A PAPERWORK-BUSTING conveyancers’ co-op, promising to shed weeks off the time it takes to buy and sell houses, is being rolled out by two Merseyside solicitors.
The organisers say firms who join the scheme will see a boost in both efficiency and profits.
Vendors and purchasers will also experience a smoother and faster move, they add.
The co-op brings conveyancers together on a local basis to hammer out deals over what clauses they want in contracts.
The group, called the Nationwide Solicitors Alliance, is the brainchild of Morecrofts’ Tracy Thompson and Stephen Battarbee, senior partner at KBK Law, and will launch as a limited company on October 1.
The pair say their approach cuts down on time-consuming correspondence between the parties’ solicitors.
They trialled a forerunner of the Alliance – the North West Solicitors Association (NWSA) – with two groups of Sefton law firms. NWSA has 11 members in the south of the borough and eight more in the north.
In the pilot, which started a year ago, members took Law Society contracts and amended them to suit the needs of both purchasers and vendors.
Because they have standardised the contracts before the sale, when two Association members are dealing with each other, the documents do not have to be shuttled back and forth getting amended and re-amended.
Thompson told LDP Legal: “By agreeing what’s favourable to a buyer and a seller, we have taken weeks out of a full conveyance.
“It’s a perception that buying and selling houses takes months because solicitors don’t talk to each other, but this is what we’re trying to combat. To get 19 solicitors in a room together having a conversation that’s not acrimonious is a fantastic achievement.”
In the face of Tesco Law and the commoditisation of legal practice under the Legal Services act, the networks will help small and medium-sized practices survive, Thompson said.
The founders say they are also “providing high street firms with a network” to fight so-called panel managers.
They are middle-men appointed by estate agents who farm out conveyancing work to large out-of-town law firms. “It will be local property professionals supporting each other,” Thompson continued.
“If all the work goes to out-of-town firms, what’s going to be left for the community?
“We are trying to set up networks locally throughout the country so they can each work on their own documentation.”
Thompson says she now wants to sign up 2,000 conveyancing lawyers nationwide in the first year of trading.
Crosby-based Thompson, 33, has cut her hours at Morecrofts to devote more time to the Alliance.
She added that Alliance members will benefit from more “worth” than the NWSA because of added perks.
For a one-off fee of £500 and around £50 a month subscription, depending on the size of firm, the Alliance will also offer a recruitment service, an inter-member referral system, access to the local network and direct marketing to the public.
Thompson and Battarbee will address the National Conveyancing Congress at London’s Emirates Stadium on September 25.