Former Convey Law Managing Director Lloyd Davies has been permanently disqualified from being regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) following an adjudication panel decision in which he was found guilty of misconduct and misleading learners registered with training company the Conveyancing Academy.
The case centres on the suspension of Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) licensing of the Conveyancing Academy to deliver level 6 and level 4 licensed conveyancer apprenticeship and conveyancer apprenticeship standards respectively. An investigation began in 2021 following allegations of malpractice at the centre regarding the examinations of two students. A precautionary suspension followed with the final outcome in October 2021 advising the withdrawal of SQA approval after it has found evidence of malpractice. In January 2022 the SQA terminated its Centre Operating Agreement with the Conveyancing Academy and in March 2022 Davies was advised the appeals process had been exhausted.
Throughout this period the Conveyancing Academy was found to have continued promoting itself as an SQA accredited centre and enrolling students, sending ‘misleading’ communications to students on the progress of their course and examination dates. The decision document includes details of the impact on learners who say many only found out about the withdrawal of approval from the SQA via the Authority directly after much of their coursework had been completed, rendering is ‘useless.’
In mitigation Davies said he had been advised he was unable to share details of SQA suspension and was provided no guidance as to how the Conveyancing Academy could communicate to learners. He also said every learner had been refunded course fees in full and no one had been left out of pocket.
Davies was found guilty of misconduct and ordered to pay £175,000 in costs, an outcomes it was agreed was a ‘proportionate resolution of the matter which is in the public interest.’ Allegations against the second respondent were withdrawn after Davies accepted full responsibility for their conduct.
Speaking to Today’s Conveyancer, Davies, who stepped down as Managing Director of Convey Law in December 2024, has issued an apology to the learners affected, and the wider conveyancing profession.
In 2019, an unscrupulous, and dishonest Conveyancing Academy Training Manger, who was subsequently found guilty of gross misconduct, compromised the CLC examinations of two of our Convey Law Directors. In 2021 the regulator of the CLC courses, the Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA), illegally suspended the Conveyancing Academy pending the outcome of their investigation into this matter. The SQA specifically told us to keep their investigation strictly confidential.
The SQA investigation took ten months to complete, when it should have only taken a number of weeks. Both of my fellow Directors and I were found not guilty on conclusion of the SQA investigation, but the SQA still terminated its training agreement with the Academy. Two years ago, the CLC instigated proceedings against me and my fellow Licensed Conveyancer colleague for failing to tell Academy students about the ‘confidential’ SQA investigation.
My sincere apologies to the 8 students whose CLC courses were delayed as a result of this matter and our two Directors who, despite being found innocent, were so chronically impacted by the unnecessary and abusive CLC investigations against them – which also found them innocent – that they left the profession. Due to the incompetent and draconian actions of both the SQA and the CLC only 18 of the 224 Licensed Conveyancer Apprentices that the Academy had secured funding for in 2021 have gone on to qualify.
The “CLC Training Trial” took a full two years to conclude, included an abandoned trial because the CLC had to recuse a bias judge that they had appointed, with the trial deliberately rescheduled to a date which neither my Solicitor nor Barrister could accommodate. The proceedings have cost over £350,000 in excessive legal fees, of which CLC Members will be required to pay over £100,000.
I was in no way confident of a fair trial and, in order to secure the exoneration of my colleague, I agreed to surrender my Licensed Conveyancer practising license, which I had not renewed since 2022. The CLC prosecution was neither proportionate or fair and the conduct of the CLC in relation to all of these matters requires independent investigation.
It comes as a great relief to no longer be regulated by the CLC and I wish my colleagues at Convey Law all the very best for the future.
My sincere apologies again to everyone effected by these chronic events. Thank you to my colleagues and friends for their support and love throughout some very dark and difficult times over the course of the last five years.
In response the CLC has reiterated its position on the case in a statement to Today’s Conveyancer
3 responses
This is not an apology to anyone other than 8 students.
This calls into question the integrity of the CLC and brings the sector into further disrepute.
Mr Davies is still the owner of Convey Law according to companies house – if this were a SRA regulated firm there would have been a full intervention by now
Shocking
Given this press release is not news, could David Opie of this publication please clarify his relationship with Convey Law and Lloyd Davies? Seems there is a bit of a web here which us readers would love to have out in the open given the press given to Mr Davies by this website over the years?
By the way there were more than 8 students involved. If you read the judgement there were at least 166 students. Why just the apology to 8 students? What about the employers who had put in countless hours of support to their employees? What impression does he think he has given Apprentices of the profession? Out he must go and soon.