Conveyancers - are you stuck in your ways?
Conveyancers of the Future - are you stuck in your ways...?
Since my last blog focused on the types of personalities within conveyancing, I thought I would continue with that stance and discuss the challenges faced by Conveyancers and Conveyancing firms…
It is fair to say that the conveyancing industry has taken a real battering over the last 10 years with market share being coerced away from the high street solicitors and into the hands of larger conveyancing warehouses and then back again. It seems that everything has changed except for speed and service, which has generally got worse. This is where I refer you back to my last blog about the wrong people working in conveyancing!
The industry is now well and truly divided, with the larger providers now responsible for c.50% of all transactions. Interestingly, it has been this way for a number of years now and so we seem to be at a bit of a stalemate.
We are constantly talking to lots of estate agents that have dabbled with a number of national providers whilst still farming their local relationships in the hope that one might eventually emerge as a suitable life partner. Neither side seems to be setting the world alight and so these relationships generally meander from one year into the next.
Now, if you accept that the conveyancing industry is a service industry then just like estate agency, you must also accept that the service a client receives is largely dependent upon the individuals delivering it. And therein lies the challenge; it can be difficult to scale quality.
In order for an individual to deliver a great service they must firstly know their subject matter. Unfortunately this straight away limits the impact of the number of ‘conveyancers’ working within the conveyancing industry today. All too often, trainee or novice ‘case handlers’ are rushed onto the front line to deliver service and clients then become frustrated by their inability to progress matters and overcome simple legal issues, often resulting in protracted transaction times and increased fall throughs.
Whilst technical ability should be a pre-requisite for every conveyancing lawyer, this on its own is not enough to deliver ‘service’. Good lawyers must also have the empathy, time and inclination to be able to connect with their clients and this unfortunately eliminates another section of the conveyancing industry. We all know the academic type that loves nothing better than to argue technical points of law with complete disregard for their clients’ needs.
The perfect conveyancing lawyer is therefore qualified and has a friendly personality. This is a rare combination; believe me as I spend all day, every day looking for them!
Fortunately for us all, great lawyers do exist but their greatness is often fleeting. This is because they are nearly always rewarded by being promoted into middle-management and / or are provided bigger and bigger support teams by their employers in the blind hope that they can capitalise upon their talent and generate more fees by taking on more cases. Needless to say that, when this happens, the very essence of what made that lawyer great in the first place (their personality) is then lost from the front line and the service once again returns to being average, or worst.
At Elite Conveyancing this has caused us a real dilemma; how do we continue to scale a quality-focussed national conveyancing service?
The answer has been to provide the infrastructure and support to allow the industry’s best lawyers to become self-employed Consultants. Along with our partner law firm, Wilford Smith, we are now able to offer fee-sharing consultancy contracts which guarantees our lawyers a far higher percentage of the fees generated. This means that they are able to earn a lot more money on a personal basis whilst at the same time managing a far smaller caseload. The benefit to our clients is that they receive a far more enhanced and personable service and for Elite
Conveyancing it means that we can continue to attract, retain and reward the best lawyers in the industry.
If you are interested in becoming a self-employed, conveyancing Consultant then please feel free to get in touch, in confidence.
Tricia Lonorgan
Operations Director
Elite Conveyancing
T: 07930 932982