Эпизоды
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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. -
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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.
There should be a clear objective and vision which can be communicated to the teamRoles and responsibilities are clearly defined and people understand their own contribution to successProcesses and procedures are in place that ensure the training is effectivePeople 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
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.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.
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.
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 elementsUltimately, 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. - Показать больше
