Afleveringen

  • 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.

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  • 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 timeframeYou 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 identityDigital signatureDigital form of the titleDigital form of the contractDigital 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 traininga fear of the risk posed by not asking the questionlack 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.