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16 June 2011 / Phillip Oldcorn
Issue: 7470 / Categories: Features , Property
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A risky business?

Phillip Oldcorn explains how innovation can help reduce risk

Here’s a suggestion for an interesting game for the conveyancer’s office. Ask your next few clients how they think risk is managed in their conveyancing transaction.

Agree among the staff a selection of possible answers; the Land Registry, the conveyancer is responsible for all conveyancing risk, the Law Society will protect me etc.  Do a sweepstake for the answers among the staff. Sit back and enjoy the game!

The correct answer is that there are several factors which mitigate most but not all conveyancing risks. Think of the following: good quality conveyancing practice, a (limited) Land Registry guarantee, PI insurance.  But how often do we stop and consider the uninsured risks that the best conveyance cannot prevent?  How can we cater for a dishonest seller? Why doesn’t anyone measure and/or GPS the boundaries of a property?  How can we protect those most vulnerable to mortgage or identity fraud?

Blind spots

There is a real consumer blind spot and lack of curiosity about the subject. This

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

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
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’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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