The Law Society Property Conference in Chancery Lane, London, addressed pressing industry issues, including the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digitalization, updates to the National Conveyancing Protocol, and government plans for home buying reforms.
Outgoing Society president Mark Evans concluded his tenure by thanking attendees for their community work and acknowledging the often-undervalued efforts of legal professionals. He noted a positive shift in how the profession expresses its views, moving towards more public and constructive dialogue on social media platforms.
“I know there’s a lot of negative rhetoric out there. But I think we’re becoming a lot more powerful, and we’re expressing our views in a lot more positive and constructive way. We’re seeing less negative feedback and sharing our views more publicly, on social media platforms.”
Evans, participating in a panel with Nick Denys, head of private and commercial law at Law Society, and Sushila Abraham, sole principal solicitor at S.Abraham Solicitors, stressed the importance of calm, steady, and practical communication to influence government policy.
Nick Denys announced the first consultation on an update to the National Conveyancing Protocol since 2019. The protocol aims to standardize the residential conveyancing process, creating a unified framework for both parties in a transaction. This standardization is intended to enhance transparency, efficiency, and the overall experience for solicitors, lenders, and clients.
“The Conveyancing Protocol, as I’m sure everyone knows, is about standardising the residential conveyancing process so both sides of the transaction are within the same framework. It makes the framework run better. It makes conveyancing more transparent and efficient and hopefully improves the experience for solicitors, lenders and clients,” Denys stated.
The conference also featured a discussion on AI and digitalization. Richard Harkness, solicitor at LexisNexis, Angela Hesketh, head of government and public affairs at PEXA, and Charlie Davidson, senior associate at Edwin Coe LLP, explored AI’s potential benefits while raising concerns about trainee lawyers’ over-reliance on the technology without proper supervision.
Harkness highlighted AI as a powerful tool offering significant time savings but cautioned that its use requires careful application and adherence to confidentiality standards. He emphasized the need for senior lawyers to understand and supervise AI outputs, particularly when junior lawyers are involved.
“It’s really important than when a junior lawyer is using AI and producing an output, there is a supervisor who also understands the AI. There’s a temptation for this new tech to be left to the more junior lawyers, but the more senior lawyers need to lead on this and need to understand what they’re checking and what has already happened.”
Davidson expressed a desire for AI to reduce repetitive tasks, allowing solicitors more time for client advisory work. However, he questioned how aspiring legal professionals would develop essential skills if all “drudgery” were eliminated.
Angela Hesketh offered a more optimistic view, seeing AI as an opportunity to elevate junior lawyers’ capabilities and accelerate their development. She noted the increasing pressure on the property sector and the exodus of professionals, suggesting AI could be a valuable tool to address these challenges.
Discussions also covered leasehold reform, HM Land Registry processes, and key developments in residential and commercial property. Tom Treadwell, senior strategy advisor at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, updated attendees on the government’s roadmap to improve home buying and selling. He described the current system’s heavy reliance on paper as outdated and out of step with customer expectations.
The government plans to release a code of practice for property agents and further guidance on material information and property listings before the end of the year. Treadwell acknowledged the growing responsibilities of conveyancers and the sector’s significant pressure, which has led to professionals leaving the field.
“The government view is very much that the responsibilities of conveyancers have grown massively in recent years. The sector is under a huge amount of pressure, and that’s reflected in the number of individuals and organisations that we’ve seen leaving conveyancing in the last few years.”
He concluded that the intention behind these reforms is to ultimately ease the workload for conveyancers, despite the appearance of further change.
