The latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast welcomes workplace culture and staff retention specialist Andre Thomas of Thomas Telman to discuss the critical importance of cultivating a positive workplace culture and the direct impact this has on staff retention and overall business success.

The firm has created a empirical methodology by which culture can be measured through engagement surveys, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews. He identifies 15 key data points for assessing culture, including career development, psychological safety, retention rates, and recruitment costs. By gathering both quantitative and qualitative data, firms can gain a comprehensive understanding of their workplace culture and identify areas for improvement.

Throughout the discussion Andre shares some of the detail of this methodology which can reduce the likelihood of errors and claims (engaged and satisfied employees are less likely to make mistakes), create positive cultures where employees feel valued, and aligned with the company's values increasing productivity, and plays a sizeable role in attracting and retaining top talent and ultimately improving profitability.

Andre Thomas explains that many firms fail to take culture seriously due to a lack of clear definition and measurement. He argues that culture is not about superficial perks like table tennis tables or bean bags but about the genuine employee experience. Conversely, a toxic culture is marked by poor communication, lack of psychological safety, and high turnover.

He encourages firms to be open about their findings and involve employees in the process of making improvements; trust and transparency are the foundations of a positive workplace culture, which in turn drives staff retention and business success.

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, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.

In the latest episode of the Today's Conveyancer podcast, host David Opie welcomes Rob Gurney, Managing Director of Ochresoft to discuss how long conveyancing actually takes; and why lower the lower transaction volumes of the last couple of years haven't seen corresponding falls in completion times.

A new report from Landmark which interrogates the data held in the Ochresoft conveyancing workflows shows despite lower transaction volumes and advancements in technology, the time taken for property transactions has doubled since 2007. The average time from instruction to completion has increased from 85 days in 2007 to 160 days in 2024 for sales, and from 75 days to 120 days for purchases.

There is, says Rob, a need for fundamental changes in the conveyancing process, including early instruction of lawyers and the adoption of technology. Rob has previously been on the Today's Conveyancer podcast discussing the perfect contract pack; conveyancing nirvana, where unnecessary enquiries are eradicated, and the process is streamlined to meet modern consumer expectations.

For the time being issues around staffing (a 15% fall in qualified conveyancing numbers since the pandemic has caused bottlenecks); increased responsibility during the transaction meaning conveyancers now deal with roughly double the number of requirements they previously did; and regulatory changes including AML and BSA all have an impact on timelines. 

But there are factors within conveyancers' control says Rob, suggesting the earlier instruction of lawyers would go some way to streamlining the process later down the line. Instruction at the point of listing provides time to prepare documentation and data in advance. With search turnarounds now down to c.10 days, fewer complaints can be made about delays here, but ordering them in good time will help. 

And despite an 8 day reduction in the time it takes to deal with pre-contract enquiries between 2023 and 2024, the current 52-day average is double the time it took in 2007. 

Let's not forget, concludes Rob, we're all trying to achieve the same thing and no one gets paid until the transaction completes. For estate agents, shorter transaction times mean faster pipeline turnover and increased revenue. For lenders and consumers, delays can lead to financial losses due to expiring mortgage offers and changing interest rates. And for conveyancers faster transactions means better fees and happier clients.

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, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.

This latest Today's Conveyancer Podcast welcomes conveyancing post-completion specialist Priscilla Sinder to discuss the importance of investment in post-completion to avoid costly mistakes.

In the wake of March 2025 when SDLT thresholds prompting a sizeable increase in demand and transaction volumes, post-completion work is under scrutiny. 

Post-completion, says Priscilla, is one of those jobs that falls down the list of priorities because it doesn't generate any revenue. The skills have been diluted and education and training is critical to bridge the knowledge gap around post completion work 

She highlights the sometimes forgotten compliance and risk aspects of post-completion, including the potential for litigation if applications are not submitted on time. The elephant in the room are the delays at HMLR but we have to look at the impact of the pandemic and be a little forgiving says Priscilla and be patient the agency's recruitment and technology plans will drive improvements. 

Through her own training programmes Priscilla advocates the adoption of post-completion policies which provide a framework against which firms can ensure they are operating in a compliant manner. A main, overarching policy can be complemented by sub-post completion policies including Post-Completion Compliance Policy, a File Management Policy, a Reply to Requisition Policy and more.

Checklists are a key tool to help eliminate errors, improve accuracy and save time. Having checklists in place will ensure errors are spotted pre-submission, requisition rates are reduced, and ensure consistency in how applications are processed and submitted says Priscilla.

The podcast concludes with a discussion on the importance of post-completion specialisation and the need for continuous education and training in the field.

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, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.

The first of a new series of discussions on the Today's Conveyancer Podcast, host David Opie is joined by expert legal trainer Ian Quayle of IQ Legal Training, to explore a range of topics around conveyancing. 

"Transaction Tips" will draw on Ian's extensive experience in and around the property sector discussing important topics conveyancers need to be thinking about. 

In this first discussion on scoping the retainer, Ian shares his expertise of what to include, and more importantly, what not to include in client retainers. The retainers establishes our relationship with the client and starts to create and manage expectations.

He also explores best practice around ensuring retainers remain under review; and the firm have evidence on file the client has read and understood it. In the ever-changing world of conveyancing; and with issues like Building Safety Act and the upcoming changes to TA6 Protocol Forms, it's more important than ever to ensure retainers remain as relevant and up to date as possible. 

Ian warns firms against what he describes as "retainer creep"; an issue where a firm ends up doing something as part of the transaction they expressly exclude from the retainer; using the example of a boundary query. In such cases firms must expand the retainer or end up at risk of liability. 

Ian will be back throughout the rest of the year with more Transaction Tips on the Today's Conveyancer Podcast. For information about the training Ian runs please visit www.todaysmedia.co.uk/todays-legal-training.

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, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.

Travis Scholes, Commercial Director at LMS, joins Today's Conveyancer Podcast host David Opie to discuss the National Property Transaction Network (NPTN); an enablement platform where all those involved in the property transaction can interact in a way that creates greater efficiencies in the process.

Discussing the evolution of the concept Travis explains how the last 5 years has seen the level of digitisation within each of the property silos develop astronomically; what's missing is a place where all those different elements of digitisation can work best together and and make the best use of that digital maturity that has taken place. 

We've got to make that burden to change easier, says Travis. We see NPTN as a way to knock down some of the roadblocks by creating a really open system into which anybody can plug; decoupling the LMS products and services from the network so they're not mandated and any one can plug their supply chain into it. 

The more people use a single platform to leverage the efficiencies the more powerful the data becomes, the more efficient the process becomes. We can also reduce the administrative burden by de-duplicating data entry points and creating more transparency

Change will be evolutionary, not revolutionary. The big bang approach where everyone has to stop what they're doing and adopt a completely new way of working is impossible. And we're still going through a process of helping the profession understand what this change looks like. In addition we've got to overcome some of the "technology fatigue" that has crept in; the idea that people become tired of hearing about the next big thing. 

In an entertaining, informative, and typically honest, discussion Travis explains how and why LMS are keen to play their part int he next iteration of the property market. 

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, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.

Rob Houghton, CEO of reallymoving joins the Today's Conveyancer Podcast to discuss what home moving was like before the iPhone. 

reallymoving.com is a comparison site for for home moving services and recently celebrated 25 years in business. 

In a fascinating discussion about the evolution of online marketing, Rob discusses what the world of online was like in 1999 and the evolution of web search in the following years. He explains how the model of bidding for keywords developed, alongside the process of building websites that provided information for consumers.

One of the criticisms directed at comparison sites is they simply encourage the race to the bottom on price; that by providing information driven by price, firms have no choice but to offer lower prices to be competitive. 

It's a fair comment says Rob, but critically he describes reallymoving as a "comparison site", not a "price comparison site." Semantics perhaps but an important distinction he says as while price is important, there are other factors like reviews, location, and information about a firm's approach to client communication (home moving milestone apps etc) that inform a client's decision.

He says after price, reviews is the next most important way people choose their conveyancer, adding most people who convert through the website do not choose the lowest price.

Given the changes the business has been through over the last 25 years, looking ahead for the next 25 years is hugely challenging. No question the continued digitisation of the industry will continue apace say Rob, and as far as lead generation is concerned, there will be a deeper integration between lead generators and firms, and firms and their clients; almost certainly powered by artificial intelligence. 

But Rob concludes on the thought that in 1999 comparison sites were largely an unknown quantity. Fast forward 25 years and they are now commonplace and are  hugely powerful and important to the consumer experience when it comes to travel, leisure, financial services and many other sectors. Law firms take note!  

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, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.

Podcast host David Opie in joined by CEO of the charity LawCare, Elizabeth Rimmer, to discuss their latest "Life in the Law" surveys which are now open for completion until Friday 21st March. 

LawCare supports and promotes mental health and wellbeing across the legal services sector. They have 2 main focuses. Their first is in providing direct support on and offline for those who wish to reach out. Their second focus is on providing wider education and advocacy of mental health planning and promotion across the law. Importantly, says Elizabeth, LawCare help organisations understand how they can better support their people through identifying risk factors in the work place that undermine people's mental health

The survey last ran in 2020 with the results published in 2021 and found 69% of respondents said that had experienced poor mental health. Addressing some of the reasons why the survey found 1 in 5 respondents had experienced bullying and workplace harassment; and less than half of respondents with line management responsibilities had any formal training. 

In 2025 there are 2 surveys to complete; one for individuals and one for organisations. More information about how to complete the surveys is on the LawCare website (Life in the Law) and below.

The surveys are asking questions about wellbeing, hours people work, psychological safety, burnout, management and support, and bullying and harassment. 

For organisations, the survey is looking into whats steps are organisations taking to address the factors of poor mental health. Good mental health is a strategic investment, says Elizabeth. Staff who have positive mental health are going to be more effective, more productive, more likely to stay in the organisations. 

The objective of the surveys is to help produce evidence based best practice for firms to practically implement into their organisations. This needs to be done properly, strategically, and you need to give people capacity to deliver it concludes Elizabeth. 

Complete the surveys via the links below:

• Life in the Law 2025 (Individuals)
• Life in the Law 2025 (Organisations)

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, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.

The Today's Conveyancer podcast welcomes Group Chief Commercial Officer at First4Lawyers, Nick Delaney, to discuss their first foray in conveyancing services. 

The Group, best known for its FCA-regulated claims management company and SRA-regulated volume Road Traffic Accident work, has been going for 16 years and has launched F4LPlus; a comparison and lead generation service for consumers seeking conveyancing services. 

Throughout the discussion Nick explains how the project has developed over the past 18 months in an effort to diversify the business; and why conveyancing, rather than other consumer legal services such as wills, probate, employment and family services, has been the testing ground. 

Nick says the service is about helping consumers make a choice about who they want to use; but recognises the challenge services like F4LPlus and other comparison tools have in differentiating their panel firms. 

Geography, consumer reviews and carefully curated profiles are among the selection criteria presented to enquirers in an effort to try and give the consumer more than the price to look at. 

If there are lessons to be learnt from the extensive experience in high volume personal injury and clinical negligence matters First4Lawyers are best known for, it is recognising the importance of a sales process for the leads generated. Successful firms are the ones who have people at the front end helping clients, says Nick. The speed at which consumers get a response plays a key role in their decision-making process. 

And above all "firms who are good at picking up the phone and speaking to the consumer get more work" - Nick is unequivocal about this. You can automate much of the enquiry management process but at some point you need to pick up the phone and speak to people, he adds. 

Tackling criticism often leveled at comparison sites around the quality of leads, F4LPlus say they have firms converting 20%+ of their leads such are the verification stages the software requires, including creating an account, going through an initial fact fine, including timescales and budget, and working with firms to create an efficient follow up process. 

Conveyancing is the testing ground for the new service, with Nick hopeful of expanding into other areas of law in the future. 

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, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.

The Today's Conveyancer Podcast welcomes back Dan Warburton, a law firm consultant and trainer who specialises in helping individuals delegate work more effectively; in the process junior staff are elevated, the individual has a happier work/life balance, and ultimately the firm can be more profitable. 

It's a soapbox Dan has jumped on before having appeared previously on the podcast to discuss “the skill of profitable delegation;” creating leaders who can deliver high levels of performance across their team. Few partners achieve what Dan describes as a “transition out of being a technician in the business to being a business owner"; it should be their objective to remove themselves from a position where the structure and success of the organisation relies on them.

This discussion centres on the launch of Dan's book "Delegate Now to Supercharge Your Profits" in which he outlines the secrets to his methodology;

• including the key differences between "delegation" and "profitable delegation" - "It’s easy to delegate work away ineffectively... It’s a very different skill to delegate work away and have it handled to a high standard whilst gaining a great reputation and making a firm reliably profitable.")
• Proactive and reactive management - "I’ve come to see that there really is no other way than leading regular one-on-one calls to lead and manage team members effectively."
• Leading teams in a way that makes them loyal to you

Throughout the podcast Dan discusses tips and tactics for how to work with individuals in the business to help them become more efficient, effective and confident members of the team which in turn enables leaders to lead, rather than remaining forever in the The Law Technician’s Valley of Doom - It’s where partners are all burned out from working long hours and cannot see how to increase their firms’ profits without working even longer hours.

They cannot stop working, and they cannot take breaks to recharge their batteries very often. They take holidays infrequently because their firms rely on them so much to keep operating.

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, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.

A new consumer awareness website has been launched to help conveyancers and home movers understand the risks associated with coastal erosion. CoastClear is a partnership launched by Groundsure with Chief Customer Officer David Kempster joining the latest Today's Conveyancer podcast to explain more about the objectives behind the initiative.

There are c.10,000 homes that are now at serious, imminent risk of falling off a cliff; and by 2050 that will quadruple to 40,000. There is, says David, a degree of rose tinted spectacles when it comes to purchasing property near the coast. People buy with their heart, not their head, and this is an effort to raise consumer awareness of the associated risks.

Coastal erosion creates a lending risk as the coastline moves steadily closer to homes nearby, particularly in areas like Norfolk and Suffolk. Coupled with the general trend toward longer mortgages, properties which may at one time have been considered fine to lend on, become unmortgageable. Unlike flood, which can be cleared and cleaned, coastal erosion causes a total loss of asset for both the bank and homeowners, and they simply won't lend.

In a similar vein, when it comes to remortgaging, lending decisions evolve during the course of property ownership as the sea edges closer to the property.

While the website (www.coastclear.co.uk) is aimed at consumers, the partnership is part of the wider climate considerations that home movers, and conveyancers now undertake. We're already reporting on ground stability and subsidence says David, this is one element to flag which affected home movers. It is also part of the Law Society's climate guidance which is due to be ratified in the coming months.

Home movers increasingly want and need this information and so as professionals should we be pointing them at resources that can help. Conveyancers are encouraged to engage with it and make sure they're signposting home movers to the postcode checker on the website which will provide an indicating of whether the property is at risk.

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, Osprey Approach, and VacantC Legal Recruitment.