Some 3,600 sole practitioner solicitors are to be dropped from the Britannia and Co-Operative conveyancing panel, prompting the Law Society to mount a rescue attempt.
The recently merged financial services group—the two mutuals, Britannia Building Society and the Co-Operative Financial Services, merged on 1 August 2009—announced on 19 August that it was serving notice on its sole practitioner panel members. It cited difficulties in securing mortgage fraud insurance for these members in a hardening insurance market as the reason. A spokesperson said it had been notified that cover for the entire business could be withdrawn if it continued to instruct sole practitioners.
The Law Society has since written a letter to the building society to express its concern, and requested a meeting with its chair, Bob Burlton.
Law Society president, Robert Heslett’s letter states: “The implications for the 3,600 businesses and the people employed by those businesses are stark, to say the least, and could have a knock on effect on access to justice if any are forced to close as a result.”
In March, the Law Society intervened after Abbey building society announced it was shedding 6,000 members from its conveyancing panel, due to lack of available work.
