Dye & Durham’s depth of expertise covers many aspects of conveyancing, enabling the organisation to support conveyancers with both data and insights. As part of our Meet The Team series, we spoke to Richard Norman, Commercial Director for Dye & Durham UK&I and Canada to find out more about his background and his role in supporting property lawyers and conveyancers, as well as strategic partners and suppliers.
Q: Hi Richard, firstly please give us a brief insight into your career history
A: I left school at 16 and went straight into the insurance broker industry. I quickly progressed to training and software roles. I then moved to a brokerage software company, where I worked as a trainer, before moving into sales & account management. I took a year out to travel around Asia Pacific before returning and considering my options. I was keen to start my own business, but had no idea what to do, when some friends who owned a local company needed a Local Authority searcher. I was meant to stay six weeks to help them out, which was extended to six months and ended in me starting my own company called Finlay Associates in 2006. I ran that business for 12 years, building up a team of 14 at the height of the “Home Information Pack” days. The business was then acquired by Dye & Durham in 2018.
At that point, Dye & Durham owned Easy Convey, a conveyancing case management provider, and customers would initiate their own searches until Finlay Associates came on board to fill that gap. At this point, I became the search director for the UK operation, as well as sales director for Easy Convey. In 2019, when Dye & Durham acquired Index, I took over running operations. Today I am Commercial Director for Dye & Durham’s UK, Ireland, and Canada territories.
Q: What does your role entail and what does a typical day look like?
A: I am responsible for strategic partnerships and supplier relationships, requiring my involvement in every function of the business. I work closely with our product team to commercialise our products, and consider the best pricing and routes to market. Up until September, I was responsible for just the UK market, but this has since expanded to both Ireland and Canada. I’ve really enjoyed learning about the additional territories and the different ways of working. In Canada, there is a great focus on case management, while in the UK there’s still a large focus on reseller partnerships. For this reason, my days are anything but typical!
Q: What do you most enjoy about working in the property data industry?
A: The relationships I have formed over the years. Having run my own business for 12 years, and now with Dye & Durham, the relationships I have built have really helped me over the years. I also sit on the executive board for CoPSO and it’s an opportunity to meet industry peers to discuss challenges, issues and garner knowledge.
Q: What accomplishment in your career are you most proud of?
A: I would say it was starting my own business. From a spare bedroom with a PC and a fax, I grew it into a successful business which was subsequently acquired. I’ve still got the Finlay Associates sign from the door, which I keep in my office.
Q: What do you see as the biggest challenges and/or opportunities for conveyancers in 2023 – and over the next five years?
A: The challenges – and opportunities – are twofold.
The first is the current economic climate and the predicted drop in property transactions that we will have to navigate over the next year or two. Many are, however, predicting a normalisation to pre-pandemic levels.
The second is the fact that the last few years have really highlighted that the ways of working in the conveyancing industry are ripe for modernisation. Whilst there is no silver bullet to fix things overnight, there’s a lot going on in the industry that will help make life easier for conveyancers and suppliers. There’s the drive for upfront information and the digitisation of data; both are being worked on. We just have to be careful, because this has the potential to fall into a standoff between industry wanting government to mandate, and vice versa, with each party waiting for the other to make a move. From Dye & Durham’s perspective, we have a great team, solutions and data to really make a big difference here, so it’s exciting times.
Q: Why is Dye & Durham the best option for property law firms in relation to assessing transactional risks?
A: Because of the acquisitions we have made in the search and related industries over the last three or four years, the company and the data we own makes us very well-placed in the industry to provide everything that conveyancers need and meet the challenges that I previously mentioned.
Q: Tell us something about yourself that we might not know
A: Over the years, I have been a keen sportsman and, as well as playing semi-professional cricket – although now retired – I’m a single-figure handicap golfer and a member of Puttenham Golf Club. In fact, I am always open to invitations for a round of golf should anyone be interested in joining me!
This article was submitted to be published by Dye & Durham as part of their advertising agreement with Today’s Conveyancer. The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Conveyancer.
