1. Make sure you get adequate sleep

Not getting enough sleep affects us all so if you want to avoid low concentration levels at work, irritability and feeling lethargic all day, give your energy levels a boost and try and get some early nights in your working week. You’ll wake up as fresh as…

Looking out from the offices today I see that the sun is shining and we have some glorious blue skies across Cambridgeshire.  I can only hope that it will last through to the weekend so that I can give the grass its second cut of the year. 

To match the great weather I saw the release of the Move with Us Residential Property Market Review Q1 2013 (that’s a mouthful).  If you haven’t seen it, get a copy (z-mag…

Over the past few years, Professional Probate Applications have steadily declined from 210,448 applications in 2004 to 158,192 application in 2010. In contrast, personal applications have been on the increase, from 83,570 to 88,443 over the same period. Why is that?

This market sector is currently a battleground.  Many opportunities exist, however, legal service suppliers clearly need to adapt to changes that are taking place in this arena, otherwise they will miss out. We have seen…

It has been a long time coming but our shiny new website has finally been unwrapped. How is it that 98% of putting a new site together can be agreed and implemented very quickly and yet the final 2% can take weeks.



We are yet to start PR messaging or implement our strategic development plans for generating traffic to the site (as I want to find any errors before is grows arms and legs), so I would value it if my LinkedIn network colleagues and Defero Law group members would take a…

The conveyancing profession has always had to walk a difficult line in carrying out its day to day activities in property transactions. Not only are conveyancers required to be expert in all aspects of property related law, but they have a duty of care to (it seems) everyone in the transaction. It can easily be the case that, despite a firm’s intentions to act in their client’s best interests, under Outcomes focussed regulation, they can still be held liable…

Our 2013 Salary and Benefits Bench Marker declared that it was Personal Injury and Insurance Paralegals and some Property lawyers who were the highest paid amongst their peers. Well, with Jackson putting Personal Injury into a tailspin and conversely, the government seemingly backing the housing market to drag us out of recession, we are predicting that Property Paralegals will take the top…

The practice note on joint property ownership recently published by the Land Registry and the Law Society should be compulsory reading for anyone involved in Conveyancing – not only Solicitors. The note highlights the benefits of joint owners of property declaring their beneficial interests at the time of purchase.

It is now common for homes to be purchased in joint names, and there has been a substantial rise in the number of unmarried cohabitees who purchase jointly. Often the need…

Update from the GLP (Conveyancing Lawyers in Glasgow, Scotland) regarding MI New Home.

Home movers are being affected the most by the flat housing market, according to the latest figures from the Bank of Scotland’s Home Movers Review. But…

Following Prime Minister’s Questions on 23rd January, law firms are beginning to fight back by writing to the Office of Fair Trading, calling for a meeting.

The Prime Minister said he wants to investigate mortgage…

MP Dan Rogerson asked the Prime Minister at Prime Minister’s Questions about the restrictive practices of mortgage lenders.

 "Given the keen interest of the Prime Minister in single markets, will you look at mortgage lenders restricting legal work to a small number of larger firms and depriving local practices of the work which keeps them at the heart of local high streets and the striving small business economy?"

The Prime Minister…

We are constantly being told we have to change if we are to survive in today's changing legal landscape. Who is it that is calling the shots here because our clients like what we do. Our town value the fact that we are here and add to the local economy.

The banks are not squeezing local firms out of the High Street because they not delivering quality services. They are squeezing…

House prices in the UK increased by 1.7% in the year to September 2012, according to new figures released by the Office of National Statistics. The news offers a glimmer of hope for sellers, who have seen house prices fall dramatically since the financial crisis began.

Sadly, the level of increase was itself down on the figures for the year to August, which had shown an increase of 1.9%.

House prices across the UK

In general, house prices continue to remain…

Mortgage fraud is a continuing problem for lenders. Fraud can be committed in various ways, but one of the areas of concern for lenders occurs when conveyancing solicitors are directly involved.

Notwithstanding the strict accounting rules requiring the separation of client money from a solicitor’s own money, cases have arisen when the rules have been bent or broken and money has been taken dishonestly.

One proposal to reduce this risk is to stop conveyancing solicitors from…

Another day another ABS entrant: this time up, SAGA.

Every report seems to indicate that clients and consumers have been denied access to fixed legal fees since time immemorial (1189, but you knew that) and have been subjected to and festooned with incomprehensible legal jargon as if a form of water boarding punishment

Clients in Fixed Legal Fees Shock

Case in point the Times ( which should know better) published last Thursday (as if it were ground- breaking news)…

In the past, solicitors may well have instructed barristers when complicated property deeds had to be drawn up, but barristers did not actually undertake Conveyancing work. That could be about to change, following the announcement of a new escrow account to handle client money on behalf of members of the bar.

The Legal Services Act 2007 already permits barristers to undertake ‘reserved instrument activities’ such as preparing contracts, transfers and mortgages and lodging transfer…

I have really had my fill of late with conveyacing.  It seems that I am either up against law firms which don't know anything beyond what their computer tells them, law firm's with conveyancers who are determined to justify every penny they charge their clients for or developers who seem to think they can provide minimal information and then shout as loud as possible that there is a deadline and you have to achieve it, never mind they've not provided all the information you need!

The…

Ten years ago legislation was passed to create a new form of property tenure for flats. Commonhold, as it was to be known, was intended to replace all the defects of the leasehold system. It was the result of many years of discussions and reports and much parliamentary time.

The intention of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 was to create a simpler system for owning and managing flats. This would do away with the need for complicated leases, making Conveyancing for such…

Marketing in simple terms, refers to the process by which a company’s product or services are communicated to the ‘market’; the consumer or buyer. The business sense of the term, “process of moving goods from producer to consumer with emphasis on advertising and sales” was attested by 1897.

A conveyancing law firm is a business like any other and any business needs continual input in terms of its generation efforts, even McDonald’s! Moreover, the market for…

Another day: another survey about shifting consumer attitudes to the provision of legal services.

Another survey, but the overwhelming evidence is that law firms who do not devote time and energy to their websites risk being overlooked altogether.

The latest survey released by LexisNexis in the US…