There could be more conveyancers coming into the profession than leaving, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) suggested at their latest Futures Roundtable. Figures revealed at the event showed more people qualifying and fewer leaving the profession in 2025.
The exodus from the profession has been widely reported: according to data from the Law Society, published in the UK Residential Conveyancing Market 2025 report from IRN Legal Reports, the number of conveyancers in England and Wales fell from just over 13,000 in September 2021, to 11,140 in January 2025
The new, more positive, numbers come at a time when the CLC says there is growing demand on conveyancing and probate law firms from lenders and the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) to employ more qualified staff. Ratios of qualified to unqualified staff are under scrutiny from insurers and other stakeholders, said Claire Richardson, director of authorisations and new business at the regulator. She added:
“The safest approach is to say, ‘The more qualified individuals we’ve got, the better we stand out’.”
The roundtable highlighted the range of ways in which staff can achieve qualification, including an accelerated route to qualification for fee earners who already have experience in conveyancing and probate, available through the CLC. The ‘professional experience’ route allows those with at least four years of continuous experience as a conveyancing or probate fee earner at a firm to bypass the Level 4 Diploma, which qualifies them as a conveyancing or probate technician, and progress directly to the Level 6 Diploma, after which they can work as a licensed conveyancer or probate practitioner.
“Candidates will still undergo rigorous assessment, but more weight will be given to their practical experience,” Richardson said.
“This will hopefully embolden more people, perhaps those have taken time out and are daunted at the thought of returning to study, to realise their potential.”
STEP (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) qualified professionals can also opt for an Advanced Probate Exemption, which provides them with a route to enhance their professional status and obtain a specialist licence from the CLC.
Despite concerns AI may replace the role of lawyers, roundtable attendees suggested it could have the opposite effect. Discussing the impact of technology and AI on their businesses, guests noted the positive impact it had on administrative challenges in the business. Marc Landsell of Evolve Law described how a colleague had spent 20 minutes trying to find an error in a complex completion statementI, while an AI tool found it in 2.2 seconds.
He added:
“I look at that and say, ‘Do I want my lawyer to spend 20 minutes speaking to the client or doing legal work, or do I want them getting frustrated with a completion statement?”
Ryan Hemmings of HK Law said technology was valuable in handling administrative tasks and also helping him communicate complex issues with clients. He explained:
“It’s very easy for me to understand what I’m looking at on a nine-page lease, but how do I communicate that to the client? That can take time in itself, so if you’ve got something to aid you, that’s really helpful.”
For Lucy Batten, chief risk and operations officer at Montpellier Legal, the onus is on training staff and ensuring the safe use of AI. She explained how she works with staff, including “how to use technology safely, how to make sure that it’s used in a way that supports supervision and risk management. And that it’s not being used for somebody to have a bash at something that they wouldn’t ordinarily know how to do”.
Participants also discussed the impact of technology on recruitment, identifying that young people want to work for modern, technology enabled firms.
The CLC is fully behind technology adoption, Richardson concluded, but would not want to see it usurp human judgement and decision making.
“It is the lawyer’s technical and legal skills and expertise that the client’s paying for; it’s the bit they’ll still make a claim on. So don’t diminish it. It’s the skilled part of the job.”
While it may lead to fewer paralegals, demand may well rise for qualified conveyancers, she suggested.
A full write up of the roundtable discussion is available on the CLC website.
2 responses
I hope the headline is correct. Here are two emails I received this week:
“Thank God I am retiring next year – this profession gets worse and worse by the day!”
“I am meeting myself coming back today – no wonder so many of us are leaving. I used to love this job.”
For me having worked as a CLC member at SRA firms since 2012, I would be looking to work at CLC firms going forward and I think CLC firms are an attractive proposition hence why we may be seeing some coming back. When it comes to SRA firms I see very few equity partners in the Conveyancing side. Due to the propensity for litigation in Conveyancing, the lack of equity partners and the fact that we are the lowest in terms of fees, we tend to find ourselves at the bottom of the pile when it comes to updates, training, case management systems etc. Further, working for an SRA firm, I find that we are regularly stuck with the difficult work, the time consuming work, the difficult clients. The CLC firms seem to have a better eye on case management systems, turning work over quicker and they can be geared entirely towards Conveyancing where as the SRA firms have to strike a balance. I am seeing more CLC firms spring up now and for me I think that will be the favoured route for those that actually want to do conveyancing. I see very little people training to be a solicitor who actually want to step into Conveyancing. Having said that, I think that the pay in CLC firms does not keep up with the SRA firms.