There needs to be much greater understanding of – and respect for – the role of conveyancers across the property market, a roundtable organised by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) has heard.
The roundtable also looked at efforts to increase the profession’s profile and attract potential licensed conveyancers while still at school, rather than waiting until later in the careers.
The CLC’s first ever Futures Roundtable featured students on the path to qualifying, those recently licensed and people responsible for training the next generation of licensed conveyancers.
The group was united on the need to raise the profile of the profession – to make it a more attractive proposition as a career, for consumers to understand better the work conveyancers do and its complexity, and ultimately ease the path to charging higher fees. Natalie Moore, director of Tamworth firm Aconveyancing, said:
“Being the regulated provider of professional services within the home-buying process, it kind of all falls on us. But clients don’t understand, and they don’t want to or don’t need to. There’s a need for more education and, frankly, respect.”
Shayleigh Isom, a property lawyer at Simply Conveyancing in Daventry, added:
“People don’t understand that things take time and not everything’s within our control. So it becomes more overwhelming for the lawyer when they don’t have that right support from the other people in the transaction. I feel like it is getting better but we’ve still got a long way to go.
But participants were clear that becoming a licensed conveyancer is an attractive career option. Kara Evans, who is undertaking a paralegal apprenticeship at Aconveyancing, said: “You’re always learning. There’s always a transaction you’re going to come across that you haven’t seen before. It’s more than just sitting there and doing a title check because there are always questions to be asked and things to be learnt.”
Claire Richardson, CLC’s deputy director of authorisations, said raising the profile and understanding of the profession is an important part of its work. She continued:
“Schools, colleges, parents and careers advisors don’t say, ‘Oh, you’re a fantastic project manager, do you really like people? Can you manage a high-paced work environment? Have you thought about property law?’
We’ve been doing lots of work around that, such as with apprenticeships, enabling people to access government-funded learning, and the new T-Levels [a more vocational alternative to A-Levels]. People will be able to take a property pathway in the law T-Level.
All of those things mean that we’ve taken the term ‘licensed conveyancer’ from being just a professional qualification that people probably happened upon, into the National Curriculum.”
Vicki Redman, head of training at Swiitch, the conveyancing arm of national law firm Shoosmiths, said it has recently extended its outreach beyond colleges and universities to schools so they can get to students earlier – those with law degrees can see a paralegal role in the conveyancing team as a stepping stone, whereas Swiitch wants them to see it as a career. Speaking after the event, CLC Chief Executive Sheila Kumar said:
“Becoming a licensed conveyancer is a hugely attractive and rewarding career. It is incumbent on all of us to continue spreading the word. Licensed conveyancers and licensed probate practitioners are a vital part of the legal ecosystem supporting consumers through some of the most momentous times in their lives. It gives me great confidence to know that the profession’s future is in the hands of advocates like those who took part in the roundtable.”
The roundtable also covered topics such as artificial intelligence, the flexibility of the qualification, and the demand for qualified staff. The full write-up is here.
2 responses
I read one of the worst threads I have ever seen about conveyancers on Facebook yesterday, complaining about delays and lack of communication etc. The one post that really shocked and saddened (no it actually sickened me) me was the one that said: “they are all are scum”.
I appreciate that one post, put up by a particularly nasty individual no doubt, does not, reflect the thoughts of thousands of happy clients, however, as the above article says: “There needs to be much greater understanding of – and respect for – the role of conveyancers across the property market.”
Another Facebook thread, this time by conveyancers, was asking how to manage the constant barrage of phone calls and emails from clients (and others) who expect instant relies to emails and phone calls.
What clients (and others) don’t seem to realise (although it baffles me why), is the more you interrupt your conveyancer, or anyone at all doing work for you, the less time they have available do that work! It’s not rocket science.
About 30 years ago a client phoned me and said: “why haven’t you exchanged for me yet? I said: “15 minutes ago your agent phoned and asked the same question, 10 minutes ago your broker did the same, now you. That is why I haven’t exchanged.” She ended that call with me pretty quickly then.
We will be making these issues some of the main topics of discussion in National Conveyancing Week in 2025.
As a Licensed Conveyancer, I agree there needs to be more recognition and appreciation of our profession. Unfortunately, at most firms we are seen as the poor relation or ‘not quite as good as’ a solicitor. During the course of my training, we covered some topics so in-depth, far beyond that which is expected of trainee solicitors sitting the LPC. For instance, we covered landlord and tenant law in detail and also agricultural law etc. These topics are barely touched on during the LPC.
Licensed Conveyancers/the CLC also seem to bear the brunt of peoples’ frustration with conveyancing factories. While I am regulated by the CLC, I have never worked at these factories. I have worked alongside some excellent solicitors and legal executives and picked up all of their good habits which I feel are more commonly found at small high street firms.
I would also add there are numerous SRA regulated firms who send out unnecessary, non-specific additional enquiries and so perhaps our frustrations should also be directed towards these firms as they too are clearly not following the conveyancing protocol.