header-logo header-logo

28 May 2011 / Angela Dass
Issue: 7463 / Categories: Features , Property
printer mail-detail

Signs of success

How useful will the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme be to lawyers? Angela Dass reports

It’s a difficult time for residential conveyancers with the low volume of transactions, mortgage fraud, client anxiety and rise of lenders’ claims. Themarket is clearly more competitive and the licensing of Alternative Business Structures (ABS) due on 6 October 2011 has led some commentators to sound the familiar death knell for conveyancers. However, help has come in the form of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) aimed at supporting the profession and helping solicitors retain their key role in the conveyancing process.

The CQS

Before now, the regulatory system had not dealt with the risks to the conveyancing process. The Law Society views this as the fundamental problem and this is a view shared by lenders and insurers and reflected in the increases to indemnity insurance across the profession. So as a response to ABS and to distinguish themselves in the market to consumers, an industry accreditation scheme was developed.

The CQS went live in January 2011, in

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Private wealth and tax team welcomes cross-border specialist as consultant

HFW—Simon Petch

HFW—Simon Petch

Global shipping practice expands with experienced ship finance partner hire

Freeths—Richard Lockhart

Freeths—Richard Lockhart

Infrastructure specialist joins as partner in Glasgow office

NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
back-to-top-scroll