On the latest Today's Conveyancer host David Opie is joined by Karen Babington to talk about her latest business venture Valafy. Karen has a wealth of experience in the property sector starting out in sales in marketing at a regional lender before moving on to work in and with law firms and panel managers (selling her own panel Easier2Move to MyHomeMove in 2010). Until recently Karen was Commercial Director at LawyerChecker before its sales to Dye & Durham in 2021.  

Valafy says it will tell conveyancing business owners what they need to know about their business and their wider external environment in order to plan ahead.

 "As a business owner" says Karen, " what do you want to know?" 

"You want to know if you're charging at the right level; you want to know how efficient you are; you want to know if you're paying your people correctly."

The business will formally launch in April 2023 with a questionnaire and subsequent report designed to provide conveyancers with "actionable business insights." 

The questionnaire is designed to drill into detail around charges and costs to help firms achieve better profit margins, and benchmark the efficiency of the business. 

The questionnaire will inform a report which sets out to provide real-time information about their external environment to enable comparisons with peers. The first report is planned to be released  in May 2023.

Once the first conveyancing report has been completed the plan, says Karen, is to look at other areas of law, and the wider business community where this data isn't readily available. 

The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.

Thank you to our podcast sponsors PEXA, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.