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10 March 2021 / Sheila Kumar
Issue: 7924 / Categories: Features , Profession , Conveyancing , Technology
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Conveyancing: watch this (digital) space

42012
Sheila Kumar outlines the changing face of conveyancing
  • Digitisation: improving home buying and selling?
  • AI: supervision and regulation.
  • 2020 shake-up: new ways of serving clients.

Even pre-pandemic, the conveyancing industry was going through a period of change. A drive to focus on more upfront information from sellers, transparency to ensure that consumers are able to find the best lawyer for them and exciting technological developments were already underway. The pandemic has sped much of this up and allowed us to see what potentially lies ahead.

Digitisation

Digitisation, in the form of online identity verification and e-signatures, for example, has started to open up a range of opportunities for improving the home buying and selling experience for consumers. Successful use of technology isn’t about adopting it for its own sake; it’s about seeing what can help manage administrative burdens, undertake digitally what used to be face to face, and improve workflow management for staff and customers alike.

More and more conveyancing practices are doing this. They

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
The winners of the LexisNexis Legal Awards 2026 have now been announced, marking another outstanding celebration of excellence, innovation, and impact across the legal profession
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
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