chief Operating Officer at Simply Conveyancing, and Ed Boulle, co-founder of Orbital Witness to discuss the introduction of Orbital's title checking software, which uses large language model artificial intelligence to support and speed up the title investigation process.
The offering is currently aimed at leasehold transactions where it first digitises the documents before they are fed into the engine developed by Orbital Witness, which incorporates elements of AI, to answer standard form questions within a minute.
It's not a replacement for a conveyancer, says Ed Boulle, rather it significantly reduces the time it takes to triage a new matter; uncover any issues and roadblocks; enables you to communicate those with the client; allocate the most appropriate fee earner to the case; and importantly introduce greater consistency to the process.
The discussion outlines some of the process and metrics Simply Conveyancing used as part of its initial pilot to understand the potential impact on efficiency and quality improvement for the firm. Sue tackles the benefits of early identification of complex cases and issues, better and more consistent way of reporting, and the costs associated with pilots like this. There has to be a clear cost/benefit analysis and she encourages firms to look at capacity, time and productivity opportunities available to conveyancers.
Sue also explores the response of the staff which ranged from welcoming through to scepticism; and discusses how Simply identified change agents in their business who helped smoothe the transition and support the introduction of new technology. Far from replacing the skills of the conveyancer, the idea here is very much to support them, says Sue.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Do conveyancers get the credit they perhaps deserve for the progress they have made in adopting technology and new processes? Do they come under pressure to adopt change and technology and how can we improve the way we introduce process and change management in our businesses and bring people along with us on that journey?
How can we ensure our staff are both technically competent, and have the soft skills required for the role; conveyancing is an increasingly multi-faceted role with technology, legal expertise, stakeholder management, client experience and customer service skills all critical to an individual's success.
All topics of conversation in the latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast with guest Gemma Fulbrook-Felstead, Operations Director at Collaborative Conveyancing. The discussion explores the challenges of change management and introducing new technologies and processes, encouraging firms to visualise what the short, medium and long term impact of change could be. Gemma also discusses how we can support people with individuality and flair within process driven roles.
And on the topic of change management Gemma draws on her experience working in management consultancy in getting firms to draw out of staff their fears and concerns around change and drilling into the "why" of change so people can understand and challenge it.
But firms must also be cautious of process and technology change; conveyancers use an average of 3.7 technology systems in their roles and as Gemma says, what we don't want is to introduce changes that end up creating barriers, or clash... we need them to be cohesive and seamless.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Nicola Ashley and Nicola Davies are former conveyancers and now founders of outsourced title investigation service N Title. They join podcast host David Opie on this latest Today's Conveyancer podcast to discuss their journey over the past 4 years, as well as exploring the opportunities outsourcing provides firms to flex up and down without adding significant overhead.
By their own admission the business model has pivoted in the time they have been in business. Having set up anticipating they would be running an overflow service for the majority of their clients, they are now an integrated part of firms' processes up and down the country.
Nicola and Nicola explain how firms adapt their processes depending on the nature of the title, with increasingly complex investigations now being sent to them, instead of being dealt with in house. They are also engaged to cover holidays and staff absence.
As a result of their expertise they are often called upon to provide training, and say their reports can be used as training tools. On the topic of enquiries they are clear; they will raise only relevant and necessary enquiries, borne out of the experience of their team.
With a fragile market, and uncertainty around transaction volumes, especially with the upcoming election, there is merit, they say, in looking at employment vs outsourcing models and considering what works best for the law firm of the future.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In a discussion which will no doubt elicit cries of empathy and a collective nod from compliance teams in law firms up and down the country, Lucy Batten joins the latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast to discuss her role as Executive Director and Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (COLP) at Gloucestershire-based Montpellier Legal. Her role encompasses oversight of the full gamut of compliance and regulatory requirements placed on the modern law firm and she fulfils the role of Money Laundering Compliance Officer (MLCO) and Senior Reporting Officer (SRO) for the CQS regime.
In a wide-ranging discussion on the extent of the role, the importance of empowerment and training, and the practicalities of keeping a team on the straight and narrow, Lucy articulates the challenges she faces, and the tools she adopts to ensure the firm remains compliant.
Lucy also goes into detail about a recent SRA AML audit the firm was the subject of; providing some insight into the expectations of the audit, and the firm's take-aways and learnings from the inspection. Critical, says Lucy, is the level of detail in firm's Practice Wide Risk Assessment (PWRA); it is also important that all staff understand the policies and procedures in place as they will be interviewed.
Lucy moves on the discuss the importance of training and explaining to staff why we do what, which will embed the learning and understanding. She reminds us of why we conduct money laundering checks; to protect the firm and more importantly, to protect the public. It cannot be seen as a tick-box exercise, says Lucy, and demonstrates the need for firms to dedicate more resource to compliance roles and responsibilities.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In this specially recorded podcast, the Today's Conveyancer podcast joins forces with its sister podcasts from the Today's Wills and Probate and Today's Family Lawyer online news publications to discuss the topic of mental health and wellbeing ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week, from 13th May 2024.
Podcast host David Opie welcomes Legal Director at Convey Law Laura Burkinshaw, Michael Culver (Culver Law) and Marc Etherington (Rayden Solicitors) to discuss the mental health and wellbeing of those working across residential conveyancing, private client and family law. The three guests identify some shared, and unique, challenges they face in their own roles, and discuss their own experiences of dealing with their mental health and wellbeing.
What is clear from the discussion is that legal services is taking mental health and wellbeing much more seriously than it ever has; with firms taking a more proactive approach to support for staff.
The podcast moves on to explore a range of skills and tools we can employ in our own mental health and wellbeing journeys to cope with the stresses and strains of modern legal life; with some fantastic ideas shared to help people exercise their bodies and minds, cope and deal with their roles, and get into what is described as their "flow state"; the experience of being so absorbed by an engaging, enjoyable task that your attention is completely held by it.
The podcast is being published as part of Mental Health Awareness Week 2024. The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In this latest episode of the Today's Conveyancer Podcast host David Opie discusses the challenges firms face with the Building Safety Act (BSA). Liz Ramsden and Hannah Page, Senior Associate and Associate respectively at law firm Knights who have immersed themselves in all things Building Safety Act and now act on behalf of Knights in matters where the BSA applies; and have also worked with other conveyancing and property law firms to support them.
Liz and Hannah explore what the key issues are, not least of which is whether the property actually comes under the scope of the act. It is, says Liz, a hugely complex piece of legislation. Every property is different and each transaction must be taken on its own merits. It can also be difficult to establish where liability sits with regards the landlord or developer.
Hannah concurs, adding that even determining the height of the building is a critical element that conveyancers should be seeking external advise on from surveyors.It is also common for leaseholder deed of certificates and and landlord certificates to be incorrectly completed; and some lenders won't lend on non-qualifying leases
The list of woes continues; the BSA is open to interpretation and getting it wrong could have catastrophic consequences for individuals and firms, Advice in many cases is to obtain guidance from counsel but this tends to increase costs.
What is apparent is the attitude of professional indemnity insurers toward transactions involving the BSA, which has been understandably risk-averse. Knights have actively engaged to demonstrate expertise, procedures, policies, disclaimers, enquiries and retainers which have been agreed between the firm and PI insurers to enable them to do their work on BSA. Critically, they have been clear on what they will, and will not, undertake as part of their work.
This wide ranging discussion explores the challenges presented by BSA, the interim updates which make the act more workable, and some practical advice on how firms can address BSA related issues with transactions.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Joining the latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast is Dan Temple, an expert in acknowledging and understanding the human impact of working, and managing employees and businesses. The discussion centres on creating effective and high performing teams, and what steps law firms can, and should, be taking to enable this in their business.
Dan leads Cobalt Human Solutions, a training consultancy which focuses on creating effective teams, drawn from his own experiences in the Royal Air Force as part of the Chinook helicopter crew.
The podcast discusses how creating high performing teams requires a number of key elements. Dan describes how trust and accountability are paramount.
- There should be a clear objective and vision which can be communicated to the team
- Roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and people understand their own contribution to success
- Processes and procedures are in place that ensure the training is effective
- People have to have the ability to get on with others; they don't necessarily need to like one another, but there must be mutual respect
Ultimately, says Dan, the environment and culture of the workplace is where the success and failure of organisations is derived. He suggests that one of the key failings he identifies in many businesses is a blame culture; the inability of staff to be open, honest and appropriately challenge - what Dan describes as a "just culture." Staff are fearful of doing something wrong, rather than challenging management.
As well as root cause analysis, Dan encourages organisations to conduct "pre-mortems" - the idea being that you spend time identifying potential pitfalls in a plan and anticipate how you might deal with them should they arise.
And if you ever wanted to understand how the difference between egg mayonnaise and aircraft is relevant to leadership and management, listen in to this insightful and entertaining discussion.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Host David Opie is joined by Landmark Estate Agency Services MD Ben Robinson, and Ochresoft MD Rob Gurney for this short review of the latest Property Trends Report, covering January to March 2024.
Covering listings, sold-subject-to-contract, search ordering and completions, the data provides insight into the current market conditions, and provides an indicator for what we might expect in the coming months.
Listen in for expert insight and discussion on the latest stats from across the property market.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
What are digital property logbooks, and why are they important to the future of property transactions? To answer these questions, and more, the Today's Conveyancer podcast welcomes on Nigel Walley; founder and CEO of property logbook company Chimni, and Chair of the Residential Logbook Association.
Nigel explains what the key differences between logbooks and Google Docs or Dropbox, for example; how should data providers share their data with property logbooks; and what role does the homeowner have in ensuring the data remains up to date and relevant.
Property logbooks have been touted as a home for the material and up front information professionals are increasingly being encouraged to collate at the point a property is listed for market but, as Nigel explains, they are currently working with a number of law firms to introduce logbooks toward the end of the transaction as a home for all the documents collated through the course of a transaction, and as part of a secure handover from seller to buyer for home tech like alarms, smart heating systems and other sometimes looked over assets.
Nigel suggests that there is still a huge amount of work to be around the digitisation of the conveyancing transaction; rather than look at how we can turn what we currently do digital, we should be asking in a world where consumers are taking up all these digital services, what could a property transaction look like.
The discussion finishes with an exploration of what the Residential Logbook Association is, how it came about, and what its plans are for future regulation and innovation of the digital property logbook. If you ever wanted to know the ins and outs of the opportunity now, and in the future, listen in to this insightful discussion.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Compliance business boss Tim Barnett joins the latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast to discuss the work being done to improve the process, and experience for consumers, of anti-money laundering, customer due diligence and know your client verification.
As CEO of ID and AML verification business Credas, Tim is well aware of the challenges this presents to firms and suppliers and reminds us about the SRA's warning notice at the end of 2023 which highlighted that up to 70% of firms were not fully compliance with anti-money laundering processes and procedures. And while he has sympathy with the idea that the burden of AML compliance falls heavily on conveyancers, he also points out the wider economic and societal role conveyancers and the wider property profession play in maintaining crime-free transactions. But he does acknowledge the administrative burden placed on the profession by legislation; something he and Credas are working hard to reduce.
He also provides some compliance pointers on how firms can ensure they remain the right side of AML compliance; warning that if firms are reliant upon ID document verification by email, or are not regularly re-running client verification checks, they will almost certainly not be compliant.
Credas are, like many organisations, looking at ways to harness artificial intelligence, but, warns Tim, they are now regularly coming up against documentation and supposed evidence submitted through their systems as part of AML verification, that has been created by AI; for the purposes of fraud and deception.
The discussion moves on to explore the work being done by government to introduce a legislative framework to enable the sharing of ID verification and client due diligence throughout the transaction; research conducted by Credas has identified a consumer will have to verify their identity 5.4 times during a typical housing transaction. The Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF) creates the legislative environment to share this data, and provides a standard for digital identity providers to adhere to, to ensure their checks and reports can be relied upon.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Chief Revenue Officer at Cashroom Alex Holt joins Today's Conveyancer Podcast host David Opie to discuss his Cashroom and the development of the business over the last 10 years. Cashroom offer outsourced finance functions for law firms across the UK; and has grown as a number of factors have come together to place pressure on law firm finance functions.
Alex points to a reduction in the number law firm specialist cashiers, many of whom have retired and exited the profession taking with them their longstanding expertise and experience. Tighter regulation and the stricter compliance requirements compounds the issue and has forced firms to look more closely at their finance and cashiering function and tighten up on any risks therein. It's a trend Holt has seen in his time with the business with good cashiers in shorter supply.
Cashroom have recently launched in America; which understandably has been an eye opener. Despite overarching compliance requirements across the country, the application is very much implemented on a state by state basis and in much the same way Cashroom have been able to support firms with the tighter finance regulations in England, Wales and Scotland, there is also an opportunity to do so in the USA says Alex.
Ultimately says Alex, like many roles in law firms, the finance function is coming under increased scrutiny and given it's central role in the organisation, and associated risks with fraud and handling client monies, it is important firms consider carefully how they manage their finances and plan for future resourcing.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast talks to Chief Operating Officer at environmental data and search provider Groundsure, Malcolm Smith. After nearly 20 years in the sector Malcolm is known to many and in a refreshingly honest discussion, he shares his thoughts on current market conditions, the up front information debate, and normalising climate change advice for home movers.
Malcolm provides a positive outlook on property transactions; predicting an uplift in 2024. "Conveyancers will be as busy as they want to be" suggests Malcolm; with the mass exodus of conveyancers and experience during the pandemic, there is an argument to say we're not geared up for any significant increase in transaction volumes.
Groundsure are a founding member of the Open Property Data Association (OPDA). With many still bearing the scars of Home Information Packs (HIPs - indeed Malcolm was in the room when Grant Shapps announced HIPs were to be axed) he is passionate about groups like the OPDA having a role in shaping the discussion and learning from the past. Having agreed data structures and standards to enable the effective sharing of data is an important part this process. It will, says Malcolm, take everyone in the sector to drive change.
On the material and up front information debate he is critical of the governance and structure around the guidance and raises concerns about the number of providers who could enter the market and "cut corners." The quality of the information and data is fundamental to the ability of home movers, lenders, estate agents, and conveyancers to rely on it.
Moving on to climate change Malcolm explains the driver for more climate data came from the banking and lending space; reviewing their portfolios and lending risks into the future. Acknowledging the impact on conveyancers Malcolm adds that in much the same way that there is no expectation on conveyancers to be contaminated land or flood experts, they are not expected to be climate change advisors and that organisations like Groundsure should continue to do the heavy lifting.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
This special edition of the Today's Conveyancer Podcast is guest hosted by one of the founders of National Conveyancing Week Rob Hailstone. Rob speaks with HM Land Registry's Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Customer and Strategy
Mike Harlow.
Rob questions Mike about progress on the registrations backlogs, consistency of response from HMLR, lender updates, some of the practicalities of tools like mapsearch, local land charges, and the roadmap to digitisation for the government agency, which is heavily involved in the Digital Property Market Steering Group (DPMSG).
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast welcome Dan Warburton on to discuss the topic of leadership. Dan works with law firms leaders and partners to elevate their leadership skills to enable them empower staff to be more efficient and effective.
Dan describes his work as "the skill of profitable delegation;" to create leaders who can deliver high levels of performance across their team.
He cites the structure of many law firms in which lawyers are targeted on clients and the number of hours they bill... the system is set up in such a way that the more hours you work, in theory the more profit and remuneration can achieve. But when it comes to promotion what happens is you are expected to continue to build a client bank, and bill your hours, and manage a team of people. It is, says Dan, unachievable without simply more time into the equation, which has an impact on wellbeing and staff retention.
Few partners achieve what Dan describes as a "transition out of being a technician in the business to being a business owner. The structure and success of the organisation relies on them.
There is a way to resolve this, but we can only create successful teams when they willingly take responsibility for the success of the business. Dan shares his insight into how law firms can empower management teams and leaders to build trust and confidence in staff through regular one-to-one calls and coaching sessions.
There is a cycle that needs breaking in law firms, says Dan. If a partners we keep our head down and just keep trying to crank out work we build firms that rely on us. When our team want things from us and we tell them what they need, they just keep relying on us. We must delegate work away and create highly effective team members underneath us
Throughout the discussion Dan shares leadership insight and tools that leaders and manager can take away and implement today. One such example is the process of making requests, in which there are 3 key elements
- You must be clear on exactly what you want done; which must be measurable, not an abstract principle such as "keeping the client happy."
- It must have a timeframe
- You must have joint agreement and offer the respondent the opportunity accept, decline or counteroffer in order to reach a jointly agreed action plan.
Ultimately, says Dan, when leadership is in, it's in.. when leadership is out, it's out. Listen in to this interesting discussion for law firm leaders and managers.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
The latest Today's Conveyancer podcast explores the perennial question on the minds and lips of most businesses... what do clients really want?
A report from Law Firm Marketing Club does just that. Now in it's 4th year, "What Clients Want" is an extensive piece of research which asks consumers of legal services what they want from their law firm; from first introduction through to matter completion. Law Firm Marketing Club founder Clare Fanner joins host David Opie to discuss the findings and lessons for law firms.
With 4 years' worth of data behind them, the report is now able to start tracking consumer expectations and trends over time. Once of the really interesting elements of the report is the breakdown by demographic of respondents and the changing expectations of consumers of legal services.
Client care and return business feature strongly in the report. 53% of respondents have used a law firm more than once but of those, a staggering 41% have not returned to the firm they'd used previously, but had moved to use a different firm. Read into that what you want but it's one of many statistics Clare shares in the course of the discussion.
The report delves in to the experience of using a law firm and in particular first impressions and onboarding. It is interesting to note that the way in which consumers select firms is changing, with a focus on sustainability and ESG higher on younger people's agenda.
There are plenty of lessons for firms as Clare shares details of responses to the extensive survey. The report is sponsored by Moneypenny and available via the Law Firm Marketing Club website.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Ruth Beeton co founder of Home Sale Pack join the Today's Conveyancer podcast to discuss the launch of the business which aims to collect more property information and data up front in the course of a property transaction in order to create greater speed and certainty.
Ruth, from North East firm HS Conveyancing Ltd, has been practicing for over 20 years and decries the current state of the conveyancing profession, which has seen trivial issue like "whether the fire alarm has batteries in it, whether the guttering needs to be cleared" impact transactions.
"We're not practicing in law any more. You're arguing over whether the boiler has been serviced of the electrics have been tested. You're not arguing over the legal points of the title."
Home Sale Pack estimate over 250,000 property transactions fell through last year. Ruth's ambitions, alongside co-founder Simon Priestley, is to reduce the risk of fall through by pulling together as much information as feasibly possible at the point the property is listed; actively engaging with the seller who knows the property best, to help.
Ruth feels that by getting information up front, in line with the requirements outlined in the Material Information Guidance recently released by the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agents Team (NTSELAT), conveyancers can reposition themselves and re-take some control and authority in the transaction.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Hamza Hafesji, Group Product Manager at Advanced Legal, joins the latest Today's Conveyancer podcast to discuss the importance of implementing a culture of performance management in a business.
For years the only time most employees receive any sort of constructive feedback has been in an annual appraisal. For Hamza, something has to fundamentally change and feedback must be much more of an ongoing process
He cites research from PWC, LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters and their own client surveys which point to the challenges that face law firms from an HR point of view. Indeed 3 in 5 law firms are concerned about talent and shortage and churn, and are consider it a barrier to their success.
He discusses organisations described as "Stay Firms" and "Go Firms" - firms who retain, and lose, talent. While acknowledging that remuneration plays a part in the success "Stay Firms," the focus on their broader value proposition sees them not only retain staff, but makes them more efficient with higher billable hours and better staff mental health and wellbeing.
And lawyers themselves are more vocal about what they want from work. A staggering 44% of lawyers measure their stress levels at between 8-10 out of 10 in an Advanced Legal survey. That, and a lack of progression and professional development is often the cause of staff leaving.
"When we drill into this, we're looking at a lack of mentorship and career guidance, a lack of promotion opportunities and the desire for greater on the job assistance. All of which can be described as performance management," says Hamza.
This discussion covers a lot of ground around the value and importance of creating a culture of performance, normalising goal setting and providing a constant feedback loop between employees and managers. For Hamza, part of the success of implementing such a cultural change is in the adoption of technology to drive through the change and support managers to ask the right questions and enable those types of conversations.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Today's Conveyancer podcast host David Opie is joined by former-conveyancer Chris Scantlebury, the founder and director at conveyancing platform ProConvey.
Chris explains how he has moved on from front line conveyancing to develop ProConvey; an digital conveyancing tool that helps conveyancers and estate agents better collaborate. Having spent 10 years "down the mines" at the coal face of conveyancing Chris now brings that experience to the business.
Previously known at Pre-convey, Chris launched with the intention to try and get clients in the best position possible to move the transaction forward. He explains how they started on an A3 piece of paper and following 2 years' planning, with some funding and having been through an incubator programme, ProConvey launched.
An interesting discussion on how to bring an idea from conception to market and what challenges Chris and the team have faced, along with his ambitions and aspirations for the future.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Kate Burt joins this latest episode of the Today's Conveyancer podcast. Kate is a solicitor and compliance consultant, running specialist consultancy Hive Risk. The topic of discussion is compliance and the way external organisations can support firms, before moving on to specifically talk about complaints handling.
As Kate says, compliance is not just the SRA handbook. It touches on a myriad of other issues compliance professionals must manage including data protection, anti-money laundering, professional indemnity insurance, cyber issues, conflicts of interest... the list goes on. And the challenge for firms and compliance professionals working in them is having that lLength and breadth of knowledge.
Discussing what often lands on the desk of compliance professionals Kate says that all to often one complaint will highlight failures across a range of compliance issues, pointing to a recent complaint she was was instructed to deal with which identified further work to be done around conduct, negligence, notification to insurers and more;
"that's fairly typical" says Kate.
Alongside dealing with specific issues, which in conveyancing often revolve around timescales, delays, communication and fees, Kate says firms must be better at capturing complaints data to enable them to drill into trends and root cause analysis; it can be a failure of process, rather than an individual fee earner which is causing the issue suggests Kate.
It can be the case that firms become too emotionally involved when it comes to complaints handling and in the discussion Kate provides her insight into complaints best practice, sharing her experience working with firms up and down the country; a very useful listen for compliance professionals and law firms.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast returns for it's third series with our first episode of 2024. And we're launching with a bang with Sebastian Haller, Deputy Director of Anti-Money Laundering at the Council for Licensed Conveyancers sharing the regulator's views on the challenges conveyancers and property lawyers face when it comes to anti-money laundering (AML)
Sebastian shares his own insight and experience as a regulator and provides some useful pointers for firms when it comes to compliance with AML protocols. Sebastian also shares the most common areas of non-compliance he sees daily in his role with the regulator.
Whilst he is at pains to point out that many firms are now fully compliant with the regulatory requirements of AML, he still finds firms failing to robustly check their clients and adequately assess the risk posed by the client and/or transaction.
Source of funds and source of wealth, two related but different profiles, remain key areas of non-compliance, as is the practice wide risk assessment (PWRA) which was referred to directly by the Solicitor's Regulation Authority (SRA) Warning Notice in October 2023 and acknowledged here by Sebastian as an issue the CLC regularly identify as an area of weakness in conveyancing practices.
This discussion provides insight into the regulator's approach to dealing with AML in CLC regulated practices, provides reminders for firms regulated by the SRA, and is a must listen for law firm leaders, COLP's, HOLP's, MLRO's and those responsible for AML process in their practice.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In the final Today's Conveyancer podcast of 2023 host David Opie discusses the challenges of running a law firm in 2023 with Ellisons Managing Partner Guy Longhurst. Ellisons are a full service firm with 5 offices and 275 staff across Suffolk and Essex, putting them in the top 200 bracket of firms in England and Wales.
in this candid discussion Guy shares his experience of being with the firm for 27 years and rising through the ranks to become Managing Partner. Describing law as much more laid back when he first started, Guy shares the challenges and opportunities presented in 2023 in a conversation that covers a variety of topics including partnership structure, professional indemnity, staff, office space, compliance, technology and much more.
The recent recipient of the "Great Place to Work" accreditation, Ellisons has worked hard on attracting and retaining its people, "our single biggest challenge" says Guy, who discusses their own efforts to recruit talented people, the work the firm does in it's wider remuneration, wellbeing and support package, and the introduction of a solicitor apprenticeship programme which mitigates and insulates the firm from some of the risk.
One of the key takeaways from this podcast is the focus on what Guy describes as Ellisons' '4 C's; "look after your clients, colleagues, competencies and cash" he says.
Simples.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
There is an opportunity for a change in the way conveyancers offer their services as a result of the introduction of the Material Information Guidance, suggests Head of the National Trading Standards Estate and Lettings Agents Team (NTSELAT), James Munro.
Speaking to podcast host David Opie, Munro says there is a "great opportunity for the conveyancing profession to get involved in a transaction at an earlier stage" and collaborate with estate agents to collaborate to create a "limited service" for home movers and estate agents to help them comply with the detail of the new guidance.
The Material Information Guidance has now been released in full by (NTSELAT) in conjunction with a steering group to provide clearer guidance on compliance with the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs). In the podcast Munro explains the origins of the guidance lies in the challenge presented by the overarching CPRs which superseded the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 and, most importantly for the property industry, the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 (PMA’s). Critically, reminds Munro, the regulations apply both at the outset, during and at completion of the sale.
The discussion explores the detail and requirements outlined in Part A, B & C and the implications for home movers, estate agents and conveyancers; and suggests that a "limited service" might help interpret any issues with the property that arise, and disclose that information in such a way that estate agents can provide clearer details on property listings, and home movers are better informed of potential pitfalls earlier in their decision making process.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Conveyancing nirvana might be the perfect contract pack says Rob Gurney, Managing Director of Ochresoft in the latest Today's Conveyancer podcast. Rob discusses how the desire for speed has created a rod for our own backs when it comes to transaction timelines.
There is this onus on getting the contract out to the other side as quickly as possible, without all the information a conveyancer knows we need to supply. All that means is that contract packs go out with very little information on - which inevitably comes back to the vendor's lawyer as additional enquiries.
If we can gather all the information the buyer's lawyer is going to ask for, before they've even asked for it, we can reduce or eradicate the additional enquires process; that's conveyancing nirvana says Rob.
Rob also talks about up front information and the current challenges in actually being proactive with the information collated if the vendor's lawyer isn't instructed at the point of listing. This is where some of the work Ochresoft has been doing comes in; their Up Front Information (UFI) workflow. The ability to analyse UFI automates the production of a Key Facts document for estate agents to enable them to comply with National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agent Team's Material Information requirements, including the recently published parts B&C (although the podcast was recorded before the exact details of Parts B&C were confirmed).
The overriding sentiment in the discussion is that collecting data is only one part of the process for change; there must be a shift in mindset to bring the conveyancer into the transaction at an earlier stage, to enable the initial investigation work to be done, interpreting the information collected and deliver a better quality contract pack at the outset.
As the famous saying goes, more haste, less speed.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Steven Hill, Managing Director at Case Management System provider Denovo BI joins Today's Conveyancer Podcast host David Opie to discuss technology, case management, and the challenge of working across Scottish and English jurisdictions.
Steven talks about his history with the business over 18 years and his recent promotion to the role of Managing Director. Denovo BI started out life as an accounts system catering for England & Wales, and Scottish legal systems. In their development since, and as they have introduced case and matter management into their portfolio, they have retained this cross-jurisdictional compatibility.
Steven explains the challenges from a technology and workflow point of view presented by the front-end conveyancing process in Scotland, where much more of the legal process is captured at the start of the transaction, and the "last-minute" process in England and Wales
The conversation moves onto the changing legal landscape which for Steven has shifted dramatically since he joined the business. Case and matter management should be a single source of truth, he says, and is an advocate of helping clients better educate their staff on the features and benefits of the software so that adoption is encouraged.
He discusses his thoughts on how we can get better adoption; showing staff how to get documents in and out of the systems, making it easy for users to make the most of the technology and ultimately ensure that clients are integrated into the process.
He goes on to talk about the range of technology providing discrete services and the importance of interconnectivity and interoperability and the role case management plays in ensuring that they are able to integrate with best of breed third parties. But comes back to the importance of internal education, otherwise the firm simply doesn't see the full benefit of their investment.
An interesting insight into the direction of travel for case and matter management from an expert in the field.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
This week the Today's Conveyancer Podcast welcomes Rachel Griffiths Head of External Operations and Panel Management at SDL Surveyors. SDL Surveyors are one of the largest independent providers of mortgage valuations with over 200,000 cases per year. They also provide private home surveys directly on behalf of consumers and the topic of discussion in this latest podcast the perennial issue of helping home movers understand the critical differences between valuation surveys for lending purposes, and home moving surveys to identify structural or other defects with property.
Rachel explains that the language of home moving is unhelpful; "survey" "valuer" "valuation" all have different meanings for different parts of the process. She points to stats from 2021 which show that only 3 in 10 home movers instruct their own surveys, and reminds us that the pressure on speed and the development of desktop valuation surveys means that fewer houses are now physically inspected as part of the valuation; around 40-50% currently with that number anticipated to rise to 60-70%.
All of which adds up to fewer expert eyeballs on a property before a home buyer moves in. And with stats suggesting that home movers are spending an average of £5,000 to make their property fit for purpose upon moving in (nearly 1 in 5 home movers spend £15,000 or more) should more be done to alert home movers to costs that could, and should, have been renegotiated during the sale.
Do lenders, estate agents and conveyancers have a greater responsibility to their clients to alert them of this and flag the importance of home buying surveys? Should they be mandated? What impact does the newly implemented "Consumer Duty" requirements on FCA regulated entities like mortgage brokers have? And with the increasing pressure on conveyancers to understand and report on issues like climate change, should surveyors be a more integral part of the home buying process?
Rachel shares her own tips and best practice from her experience in in this interesting and topical podcast.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
John Reynolds, Chief Operating Officer at Coadjute joins host David Opie on the latest Today's Conveyancer podcast to discuss the future of the conveyancing market, and what "digitisation" means to Coadjute.
John identifies 5 elements to a digital property market
- Digital identity
- Digital signature
- Digital form of the title
- Digital form of the contract
- Digital exchange
We are moving from a physical world of lawyers offices, money, contracts and titles, to a digitised version of these; and in order to facilitate this there needs to be market infrastructure to enable this.
The risk posed by moving into a digital world is security; security of identity, data, money and more. And without the ability to trust in the existing processes, we have, says John, this constant revalidation and rechecking of data.
Challenged around what appears to be a limited amount of joined up thinking amongst technology providers, John points to the importance of agreeing common standards and formats for data as it is passed around the transaction stakeholders. Data standards are an industry building block, to help facilitate what digitisation hopes to achieves.
John also addresses the work Coadjute have done with their recently launched Digital Property Data Pack and how that fits into the current technology available to conveyancers.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
The Today's Conveyancer Podcast welcomes Adrian Jaggard, a Director of Taylor Rose MW and AIIC Holdings, the parent of Taylor Rose MW, FDR Law and Sloth Move, amongst other investments in legal services and technology.
The discussion centres on the growth of their consultant model of employment which, since launching in 2014, has grown to become one of the largest employers of consultant lawyers in England and Wales. Indeed, AIIC was listed as the fastest growing legal and accounting services group in the UK in the Financial Times in March 2023.
Adrian himself is a qualified solicitor, and previously ran a successful costs business before founding Taylor Rose with his brother, Antony in 2009. The conversation explores the early days of the consultancy business and how the opportunity came about; and moves on to the drivers for people who embrace the model. cultures, COVID, partnership and career progression and more.
Adrian is frank about the realities of the model and acknowledges that they have become much better at understanding the types of individuals who thrive in a consultant role, and have improved their supervision structures around them.. They have also worked hard to foster relationships between consultants, and between consultants and those directly employed by Taylor Rose MW. And yes, they do indeed reject applications and terminate consultant arrangements for a variety of reasons.
The discussion ends with Adrian outlining the opportunity presented by a joint venture with an Australian law firm which has seen the launch of the consultancy business in Australia... which has brought it's own legal, and logistical, challenges!
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In this shortened special edition of the Today's Conveyancer podcast host David Opie is joined by Ochresoft MD Rob Gurney and Landmark Estate Agency Services MD Ben Robinson to discuss the latest Landmark Property Trends Report released recently.
The quarterly report looks at 4 key stats drawn from a number of sources including HMLR and Landmark's own data, to consider the current state of demand (listings), instructions (Sold Subject to Contract), search volumes (Searches ordered) and completions.
In this short discussion Rob and Ben discuss the results of the latest report which considers July, August and September's data, and what it means for the rest of 2023 and into 2024.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Enquiries are the topic of discussion for this latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast. The bane of most conveyancer's existence, there has been much discussion about the volume, and what might be considered triviality, of enquiries raised on property transitions.
To discuss the issue host David Opie is joined by Peter Ambrose, CEO of The Partnership, a conveyancing firm based in Guildford which completes around 200-300 transactions per month.
The Partnership have seen a 35% increase in the volume of enquiries this year alone, and Peter says there is no doubt that dealing with enquiries is the single largest element of the transaction his lawyers are spending the most time on.
And without pulling any punches Peter's view is that the situation is only getting worse with increasing numbers of "poor quality enquiries" which he attributes to
- a lack of training
- a fear of the risk posed by not asking the question
- lack of understanding of where the risk is
When probed on the final point Peter points to the source of claims for PI Insurers which include enquiries that are not being passed on from clients; "clients ask questions and we don't answer it at all, or we don't get a satisfactory answer" says Peter. He also offers a second consideration which is that conveyancers are not asking the right enquiries in the first place
"If a claim is brought against the firm, the first thing that should be done is to review the enquiries; and there often isn't enough transparency around enquiries. They've been raised in emails, or over the phone... in other words not in a structured way. There needs to be a clear audit trail."
Tracking enquiries is difficult and there is a risk of accusations of dumbing down the law and undermining expertise when people start to talk about mandating enquiries, or templating enquiries. With the launch of a new product called Legalito, Peter is trying to create greater collaboration between conveyancing firms, and better manage the process of enquiries to reduce risk and deliver a better client service.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
The latest Today's Conveyancer podcast welcomes on Kevin Johnson and Jeremy Dorkins to discuss their latest venture as founders of On Point Data, a new search company launched in 2023.
Following significant consolidation of the search market over the past 5 years we are starting to see new ventures enter the fray again. On Point Data is one such example, with Kevin and Jeremy both explaining their desire to provide a client-focused service with "personal attention, and people with experience and knowledge to add value to the relationship."
One of the biggest challenges with searches is their ubiquity; essentially conveyancers can acquire similar or the same searches from different suppliers. So how do you differentiate yourself in such a market?
For Kevin it's about being an extension of the firm; a trusted advisor or part of the back-office team. Helping firms to de-risk transactions by ensuring they have the right processes, identifying the best in class reports and protecting PI. Jeremy points to the freedom many fee earners have to choose their search provider as a risk as different processes can leave firms exposed.
One of the other challenges in 2023 is fitting into an increasingly complicated conveyancing technology eco-system; a challenge both are aware of and are keen to maintain an open dialogue with other organisations and work together to collaborate and ultimately provide conveyancers with what they want and needs; whether that's packets of data imported directly into case management systems to enable to creation of more up front information and analysis; or traditional pdf search reports.
In an enlightening discussion on the future of the search industry, Jeremy and Kevin are honest and forthright and share their views and ambitions for On Point Data and the wider property market.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Running a busy conveyancing firm has its ups and down and you might have forgiven the latest guest on the Today's Conveyancer podcast if he had packed his bags and walked away when he sold his stake in his law firm in 2019 12 years after he set it up in 2007.
But Simon Thomas returned in May 2021 to set up Montpellier Legal, a conveyancing focused practice in Cheltenham, with the opportunity to do all the things he migth ave got wrong the first time, right this time.
"I missed the thrill, the variety and and the rush and tumble of conveyancing" he says in a refreshingly honest and open discussion about what it takes to run a conveyancing practice in 2023.
The discussion explores standards (and fostering a desire for continuous professional development), culture, fees, recruitment, technology, sourcing work, regulation, marketing and profit.
On technology Simon says: "a lot of firms make the mistake that technology will do the job for them, and maybe in the future it will, but for the next 2-5 years there is still a a place for quality lawyers handling clients and being very much available for them; there's always the need for the human element."On culture her adds: "Culture is really important it's about the little things. We have to be thinking about the human touches that we would do in our own personal lives"
On fees: "Our fees are mid-level fees. We believe we're providing a strong value proposition. We stand by our reputation and are proud of our reviews which are there for people to see."
The discussion finishes with Simon's thoughts on the current state of the property market and also addresses his concerns about different regulatory approaches currently in place which create an opportunity for some firms to jointly represent buyers and seller, and others not to.
Simon provides some insight into the inner workings of a conveyancing practice without giving away too many trade secrets!
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
The latest Today's Conveyancer podcast welcomes Simon McCrum to discuss the contents of his latest book "The Perfect Lawyer" with host David Opie.
There isn't much Simon McCrum doesn't know about running a law firm having been there, done it, and got the t-Shirt. In this discussion Simon shares a little about his background and how he came to run the fastest growing law firms in the country before its acquisition.
He now shares his experience with other law firms as a management consultant and author of 2 books, "The Perfect Legal Business" and "The Perfect Lawyer," and through the course of the discussion Simon provides some fascinating insight into what he considers he did well, and what lessons he learnt along the way; all of which he includes in his books.
He describes how he encourages firms to find and use differentiators across their business and create a culture of buy in across the firm. "The ultimate differentiator is service, but the ultimate challenge is living that" says Simon. He encourages firms to take a long hard look at their business and ask themselves if they are truly offering a "Bentley service, for a Bentley price."
He moves on to discuss the content of "The Perfect Lawyer" in which he suggests the perfect lawyer is someone who has both pride in their own work and skills, and takes pride in, and understand their responsibilities to, the business; describing how "perfect lawyers" are nurtured by firms.
This insightful discussion with one of the most passionate and experienced professionals we've had on the podcast is a "must listen" for law firm leaders and aspiring leaders.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
The latest Today’s Conveyancer podcast welcomes Orbital Witness CEO Ed Boulle on to discuss how the explosion of technologies using artificial intelligence is being harnessed to benefit conveyancing lawyers.
Far from technology replacing lawyers, the work being done by organisations like Orbital Witness is designed to enhance the role of the lawyer say Ed; removing large chunks of the lengthy and laborious review of documentation and instead providing succinct and simple overviews.
The technology implemented by Orbital Witness has been pointed very specifically at leasehold where it will digitise and review a leasehold title with the ambition that by speeding up the process, conveyancers will be able to better scale leasehold transaction work in a similar way to freehold. Interestingly, and a point Ed is keen to make in the discussion, the technology is backed by a wrap-around insurance.
And Ed is keen to point out that Orbital Witness has an established track record in commercial property, drawing on that experience to launch into residential and is working with a number of firms including Knights, Enact, Blacks, Wilkin Chapman and LPL to continue to refine the service.
This interesting discussion touches on the art of the possible when it comes to implementing artificial intelligence into the conveyancing process and explores how technology can help practitioners scale-up legal services.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Following a break for the Summer, the Today's Conveyancer Podcast returns with more insight and discussion from across the property profession.
In this latest podcast host David Opie is joined by founder and Director Olly Thornton-Berry of Thirdfort, a "Know Your Client" (KYC) "Anti-Money Laundering" (AML) and "Source of Funds" (SoF) platform. The discussion centres on the challenge presented by increasing regulation and burden on property professionals to demonstrate Customer Due Diligence (CDD) and ensure illegitimate funds and criminals are not purchasing property.
CDD and AML is the bane of most conveyancers' lives and as Olly says, is only getting harder in a more regulated world. The single biggest complaint he comes across is the view of professionals that they are now required to be forensic investigators as well as legal professionals, pointing to increasing regulatory responsibilities to verify individuals and funds.
Moreover, Outcomes-Focused Regulation has created so much ambiguity around what firms need to be compliant. "We have this risk-based approach, where firms must be doing "more," without specifying what "more" is" adds Olly.
Olly shares his thoughts on how best to interpret this risk-based approach, and how tools like Thirdfort fit into the equation. He identifies 4 key elements to CDD firms must have processes they can evidence
- Is your client who they say they are?
- Are the documents the are offering up legitimate?
- Is the money from a legitimate source?
- When the transaction completes can you be sure it's same money you have previously verified?
CDD is about identifying the needle in the haystack and he is passionate that we all need to our bit to prevent fraud and money laundering
There is also evidence that Professional Indemnity Insurance is now having it's say with firms who are using electronic KYC and CDD solutions seeing reductions in premiums according to Olly.
This interesting discussion is a useful recap of the current requirements for law firms and a reminder of the technology solutions available which can be part of the solution.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In this shortened edition of the Today's Conveyancer Podcast host David Opie is joined by Ben Robinson (Managing Director, Landmark Estate Agency Services) and Rob Gurney (Managing Director, Ochresoft) to discuss the latest Landmark Property Trends Report covering April, May and June 2022.
The report considers data at 4 key stages in the transaction cycle; listings, properties sold subject to contract, search volumes, and completions; compiled using information from HM Land Registry and Landmark's own business.
Since the Q1 report was released, economic uncertainty fuelled by inflation and significant rises in the Bank of England's interest rates has prevailed. If the statistics in April 2023 indicated there may be a turning of the tide, Q2 has brought us back down to earth with a bump, with a downward trend in completions.
And while the front end of the transaction appears healthy, with listing volumes remaining broadly steady, there are anomalies around demand, and the flow of instructions through to completions.
Stability is the key, as both Ben and Rob explain the numbers and their own views and analysis in this latest discussion. Listen in to hear their thoughts in full.
The next Property Trends Report will be published at the end of Q3 2023 when we'll revisit the topic for further discussion and analysis.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
The latest Today's Conveyancer podcast considers the outlook for transactoin volumes and in turn conveyancers for the remainder of 2023 and into 2024. To find out host David Opie turns to Nick Chadbourne CEO at panel management business LMS.
Recorded in June, Nick shares insight available through LMS which has extensive coverage of the market by virtue of its relationships with brokers, estate agents and conveyancers.
He discusses the conditions at the end of 2022, and the impact of "Trussonomics" which we have seen play out in the reduced transaction volumes in April and May 2023. Nick also points to the current pipeline which provides a useful indicator of transaction volumes for the remainder of 2023, given it is currently taking c. 4 months to move home.
In addition to his market insight, Nick shares the journey that LMS are on, and one that he acknowledges has at times been painful. He discusses some of the innovation currently happening in the business and explains how that will impact on conveyancers.
A useful update on the health of the market, this latest podcast provides some sobering thoughts for conveyancers as they plan ahead for the remainder of 2023 and into 2024.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In the latest Today's Conveyancer podcast host David Opie is joined by Nick Hale, CEO of ONP Group.
In a wide-ranging interview Nick discusses his introduction in to the conveyancing world since his appointment in April 2022, and the journey he and ONP Group have been on.
The opening part of the discussion explores the make up of the ONP senior leadership teams. Over the past few years, ONP have made a number of appointments both from within, and external to, the conveyancing sector. For Nick it's the right blend of industry experience and wider skills needed to move the business forward.
"We're very deliberate and happy that we have assembled a team who understand the sector, have a proven track record, are great people leaders, have technical knowledge, and understand the regulatory requirements; blended with people who bring skills and experience that is not prevalent in the sector, and that has held us back as a sector." Adds Nick.
Nick shares his first experiences of joining the conveyancing profession, and discusses how his work history has shaped his approach at ONP. Throughout the podcast Nick references the importance of the vision at ONP and a personal drive to genuinely make a difference in the home moving process.
Sharing a story about managing 26m emergency calls each year, all answered in an average of less than 0.4 seconds, Nick reveals his obsession for making things better; "If you can make something better, why wouldn't you want to" he adds.
The conversation explores technology, client service, the future of conveyancing and 'that' Times article in February 2023.
Finishing the podcast, Nick and David explore the impact that external investment has had on ONP and the appetite for further private equity investment in legal services.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
If we thought branding was about logos and then we’re absolutely wrong... it's about reputation, meaning, culture, service and so much more according to Matt Davies who joins host David Opie on the latest Today's Conveyancer podcast.
Matt lives and breathes branding and his enthusiasm for the subject comes across through this discussion which provides some useful pointers on what brand is, why it is important and where do we start?
Pulling no punches Matt challenges organisations and law firms to think about why they exist beyond making money.
"Nobody is interested in you wanting to make money," says Matt. "You may personally be in business to make money but your brand and business and what it's trying to do in the world needs to have a narrative and a story to position itself in such a way that is effective in its market place."
Your brand should be
- a story or narrative that your customers find interesting and exciting
- something that your people can buy into and rally around
"And here’s the kicker" adds Matt, "it has to be true and it has to be authentic, because in today’s world you’ll get found out."
In his work Matt asks 4 key questions of organisations.
- What do you exist beyond making money
- Who do we serve
- How should we show up for them
- What are we offering them
Throughout this insightful discussion Matt provides plenty of useful pointers ad tips organisations and law firms can take away and implement in their own business.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
The latest Today's Conveyancer podcast discusses the opportunities presented by outsourcing. Joining regular host David Opie is Sophie Swanborough Operations and Marketing Manager at ntitle, an outsourced title checking solution.
There is a growing marketplace of organisations who offer outsourced and "unbundled" service into law and conveyancing. At a time when it is increasingly difficult to recruit experienced staff, being able to outsource to subject matter experts is invaluable says Sophie.
A title check for example, can be back in just a couple of days and the beauty of outsourcing is the ability to ramp volume up and down; running multiple files concurrently by combining in-house and outsourced resource.
Sophie shares her experience of how firms are using outsourced title checking with some firms are using it in every transaction while others are utilising the expertise of outsourcers for particular types of transactions.
"We see a lot of new build properties because 1) they are really lengthy, you get many, many documents with them. 2) They take up quite a lot of time, you need 2-3 hours without interruption (to really focus). We get a few leasehold title checks too because they are increasingly problematic." says Sophie.
Ultimately though does outsourcing boil down to cost v benefit; if the cost of outsourcing outweighs the cost of hiring then it's a more effective and efficient route to go down, and vice-versa.
Sophie points to the popularity of the consultancy model as evidence that individuals and firms are looking at how they can streamline what they do. Reducing overheads and the fixed costs of employment which typically includes recruiting, training, IT, pensions and other staff liabilities.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Planning expert Paul Addison joins the latest Today's Conveyancer podcast to discuss his experiences helping conveyancers and homeowners uncover planning risk and hidden development opportunities.
Founder and Managing Director of DevAssist, Paul shares his background as a land buyer and planner for developers and how he now brings his extensive experience to the business to educate conveyancers and home movers on potential, and planned, development in the area; enabling would be purchasers to make a more informed decision about whether to press ahead with their transaction.
The discussion is full of anecdotes and examples of Paul's work; from ransom strips in cul-de-sacs, to beachfront views at risk of blight by new build flats.
As Paul says, you cannot guarantee a view... and often this is point where firms are at risk of claims, particularly when a property purchaser finds out that about a development that might blight a view, access or enjoyment of the property.
"That's when people will become very emotional post-purchase and start looking to the solicitor and saying why didn't you tell me about this." And with plenty of examples of successful claims it's hard to argue against the point.
Despite the recent scrapping of government new build targets there is an acknowledgement that we simply do not build enough homes and that the issues around planning, NIMBY-ism, greenbelt development and the associated risk to would-be home movers is not likely to go away.
Paul suggests 80-90% of DevAssist reports identify a planning opportunity, whether hypothetical or real, of some description; with around 30% of reports identifying a guaranteed development site within 75m of the purchaser's property.
Whether or not the development impacts the decision to purchase the property is not the point, says Paul. The point is they have the interpretation of the data to make an informed decision.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Love it or loathe it, climate change appears to be here to stay following the release of guidance from The Law Society on the role of legal services in providing consumers with information.
And it is the subject of this latest Today's Conveyancer podcast as host David Opie is joined by Groundsure CEO Dan Montagnani, Bold Legal Group CEO Rob Hailstone, and Head of Property at Dutton Gregory Paul Sams.
Through the course of the discussion each of the contributors shares their thoughts on what the climate change guidance means for conveyancers in the absence of sector specific guidance which we await, and/or a practice note.
Alongside the discussion, Today's Conveyancer ran a survey to find out what the sentiment is amongst conveyancers around the guidance and their role in supporting home movers better understand the longer term risks brought about by climate change. There were over 100 responses to the question "what will be your approach as a firm or practitioner with regard to how you engage your clients?" revealing;
- 35% of respondents will proactively report on any climate risks identified in search reports and use tools including standard clauses to help explain the risk to clients
- 9% will report to clients on climate risk only when a risk is identified by a search report
- 18% will let the client decide on whether this is a material risk to the property transaction and evidence this to reduce risk to the practice
- 25% do not intend to report on climate change issues to clients
The issue seems to hinge on the qualification of lawyers to provide such advice to clients and both Paul and Rob acknowledge there is yet another element of scope or mission creep with the issue as responsibility for reporting on it, which should be in everyone's interests and remit, falls squarely on the conveyancer's shoulders.
In an entertaining discussion the three discuss whether climate change is something that the conveyancing community should be pushing back on, or whether it's part of the new breed of conveyancer whose role it is to be a conduit for this sort of information and hand hold home movers much more.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
The True Worth Expert Vanessa Ugatti joins host David Opie on the latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast.
Vanessa works with professional services individual and organisations to help them understand their true value, and explain that better to clients to help them get paid their true worth, unapologetically.
In her work Vanessa sees individuals and organisations constantly undercharging, underestimating, discounting, over servicing; she explains how a lack of confidence in conveying value leads to firms making less money and working too hard.
She explains how there is a tendency to be fearful about charging for our work. While Vanessa doesn't give away all her secrets, during the podcast she provides some insight into her 9 Part True Worth Methodology; explaining how one of the key elements is helping people become more consciously aware of the value they're providing.
"We take for granted that we are experts," Vanessa explains. "It's easy because we've got 10-20 years experience." She suggests we need to "take charge" when it comes to pricing. "Modern lawyers have to be commercially aware which has a positive knock on effect on profitability and staff wellbeing because they're being paid fairly for the worth they do," she adds.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
The latest Today's Conveyancer podcast looks at research conducted by telephone answering service Moneypenny into call handling by UK law firms, both from an incoming and outgoing point of view. Joining host David Opie is Bernadette (Bernie) Bennett, Head of Sector - Legal at Moneypenny to discuss the "Customer Communications Global Trends Report".
According to the research, telephone continues to be the number one way consumers contact law firms with 35% of respondents indicating they will make first contact by phone, followed by 25% using email.
The research shows that typically clients will call, rather than email, when their enquiry is urgent (42%) or complicated (33%). And to exacerbate the challenge, the research identified that cold calls are up 23% over the last 12 months, and there has been 9% increase in out of hours calls year on year - meaning conveyancers have a longer to do list before they even start the day.
Despite these numbers, call handling by law firms is very hit and miss as Bernie discusses the challenges that face firms on daily basis. For many firms fee earners remain as a first point of contact for enquiries which can, says Bernie, result in interrupted productivity. How many conveyancers have told us that they spend much of their working time on the phone and answering emails.
Research conducted by Law Firm Marketing Club suggests that it is "50:50" whether call handling will leave clients "impressed or wanting;" firms might consider, suggests Bernie, implementing a strategy around how they answer the phone:
"It's critical, incoming calls don't disturb fee earners and callers receive the best experience. Bad calls result in leads being lost and reputations being damaged."
The research suggests that 36% of recipients of bad call handling will take their business elsewhere; 34% will make a complaint; and 25% will leave a negative review
In a thought provoking discussion Bernie shares some thoughts on how firms can implement a more effective call handling strategy and what tools are available to streamline productivity.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In this latest Today's Conveyancer podcast host David Opie welcomes Ben Robinson and Rob Gurney on to discuss the latest Landmark Property Trends Report.
Ben is the Managing Director of Landmark Estate Agency Services, and Rob is the Managing Director of Ochresoft; both well placed to comment on the data which provides insight into 4 key property market metrics
- Listings
- Sold Subject to Contract
- Searches Ordered
- Completions
The Property Trends Report was first published in 2021 and is now providing analysis on the health of the market each quarter. The data is drawn from Landmark's own business, extrapolated to the entire market. The report uses 2019 as the benchmark for comparison based on it being pre-COVID and the last "normal" year for the property market.
Ben and Rob discuss the latest report, which covers Q1 2023 for England & Wales, and Scotland, and provides detailed analysis of the last 12 months of activity in the market.
March 2023 saw the return of new listings to above 2019 volumes for the first time since before the disastrous mini-budget in October 2022. And while this is a promising sign for the market, the other metrics remain some way below 2019 levels as the full effect of "Trussonomics" has played out over the last 6 months; SSTC remains some 22% below 2019 levels, and completions nearly 30% below.
There is cause for optimism say Ben and Rob as stability returns to the market, with listings, and confidence on the up. Listen in to hear their analysis in full.
The next Property Trends Report will be published at the end of Q2 2023; lookout for further discussion and analysis.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
The latest Today's Conveyancer podcast discusses the changing nature of law firm case management systems and how we can best leverage their functionality.
Joining host David Opie is Adam Bullion, General Manager of Marketing at Practice Evolve, to discuss his thoughts on the current state of legal case management, and what the future might hold.
Adam describes the variety of options open to firms in two ways; software with a service vs software as a service. In choosing their CMS provider firms should be not just be looking for the functionality but what the associated support that comes with it looks like.
For Adam case management providers need to "step up" and be better for their clients. He points to the fact that CMS's have historically been poor at interoperability and integrating with other technologies. In a recent survey undertaken bu Practice Evolve only 5% of respondents said their technology integrations were "seamless."
The same survey identified that law firms use less than 40% of the software they have in place and identified 4 key priorities law firms want to see from their technology:
- Improving internal systems and workflows
- Integrating existing and new technologies
- Greater focus on client service and experience
- Retention of key people
By supporting users to better understand the capabilities of the technology, we can make them more productive, and ultimately improve efficiency in the business, says Adam.
The discussion moves on to the Cloud vs on premise debate and how firms can differentiate the case management systems which Adam shares his thoughts and experience on.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
This latest Today's Conveyancer podcast welcomes Chris Harris on to discuss the current state of the conveyancing market and the challenges firms face in harnessing technology to make transactions run smoother. Familiar to many, Chris has been in and around the conveyancing profession for a number of years as a practicing solicitor and a panel manager and in 2011 he founded Lawyer Checker before selling to Dye & Durham in 2021. His latest venture is a tool to help conveyancers better deal with enquiries.
Enquiries has been a major issue for conveyancers in recent years, with many taking to social media to highlight the practice of raising lengthy and at times unnecessary enquiries which serve to delay the transaction. Indeed, says Chris, too many times it appears that we delay the transaction more by arguing over who is going to answer the query rather than going to get the answer in the first place. There is, he says, a fundamental lack of collaboration.
And who is driving the increase in enquiries? Is it consumers taking a more active role in their home move and asking more questions about the property (and what role does the estate agent play in answering some of those questions). Or is it conveyancers ensuring they are covering their responsibilities with one eye on PII?
For Chris, AI and automation could be a part of the solution. We are already seeing increasingly useful tools being developed which makes sense of data which is held in a standard format and can be transmitted between firms in a uniform way.
Chris cites examples such auto-report builders and post completion technology which take structured information and present it back to us in a helpful and usable format.
But there are plenty of examples in conveyancing of unstructured data; words on a page without any ability to extract and process individual points. He points specifically to enquiries where conveyancers will often receive emails raising a list of queries with no way of standardising information contained.
This is where AI and NLP (Natural Language Processing) might have a role to play in reading these emails, identifying the queries and creating task lists; in the fullness of time, these tools will be able to fulfil the enquiry. For example if a buyer's conveyancer raises an enquiry for a copy of the EPC, automation has the ability to read it, go off and search the EPC Register, and return the result without any intervention explains Chris.
In a fascinating discussion Chris explains that we are only just scratching the surface of what AI has the ability to do in conveyancing and warns firms that unless they are embracing the technology coming down the line, they may get left behind.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
On the latest Today's Conveyancer host David Opie is joined by Karen Babington to talk about her latest business venture Valafy. Karen has a wealth of experience in the property sector starting out in sales in marketing at a regional lender before moving on to work in and with law firms and panel managers (selling her own panel Easier2Move to MyHomeMove in 2010). Until recently Karen was Commercial Director at LawyerChecker before its sales to Dye & Durham in 2021.
Valafy says it will tell conveyancing business owners what they need to know about their business and their wider external environment in order to plan ahead.
"As a business owner" says Karen, " what do you want to know?"
"You want to know if you're charging at the right level; you want to know how efficient you are; you want to know if you're paying your people correctly."
The business will formally launch in April 2023 with a questionnaire and subsequent report designed to provide conveyancers with "actionable business insights."
The questionnaire is designed to drill into detail around charges and costs to help firms achieve better profit margins, and benchmark the efficiency of the business.
The questionnaire will inform a report which sets out to provide real-time information about their external environment to enable comparisons with peers. The first report is planned to be released in May 2023.
Once the first conveyancing report has been completed the plan, says Karen, is to look at other areas of law, and the wider business community where this data isn't readily available.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
The Today's Conveyancer Podcast welcomes Mike Stainsby, Commercial Director at Conveyancer Insights on this week to discuss how conveyancing firms can use data and insight to drive better sales performance
With 25 years service in and around the property market Mike brings a wealth of experience to the discussion which focuses on using data and insight to enable better decision making.
Mike's own research yields some revealing statistics for conveyancing professionals. Indeed some consumer research carried out by Conveyancer Insights identified that 27% of respondents to a survey didn't even know what conveyancing was;
The results lead Mike to challenge firms around how they are presenting themselves online to prospective clients. Are their website consumer friendly, have they considered review platforms, what does their sales funnel and process look like.
An extensive mystery shopping exercise revealed that just 10% of online enquiries were followed up by phone by the firm and 7% of firms didn't send a promised quote.
Pressed on the use of tools like online quote calculators Mike points to a statistic that there are 3.8m shift workers in the UK who are frequently unavailable to make contact during standard office hours; so why aren't firms using the tools available to them to capture these interested parties?
The research also reveals that 2/3rd of firms are not tracking their quotes and conversions, and simply don't know their pipeline or conversion rates. There is, says Mike, considerable room for improvement.
"Ultimately we have to move away from those gut feel decisions and enable us as businesses to make informed decisions based on empirical evidence and fact" says Mike.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
The latest Today's Conveyancer podcast is an extended edition as part of National Conveyancing Week 2023.
Host David Opie is joined by a panel of professionals from across the conveyancing sector to discuss the increasingly complex world of property due diligence and searches.
- Andrew Prismall, Chair of the Association of Independent Search Agents
- James Sherwood-Rogers, Independent Chair of the Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO)
- Chris Loaring, Managing Director, Landmark Legal and founding member of the Conveyancing Information Executive (CIE)
- Laura Burkinshaw, Head of Legal Practice, Convey Law and member of Bold Legal Group
- Simon Law, Head of Legal Practice DC Law & JS Law and Chair, Society of Licensed Conveyancers (SLC)
In a previous podcast we have discussed the inclusion of climate change data as "the straw that breaks the camel's back" as conveyancers are expected to report on an increasing range of potential environmental and physical factors that could affect the property which they are for the mostpart untrained to do.
There is understandable push back and in this podcast we discuss the current position of practitioners and data providers, as well as explore some of the history behind property data and searches to help us understand how we've got the position we have; with searches containing upwards of 40-50 pages of content.
The discussion focuses on the current direction of travel and explores views on technology, accessing live data rather than snippets in time and the ability to refresh information, product roadmaps for the data providers, and the issue of climate change.
Listen in to this entertaining podcast to hear the panel's views.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
National Conveyancing Week is an initiative designed to raise the profile of the conveyancing profession in the home moving industry. From 20th-24th March 2023 a series of on and offline events will showcase the work of the profession and encourage collaboration across the home moving community.
In this latest Today’s Conveyancer Podcast host David Opie is joined by Simon Brown and Ben Marley, CEO and Commercial Director of review specialists The ESTAS to discuss the ins and out of review platforms.
Increasingly review and recommendation platforms dominate many of our buying decisions. Think about booking.com and TripAdvisor for holidays, Facebook and LinkedIn for recommendations, and of course Google reviews for many of our day-to-day consumer needs.
And it is increasingly on the agenda for our regulators, whose efforts to create greater transparency has resulted in the requirement to provide more information around fees on our websites. Indeed falling foul of these regulatory responsibilities will land you with financial penalties.
So why hasn't the legal sector bought in to review platforms in the same way that, for example, the estate agency sector has; where 70-80% of estate agents are now using at least one online review platform. For conveyancers, review platforms remain a "nice to have" rather than a necessity.
Providing their insight into this conundrum Simon and Ben share some frightening statistics which should encourage practitioners to consider the potential impact on their business.
- Only 1 in 4 verbal recommendations result in direct contact
- 70% of a consumer’s buying decision has already been made before they contact you because of the availability of online due diligence.
Listen in to this entertaining discussion to explore more about the real truth of review platforms.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast welcomes Clare Yates to the latest episode to discuss the art of communication and client relationship management. Clare is a communications and sales trainer with experience in both the estate agency and conveyancing sectors, bringing cross-sector experience to the discussion.
At a time when transaction volumes will normalise and the profession will have to go out and win work again, Clare discusses how client relationship management starts in the very first client interaction.
Challenged on how conveyancers can set out their stall to truly differentiate their service offering Clare reminds us that every transaction is a human story, and that treating it as such should be paramount to professionals.
Whatever the situation, whether it's an exciting dream home move, a sale due to separation or divorce, or the sale of a loved one's property, conveyancers specialise in helping people people move in and move on. For so many, the initial conversation is a real deal-breaker if the conveyancer gets it wrong.
Alongside the importance of the maintenance of this relationship ("plan our calls so that calls don't plan our day") Clare goes on to talk about her experience of working with firms to improve their communication ("no update is an update"/ "speak in a language clients understand") and how firms need to be training staff to better deal with difficult clients.
Clare also discusses the differences between the relationship between the client and their estate agent, and the client and their conveyancer; a source of frustration for many conveyancers who are often left to pick up the pieces of broken promises made without the conveyancer's agreement, and estate agent's understanding of the nuances of the legal process.
With a raft of anecdotes drawn from her experience as a trainer with estate agents and conveyancers, Clare brings a healthy dose of realism and practicality to the discussion.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
This week's Today's Conveyancer podcast features a topical discussion about the growing complexity of conveyancing, and the expectations consumers, estate agents, lenders and brokers as to the role of the conveyancer.
Is it fair, or right, that we face calls to add to the wealth of due diligence we already undertake? How can we be expected to be legal experts one minute, environmental scientists the next, and climate change soothsayers all in the same day?
This "mission creep" is evident in, for example, the increasingly non-legal special conditions in mortgage instructions; should it be the solicitor's responsibility to provide a buildings insurance certificate, or credit cards are paid off before completion?
Tackling the issue is Philip Armstrong, Managing Partner of Armstrong Solicitors. Philip contends that to expect conveyancers to understand all the complexities of the home move is unrealistic, and not unlike something like a medical procedure, there are various moving parts each with their own specialist required to ensure the safety of the patient.
In Philip's view home movers need at least 2 specialists in their corner to advise on the transaction. The conveyancing practitioner for the legal and reserved work, and a surveyor for the building/structural/environmental risks.
As Philip says
“There needs to be a narrative nationwide to say that if you’re buying a property, you need a surveyor and you need a solicitor.”
However, according to a RICS report in 2020, only 22% of purchasers instruct their own survey.
Listen in to this latest Today's Conveyancer podcast to hear this thought-provoking and important discussion in full.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
The latest Today’s Conveyancer podcast welcomes industry expert Kate Faulkner OBE to deliver her verdict on the current state of the property market, the ills of the home moving process, ROPA, Up front information and the work being done by the Home Buying and Selling Group to improve the experience for all.
Since starting her career in food Kate has since become a respected commentator and consumer champion in the property industry. She has launched a property portal, worked in relocation, part exchange and new build and now runs a communications agency, helping consumers with their property projects.
Kate delivers a typically honest appraisal of the current state of the market ("the truth is, we don't know"), regulation of estate agency ("I am shouting from the rooftops we have to regulate estate agents. Everybody around the agents is regulated in some form or another, so we need to tick that box) and progress on some of the initiatives launched by the Home Buying and Selling Group ("we need mandation to make further progress")
But she is buoyant about the progress to date and fervently believes that change is coming. Discussing the work done previously she says she doesn't believe in missed opportunities, rather that the timing wasn't right.
"We’re in the right time (now), we’ve got the right people, we are making changes to the home buying a selling process that we couldn’t do before. You learn why it didn’t happen and you put it right."
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In this latest Today's Conveyancer podcast host David Opie is joined by Richard Hinton. Known to many for his years in marketing and business development in the legal services sector, both in house and as a supplier, Richard discusses the “vacuum of market intelligence” that conveyancers face when it comes to using data to drive their businesses forward.
Despite a blip during Covid where the number of firms increased to cope with demands, the home moving industry continues to see a contraction in the number of practices undertaking conveyancing work. The larger firms are getting larger as smaller ones exit no doubt because of the increasing risk and PI premiums.
"It's ironic," says Richard, "lawyers train to eradicate risk and rely on certainty, and yet as leaders of conveyancing businesses, we're making decisions on conjecture and gut feel. "
Conveyancers need to be able to use data to drill into their relative position in their geographic. They need to be able to understand what their opportunities are. If they are thinking about a new marketing campaign or a new office what is the competition and what is the strength of the referral market, particularly estate agents as an example.
Data is also a powerful sales tool; enabling firms to demonstrate their expertise in a particular type of property, tenure, or location; and highlighting transaction speeds and turnarounds.
Powered by TwentyCi who have extensive experience in the estate agency market, TwentyConvey has been launched to provide more quantitative and qualitative insight into the property market.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In this latest Today's Conveyancer podcast host David Opie is joined by Martin MacDuff, founder of Redbrick Solutions, to discuss case management systems, practice management systems and technology.
Are conveyancers more reliant on case management workflows than ever before? With experienced conveyancers leaving the industry, how much do we have a "computer says no" culture and how much does case management facilitate that?
Or does case management help by segmenting conveyancing work efficiently so that each stage is completed by subject specialists?
Alongside this, and the consolidation of the market over the past couple of years, Martin discusses his thoughts on cloud vs on premise solutions and which works best for firms depending on their own infrastructure and requirements.
Questioned on the level of investment firms should be thinking about when it comes to technology, Martin suggests that between 3-5% of turnover is best practice across their technology requirements.
Despite the proliferation of technology, transactions continue to take longer. Martin acknowledges that case management has done much to improve the process internally for firms, but there is work to be done to provide a truly "digital conveyancing " process.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In the first epsiode of the second series of the Today's Conveyancer Podcast host David Opie is joined by Muve CEO David Jabbari.
David was part of one of the first Alternative Business Structures (ABS) to be launched following the Legal Services Act, dubbed "Tesco Law." At the time it was feared the Act would precipitate the death of the high street lawyer as it lowered the barrier to entry for established consumer brands to enter the law and set up firms to cater for their customers.
The reality was it didn't happen, and in this podcast we explore some of the reasons why as David discusses his own experience at Parabis, who were one of the first law firms to secure private equity funding and were closely associated with Saga at the time.
David also discusses technology, innovation and unbundling; the process by which conveyancing is increasingly seen as a standalone, commoditised service.
He also share his thoughts on the current state of the conveyancing market and offers up some predictions for what might happen in 2023 and beyond.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Following the publication of two previous "state of the nation" reports, CEO of tmgroup Joe Pepper joins Host David Opie to provide an exclusive preview of the initial results of their latest survey.
David and Joe are joined by Founder of Aconveyancing Natalie Moore for this special edition of the Today's Conveyancer podcast.
With over 800 responses, 3/4 of which are drawn from the conveyancing industry, the survey provides a finger on the pulse of the latest market sentiment, and follows 2 previous reports; "Thriving in a Pandemic" and "The New Normal."
The full report will be out in January 2023 and in this podcast Joe Pepper provides a first look at the results, with some of the standout statistics including:
- 63% of respondents said that remuneration is a big issue
- 33% of respondents said they are actively looking to leave the conveyancing industry
- Less than 20% of firms have increased their focus on succession planning
Alongside discussing some of the initial results, Joe and Natalie share their thoughts on what firms need to be thinking about heading into 2023; particularly given the market uncertainty caused by economic and social factors.
It's not all doom and gloom and as the saying goes, "every cloud has a silver lining." Listen in to hear what opportunities 2023 might present for conveyancers.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In this Today's Conveyancer podcast host David Opie is joined by lawyer and technology entrepreneur Vanessa Challess.
As owner of Tiger Bytez and Tiger Law, Vanessa brings a practical view of the current state of conveyancing with strong words for conveyancers over current service levels and technology adoption. She also warns firms that technology will become a recruiting tool and that the best conveyancers will move to technology-led firms as competition for talent stiffens.
Listen in to hear some of Vanessa's top tips for conveyancing firms including;
- Don't allow yourself to be chased. Proactivity will save 3-4 calls and emails.
- Think about the roles in the team. Should we have roles in the team dedicated to communications and updates, not unlike the sales progressors in an estate agent's office.
- Technology won't replace the human touch when it comes to holding home mover's hands. We can use technology to help with the admin, but we still need change our mindset when it comes to using technology to help us smooth the flow of the transaction.
Vanessa's own market research suggests that there is a continued culture clash between clients, who want speed of service, and conveyancers who are under pressure to deliver faster transaction times.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Having achieved seed investment in Move Genius, Founder Hannah Nicholson joins host David Opie to discuss the direction of travel of technology in the conveyancing space.
Creating a seamless journey for home movers, estate agents and conveyancers seems to be the holy grail, but with myriad technology solutions, how can we achieve a more joined up approach?
And are people ready to change? How are we going to move the industry forward over the next 2-5 years to really change the narrative around the relationships between home movers and estate agents, home movers and conveyancers, and estate agents and conveyancers.
For Hannah this requires "collaboration between tech solutions and a change in industry mindset."
Listen in to this latest Today's Conveyancer podcast to hear the thoughts of Hannah on the current challenges she sees in the home moving process, and what role blockchain has in creating the building block for collaboration.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In the latest Today's Conveyancer podcast David Opie is joined by Scott Reece.
With a background in the installation of technology in medical practices, Scott (by his own admission) was somewhat of a novice when he and his wife joined the X-Press Legal Services network in 2007 in a complete change of scenery.
Their franchise survived the torrid 2008-2009 recession in tact and 15 years later now wears two hats in the business. One is his franchisee hat where he covers the Cumbria region, the other is his role as IT Manager at X-Press Legal as a whole, supporting the franchisee network and building platforms and integrations for the benefit of clients.
Scott’s share his own tales of the fun and games of being a search agent where digitisation is sorely needed in Local Land Charges departments; with one story where the council limits the number of search appointments to 4 a day because the Land Charges Officer has to traipse up and down 3 flights of stairs with Kalamazoo ledgers to provide the information to search agents.
Progress is being made here with 50 councils now moving over to a digitised Local Land Charges register at the time of publication.
In his role as head of IT Scott is a proactive member of a community of compliance professionals. Digital ID checks and onboarding remain a key risk for conveyancing firms. He also discusses the role technology has to play in re-checking and refreshing data as transactions move along to ensure that material changes that could impact the transaction are reported.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In this podcast, Alttaf Hussain and Valentina Dotto of Yoti join host David Opie to discuss electronic and digital signatures.
At a time when the digitisation of legal services is under scrutiny, Alttaf and Valentina discuss the various types of electronic and digital signature available and walk us through the terminology.
They also provide some guidance and user cases around when it is most appropriate, and compliant, to use them.
With cyber crime and fraud on the rise, technology providers are also under pressure to stay a step ahead of criminal organisations who seek to take advantage of weaknesses in new developments.
Beyond the compliance and technology challenges, of digital and electronic signatures have the potential to smooth the conveyancing transaction and "remove friction," ultimately improving the client experience, according to Alttaf.
Listen in to hear more thoughts on the wider adoption of digital and electronic signatures.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
The intended centralisation of the Local Land Charges registers has been well documented; but it's not the only item on the agenda for Local Land Charge teams.
In this latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast host David Opie is joined by Land Data Chief Executive Fiona Barron, Pat Morgan, Chair of the Local Land Charges Institute, and Nick Dyoss, Director of NLIS.
The discussion centres on the work being done in Local Land Charges departments in response to greater digitisation and how councils are supporting efforts to centralise the registers.
By their own admission, there is a way to go; Local Land Charges have operated independently with little standardisation for many years but times are very much changing.
Like conveyancers, LLC departments have also grappled with the impact of the pandemic, the huge rise in demand, cyber attack and recruitment as many long standing public servants have retired, taking a vast amount of knowledge with them.
Listen in to hear the thoughts on the direction of travel for Local Land Charge departments, and their top tips for conveyancers.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In this latest Today's Conveyancer podcast David Opie is joined by Head of Property at Dutton Gregory Solicitors Paul Sams.
Paul is better known to so many of us as "Lego Paul"... with his regular Friday musings on social media providing an entertaining and insightful end to the week.
Known for his use of alliterative and rhyming marketing initiatives, Paul discusses his latest “Can’t move as planned? Our fees will be canned!” slogan as well as discussing his thoughts on the various challenges of being a conveyancer in 2022.
Are conveyancers over worked and underpaid? And how do we combat that? And what does the industry need to do to address the issues around fees, moving timescales, registration delays and customer satisfaction?
With extensive experience on the front line Paul shares his insight with the Today's Conveyancer podcast audience.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In this special episode of the Today's Conveyancer Podcast host David Opie discusses the ins and outs of the announcement by Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng to cut Stamp Duty rates in the mini-budget on Friday 23rd September.
David is joined by conveyancing industry veteran Lloyd Davies, Managing Director of Convey Law and Chairman of The Conveyancing Foundation.
Lloyd lends his years of experience in the industry to the discussion, providing his thoughts on the rate cuts, alongside the overall package of tax cuts, as well as considering the current state of play with the continued war in Ukraine, interest rate rises, relaxation of mortgage rules, inflation, recession and supply and demand.
Are we heading for recession? Or will the SDLT cut “over-stimulate an already stimulated market” and create further capacity issues for the property market? And what does that mean for conveyancers up and down the country?
Listen in to hear Lloyd's thoughts.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In this latest Today's Conveyancer podcast, host David Opie is joined by Emma Green, Managing Partner at Cyber Data Law Solicitors.
A regular commentator on national radio and television, Emma is an expert on cyber crime and alongside spending her time educating firms on the perils of cyber attack, has also spent time negotiating with criminal organisations on behalf of firms who have been attacked.
Emma lends her experience and insight to the Today's Conveyancer podcast where she discusses why the cyber risk message simply isn't getting through; We have seen a number of large legal organisations affected in just the last couple of months.
With experience dealing with insurance providers, Emma also discusses the merits of the various online security badges and marks avaiable (Cyber Essentials etc) and how they are viewed by insurers.
She also explains how a firm's greatest risk is its people and constant diligence is required to protect ourselves from the increasingly sophisticated efforts of cyber criminals. And alongside some top "prevention is better than cure" tips, Emma shares her thoughts on what firms need to do in the immediate aftermath of a cyber attack.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In this latest episode of the Today's Conveyancer podcast, host David Opie speaks with Sally Holdway.
Having started out life as a high street conveyancer, Sally has moved through a series of roles leading innovation at large conveyancing firms and QualitySolicitors before setting up Teal Legal in 2018.
Sally now devotes much of her time to exploring new technology opportunities for law firms with the aim of combining data and technology to improve the home-moving process.
Research conducted by Teal Legal has revealed that upto 20% of a conveyancer's time is spent collating information to report on, whether it be back to the lender or the client. Far from doing the conveyancer's job, Sally firmly believes that technology offers the opportunity to reduce the time spent collecting and interpreting data, with instant access to information increasing efficiency and improving the transaction for all, not least the conveyancer who can actually be left to do the legal work.
In this episode Sally discusses the current technologies which she would urge law firms to explore, which are most likely to impact efficiency and client experience, ranging from HM Land Registry’s Register Extract Service, to the multiple new opportunities coming down the line. She also discusses what this might mean for how conveyancing is carried out over the coming months and years.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
As one of the most divisive subjects of recent times climate change is a challenging topic for many of us.
When it comes to conveyancing there is a feeling of dread. Is this yet another issue conveyancers need to report on to clients? How much is it going to cost in terms of expense and time when fees are already squeezed (and that's putting it mildly!).
And how much do clients really care? They've fallen in love with the property, is this another roadblock to securing their dream home?
Joining host David Opie to discuss this challenging topic is Groundsure Marketing Director David Kempster.
In an honest discussion David outlines the sense behind why the impact of climate change must be addressed when it comes to the UK's housing stock. How moves to improve energy efficiency will increase costs for landlords in the short term (retrofitting energy efficiency into properties built in the 20th century will prove costly!) and drive them out of the rental market, releasing a raft of homes for first time buyers.
Whether they like it or not, addressing climate change will impact the conveyancing industry and David urges conveyancers to get to grips with the requirements now given the emphasis both government and lenders are placing on it.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
Resources:
The Chancery Lane Project
Law Society Resolution on Climate Change
In a post-pandemic society "the new normal" has come to symbolise the way in which our personal and business lives have changed following the significant upheaval of the last 2 years.
But what does a "new normal" mean in the property industry?
Following a survey of over 700 property professionals we can reveal exactly what it means as host David Opie is joined by tmgroup's CEO Joe Pepper and mio Sales Director Nick Ball to discuss their research report "The New Normal."
Released in January 2022, 8 months on Joe and Nick talk about the progress being made and how we are faring against those early 2022 predictions. And how have firms reacted in the months since the end of the SDLT relief and the overwhelming demand played on the conveyancing by the home moving frenzy of 2021?
Have things really changed for conveyancers after the "call to arms" of the last couple of years? Or are firms still reliant on the "extraordinary dedication of their people" as the report details?
Listen in to hear Joe and Nick's thoughts and the results of "The New Normal" which can be downloaded here: https://www.tmgroup.co.uk/the-new-normal/.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
In this latest podcast from Today's Conveyancer host David Opie is joined by Mustafa Hassan, a consultant solicitor with law firm Taylor Rose MW.
An increasingly popular employment model, Mustafa, a residential and commercial property practitioner, discusses the reasons why he first investigated the opportunity to become a consultant solicitor, and the drawbacks and benefits as he sees them.
Taylor Rose MW, alongside others like gunnercooke and Setfords, have adopted the consultant model to offer an alternative employment structure, with all the pros and cons of self employment, under the umbrella of a large and well strcutured firm.
Mustafa discusses some of the practicalities including PI, workload, client ownership, marketing and much more in this warts and all podcast discussing the consultant solicitor model.
Listen in on your preferred podcast provider and at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk.
Following the passing of the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 implemented in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the government has introduced a new anti-money laundering measure designed to tackle the opaque nature of foreign ownership in the UK property market.
1% of all UK residential property is now in foreign ownership, a figure that has tripled since 2010.
In this latest podcast David Opie is joined by Executive Chairman of Armalytix Mike Ward to discuss what the Register of Overseas Entities (ROE) is, and what the implications are for conveyancing firms.
This timely discussion, with the legislation coming into effect from 1st August 2022, is a must listen for all conveyancers as regardless of their own client base, there is a chance in the not too distant future of chains involving overseas entities breaking down because the foreign entities are unable to submit their registration to Companies House.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast is available on your preferred podcast provider, and at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk
Burnout is a subject close to the heart of conveyancers up and down the country following the challenges of the last couple of years.
In this episode of the Today's Conveyancer podcast, host David Opie is joined by Lead Steele, a coach and trainer for law firms and founder of Searching for Serenity.
As a former lawyer, Leah is well versed in the culture of law firms having gone through her own experiences of burnout. She now spends her time helping others understand burnout, how to better understand its impact and what practical steps can be taken to support ourselves and those around us.
In a fascinating discussion Leah explores how we can recognise the symptoms of burnout and points to both personal and organisational factors as critical to better understanding its impact and what lessons we can take as individuals and employers.
Significantly Leah dispels the myth that stress is always bad. Yes, there are bad types of stress, but stress can also push us, and motivate us to achieve.
Listen in on your preferred podcast provider and on www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk to hear Leah's thoughts.
In this episode of the Today's Conveyancer podcast, host David Opie is joined by solicitor and Director at Big Yellow Penguin Ltd Shaun Jardine to discuss the opportunity for conveyancing firms to charge more for their work.
Value is in the eye of the beholder, so they saying goes, and Shaun, an experienced ex-Managing Partner of a large Midlands law firm, outlines his view of how firms are undervaluing their service.
In an "unscientific LinkedIn survey" Shaun established that 78% of consumers would pay over £2000 for the conveyance of a property worth £650,000. And yet, a subsequent online search found that none of the online quotation engines tested provided a figure any where near that.
In the course of the illuminating discussion Shaun discusses his tactics for helping conveyancing firms understand the needs and wants of home movers, before providing a price.
And if the client doesn't want to pay it, walk away, because it's not worth your time.
And if the client doesn't want to pay it, walk away, because it's not worth your time.
Listen in on your preferred podcast provider and on www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk
With more information coming out about the planned National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) vision for making "material information" available up front for homebuyers, this latest Today's Conveyancer podcast explores what the knock on benefit for conveyancers is.
It is anticipated that by better understanding the full extent of the transaction at the outset, conveyancers will be able to price more effectively, accounting for any transactional anomalies or complications, and allocate resource appropriately.
David Opie is joined by Jason Howarth, founder of Veya (not Veyo!) to discuss how conveyancers can get more involved in the home moving process at an earlier stage and work with the agent and home mover to fully understand
- any potential pitfalls with the house of their dreams
- how best to navigate them to ensure a speedy resolution
- how this can lead to a smoother moving experience all round
With the launch of Part A, organisations marketing properties must include
"information that, regardless of outcome, is always considered material for all properties regardless of location. This information generally involves unavoidable costs that will be incurred by the occupier regardless of the use of the property."
Currently this includes Price/Rent, Tenure and Council Tax Band. Parts B and C will include "non-standard" features.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast is available on your preferred podcast provider and also on the Today's Conveyancer website www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk
In this week's Today's Conveyancer podcast, host David Opie is joined by marketing guru, Clare Fanner.
Clare has held senior marketing roles in law firms and is well placed to provide her take on what conveyancers should, and shouldn't(!) be doing, as well as the future of marketing in law firms.
In her current role, as founder of Law Firm Marketing Club, Clare provides a range of resources for lawyers and law firms to help them in their day-to-day marketing challenges.
Are law firms under-resourced when it comes to their marketing investment? Or is there a lack of direction and understanding about the value of marketing? Is marketing becoming a much more specialised function with different skill sets required for paid advertising and social media management for example.
Happily, Clare sees some real positives... there is greater representation of marketing considerations at a senior level. Clare shares her thoughts on the value of marketing across the firm and provides her tips on making the most of your marketing resource, borne out of her experience working in law firms.
Listen to the Today's Conveyancer podcast on your preferred podcast provider, and subscribe to the Today's Conveyancer newsletter to receive your daily and weekly copy of conveyancing industry news, views and insight.
In this episode of the Today's Conveyancer podcast David Opie is joined by Ombudsman at The Legal Ombudsman, Jason Chapman.
The Legal Ombudsman was introduced in 2010, replacing the Legal Complaints Commission and in the course of discussion Jason reveals that conveyancing is one of the most complained about areas of law
In total the Ombudsman deals with about 6000 cases per year, of which 1/3rd are related to conveyancing. In general, between 10-30% of complaints are taken forward to final decision and 48-50% complaints are upheld.
In the course of the discussion Jason outlines some of the main areas of complaints, and provides some thoughts on how best to avoid complaints in the first place, and deal with them most effectively as and when they do happen.
Jason also discusses the impact of the SDLT exemption and extension, which had a huge impact on conveyancers at the time, and an unintended knock-on impact on other areas of service delivery for law firms.
You can download this, and all the Today's Conveyancer podcasts from www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk/podcast and listen in on your preferred podcast provider.
Founder of the Bold Legal Group Rob Hailstone joins David Opie in this latest Today's Conveyancer podcast.
Rob talks about his 40-plus years in conveyancing and his own journey from running a busy conveyancing practice in Bovey Tracey through to HIP-provider, and on to championing the work of conveyancers up and down the country though the popular membership organisation Bold Legal Group.
Through BLG Rob sees the best and worst of the conveyancing industry. Describing the changes since his time as a conveyancer he says
"Back then I would say we had 7 to 10 big plates to keep spinning at one time. Nowadays you have 15-20 smaller plates to keep spinning which is a much harder task."
Rob and David discuss the evolution of conveyancing and what the future holds. Imploring conveyancers to embrace up front information and the wider benefits to the transaction Rob calls on the industry to "grasp the nettle" and level the playing field in property transactions.
Listen in to Rob's thoughts at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk or download the Today's Conveyancer podcast from your preferred podcast provider.
In the course of going about our daily routines it is sometimes easy to forget that our counterparts across the property spectrum often face similar challenges. Understanding the challenges of others can inform our own behaviour and our behaviour toward others.
As Group Compliance Officer at The Guild of Property Professionals, and Fine & Country, Paul is well respected in the estate agency market for his expertise and no-nonsense, practical approach.
In this latest podcast Paul discusses the pressing issues Estate Agents face on a daily basis, particularly around anti-money laundering and the growing clamour for up front information; challenges familiar to conveyancers up and down the country.
Paul explains what the implications are for estate agents, and by extension how this impacts conveyancers, and what best practice he sees in his role going into Guild of Property Professional and Fine & Country members across England and Wales.
The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also on the Today's Conveyancer website at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Sign up to our FREE daily and weekly newsletters to keep up to date with all the news and views in the conveyancing industry.
Brian Rogers is well known in the legal services sector as one of the founders of compliance software solution Riliance, and is now Regulatory Director at The Access Group.
Having worked with law firms on a range of compliance issues for a number of years, Brian is well versed in the pitfalls and mistakes firms make, particularly when it comes to anti-money laundering. In this latest Today's Conveyancer podcast, Brian discusses the "don'ts" he has witnessed over the years, providing a useful reminder for law firm compliance leaders.
Brian also looks into his crystal ball to consider what risks are coming down the line for law firms, including proper adoption of technology, the cost of compliance and property market volatility in 2022/23.
Brian, and Access Legal, have created a comprehensive AML Guide for Law Firms. He is a regular commentator on LinkedIn, and also runs regular compliance updates for law firms.
You can subscribe to the Today's Conveyancer podcast on your preferred podcast provider, and listen in at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk.
In this Today's Conveyancer Podcast David Opie is joined by Cashroom's Chris and Steven O'Day, CEO and Head of Technology respectively and Tom Lyes, Head of Legal at Armalytix.
The discussion centres on the opportunity presented by open banking in reducing the risk of fraud across the conveyancing transaction, from initial onboarding through to completion and final final exchange of funds.
Building workflows using open banking can help with human error and preventing fraudsters from infiltrating manual processes.
It also enables a "single source of truth" when it comes to source of funds and provides greater certainty and surety for conveyancers in purchase transactions.
All of which should have a positive impact on Professional Indemnity Insurance premiums, surely?
Listen in to the Today's Conveyancer podcast to find out more...
The Today's Conveyancer podcast is joined by experienced HR Director Dan Creed to discuss culture, home and hybrid working, and employment in the "new normal."
With a background in fast growing retail, automotive, hospitality and technology businesses, Dan brings huge experience to his role as HR Director at tmgroup.
Dan discusses the challenges of being in HR at a time of great change in employment with the pandemic heralding the wider move toward home and hybrid working. The conversation covers;
- how to embrace hybrid working
- staff performance management
- how to maintain engagement with a remote workforce
- mental health and well-being
- creating the right culture for success
- the impact of improved employee experience on recruitment
Recently recognised at The British Conveyancing Awards in the Employee Experience Category and The UK Employee Excellence Awards Dan outlines what the business has been doing differently that is catching the eye.
In this Today's Conveyancer podcast David Opie is joined by Peter Ambrose, Managing Director at The Partnership based in Guildford.
Peter talks about his experience as a non-lawyer leading a law firm, and how his background in technology in the UK and America has led to him adopting a "technology first" approach at The Partnership.
Peter has been outspoken on the subject of technology and conveyancing. In this podcast he speaks candidly about the current state of the conveyancing market; poor service levels, a lack of technology and innovation, barriers to adoption, fraud, and about the impact on his own business.
Peter also explains how and why he has become an advocate for a single platform conveyancing solution in the quest for quicker and more secure transactions.
Listen in via Today's Conveyancer and on your preferred podcast provider.
UPRN's, or Unique Property Reference Numbers, have the potential to increase surety and speed up the conveyancing process, according to the guests on this Today's Conveyancer podcast.
David Opie is joined by Nick Chapallaz and Gayle Gander, Managing Director and Head of Marketing at Geoplace; and directors at trade body Conveyancing Information Executive (CIE) Chris Loaring (MD, Landmark Legal) and Stuart Telfer (Operations Director, Groundsure) to discuss the increasing use of UPRN in the conveyancing process.
In this 25 minute discussion Nick, Gayle, Chris and Stuart discuss the way in which UPRN's are being increasing used as part of the conveyancing process, how they can benefit conveyancers and consumers and speed up the process, and how they see the future of the relationship between UPRN and current property data identifiers such as title numbers.
Listen in via Today's Conveyancer and on your preferred podcast provider.
The 4 day working week is growing in popularity across a range of sectors and is gaining traction in the legal sector as firms adapt to the changing employment landscape, largely influenced by the flexible working approach demanded by the COVID-19 global pandemic.
In this Today's Conveyancer podcast David Opie is joined by the heads of 2 organisations who are implementing the 4 day working week in their business.
Natalie Moore, Director at Aconveyancing, and Gavin Wall, CEO at Conveyancing Expert join David Opie to discuss their experiences of adopting the 4 day working week and the practicalities of implementing it in their businesses.
Natalie and Gavin discuss
- The response from staff
- The dynamics of the 4 day week (coverage Mon-Fri/ working longer hours on the 4 days)
- Client and introducer management
- The impact on recruitment
Subscribe to the Today's Conveyancer podcast on your preferred podcast player and listen in at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk.
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In this episode of the Today's Conveyancer podcast David Opie is joined by PEXA UK Chief Executive James Bawa and Heather Crichton, General Manager Industry Readiness.
James and Heather discuss the impending launch of PEXA in the UK and the lessons learned in Australia that they bring with them to help facilitate a more streamlined home move.
Chief amongst the innovations is "PEXA-Pay," a newly launched payments and reconciliations method approved by The Bank of England designed to speed up payments, making them safer and more secure.
In this 25 minute episode, James and Heather discuss how they will be launching PEXA in the UK over the course of the next couple of years, starting with the remortgage market in Autumn 2022.
Subscribe to the Today's Conveyancer podcast on your preferred podcast player and listen in at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk.
If you're not already, subscribe to the FREE weekly newsletter to receive daily news, industry insight and bets practice direct to your inbox.
David Opie is joined by AML expert Amy Bell to discuss what conveyancers need to know about the rising response to the Russia/Ukraine crisis, particularly as more and more sanctions are placed on Russian individuals.
Amy, who is a Director at Teal Legal and a member of The Law Society's Anti-Money Laundering Taskforce, provides some reassurance, useful tips and pointers that conveyancers need to be aware of, and outlines how to stay on top of what is a rapidly changing situation.
Far from being "professional enablers" the media would have consumers believe the conveyancing profession is, Amy champions the work being done by the property industry up and down the country.
How do we solve the home-moving conundrum?
Property industry veteran and co-founder of ProperPR Russell Quirk joins David Opie in discussion about the state of the home moving process.
In typically robust fashion, Russell challenges the conversation about the current state of play, placing the consumer at the heart of his message.
"(Through my involvement in estate agency) I genuinely see and hear the woes of those consumers. First time buyers who are bewildered. Elderly people who wanted to move in March, and don't end up moving until June."Where does the solution lie? Is it the responsibility of the conveyancing sector to wake up and shake up? Is it technology? Is it culture? Do we think the home-moving process could be challenged by solutions from foreign markets, where the home move is less arduous with lower fall through rates?
Say it quietly but does the solution actually lie with estate agents...
Listen in to hear Russell's thoughts on the Today's Conveyancer podcast. Get your FREE copy of the Today's Conveyancer weekly newsletter, out every Monday with news and views from around the conveyancing industry. Sign up at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk
In this latest Today's Conveyancer podcast David Opie is joined by Simon McCrum, ex-Managing Partner of Darbys prior to it's sale to Knights in 2016 and now a consultant for law firms.
Simon brings his own experience running departments and law firms to his consultancy McCrum and Co. Through working with law firms he encourages them to to become "The Perfect Legal Business" the subject of his book which is available via his website www.mccrumandco.com.
In this podcast Simon discusses his thoughts on how law firms can be better at what they do, focus on the commercials, and ultimately deliver "life-changing" legal services for their clients.
In this latest Today's Conveyancer podcast David Opie speaks to conveyancing industry personality Eddie Goldsmith.
Eddie has just launched a new service aimed at better engaging home movers in their transaction; reducing the admin for conveyancers and speeding up the transaction.
40 years in the making, YouConvey is currently being piloted with Eddie commenting
“Over my years in practice I have seen at first-hand how homemovers can feel isolated and on the fringe during their transaction. The Government has little appetite for a root and branch review of the process, so any improvements have to be industry initiatives.”
Eddie also shares his views on conveyancing fees, referral fees and the latest moves to improve the availability and quality of information available to home buyers up front.
Subscribe today to receive updates on the next Today's Conveyancer podcast and if you're not already signed up to receive our daily and weekly industry newsletters, you can do so at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk
In this episode of the Today's Conveyancer Podcast, David Opie speaks with Stuart Young of MyIdentity about the work being done to improve the process of verifying the identity of home movers in the conveyancing process.
The idea is to create a single verification of an individual's identity which can then be used throughout the home moving process.
Not only will this save time and cost through the course of a transaction, it is anticipated that compliance with the standards and certifications being established could see Professional Indemnity insurance premiums come down over the next few years for firms conducting conveyancing transactions given that 60% of property fraud starts with identity fraud.
Tune in to hear what Stuart has to say about improving the quality of information in the sector, the move to placing greater liability on the identity providers, and which identity providers are currently working toward compliance with the new standards.
In this episode of the Today's Conveyancer podcast we introduce Dan Salmons, CEO of Blockchain technology provider Coadjute.
Dan sets out to de-mystify what blockchain technology is, and more importantly how it has the potential to make the "quantum leap" in the battle against seemingly ever increasing transaction timescales.
The discussion comes a week after Coadjute announced plans to launch an industry first mortgage stablecoin on their network, expressly designed to speed-up the completion of mortgages.