‘Utter nonsense’ and ‘a historic blunder’ – two comments that reflect the sentiment of Today’s Conveyancer readers in response to the Law Society’s new practice note on climate change.
The views shared this week are overwhelmingly at odds with the positive comments from industry leaders, which Stephen Larcombe referred to as ‘a hard sell’.
He added:
“Instead of listening to its members working at the coalface of daily legal practice, [the Law Society] has doubled down on its stance on lawyers getting involved with climate change, despite widespread opposition, especially from property lawyers.”
The opposition to the practice note from practising conveyancers was a common theme in response to the coverage, with almost all claiming it is not the role of those in the profession to advise on climate.
‘Absolute and utter nonsense’, Bryn Martin wrote.
“Why should we, as lawyers, have to be advising clients on matters which are scientific and technical? Further, why is is assumed – the height of intellectual arrogance – that we as lawyers are in a better position than a client to understand the effects of climate change?”
Philip Armstrong agreed, writing:
“…it’s NOT the duty of a solicitor to advise on matters that are either outside our area of expertise, or would be much better handled by a surveyor. There seems to be a trend of late to place more and more potential liability on the lawyer because we’re the only constant in a conveyancing transaction. If a client is advised to obtain a survey and doesn’t get it, then the duty of the solicitor in that regard has surely been discharged, and whatever flows from that failure (no pun intended) is on the client.”
The extended scope was also called into question by Matt Faizey, who asked where the responsibility of conveyancers would end.
“‘Conveyancers urged to advise clients on the effects of things nobody has thought of yet’. ‘Conveyancers urged to consider advising clients on the risks of how alien invasion may affect their property in the future’. ‘Conveyancers told ‘Make your client aware of how a direct impact if a meteor may affect property values’…”
Although the Law Society launched a consultation before issuing the revised practice note, Stephen Desmond questioned whether the responses were taken into account. He wrote:
“Back in 2022, Today’s Conveyancer reported that in a survey, 85% of respondents said there is no current duty upon conveyancers to advise on climate change risks to proposed transactions. 94% felt the risks should not be addressed at all.
“This report suggests that this sentiment hasn’t changed in 2025. And the Practice Note will leave many practitioners wondering whether the Law Society really did take into account their concerns as expressed in response to the Society’s consultation on the issue.”
As Stephen Larcombe noted, ‘property lawyers knew the PN was coming but hoped for something workable, without adding to their already formidable responsibilities’. However, he concluded:
“They have been disappointed.”
2 responses
Again, no clear guidance just contradicting what they say in the PN and the webinar. Not enough people entered the consultation as majority of property lawyers are already too busy trying to do the main crux of the job. Even surveyors don’t want to advise on this. But the search providers happily do it – ££!
I noted from the Law Society’s webinar on the Practice Note, that search companies are apparently very happy for clients to contact them directly to discuss search results, so could we see law firms just giving clients the contact number of the search company, in effect leaving them to take on any advice liabilities?