solo Conference 2022 spg.uk.com IN THIS ISSUE: Annual Conference Speakers Friday EveningBBQGala Dinner AnnualPLUS Conference Exhibitors TO INSPIRE TO PROMOTE TO LEAD SOLESOLICITORSSUPPORTING-INPRACTICEThe25thAnnual Conference CARDEN PARK
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conferencecontents 2022 Published by: EAST PARK COMMUNICATIONS Ltd. Unit 27a, Price St. Business Centre, Price St., Birkenhead, Wirral, Merseyside CH41 4JQ Tel: 0151 651 www.eastparkcommunications.co.uksimon@eastparkcommunications.co.uk2776 Advertising Simon Castell Managing Editor David Barton Layout David Coffey East Park Studio Accounts Tony Kay Published Conference 2022 © East CommunicationsPark Ltd. Legal Notice © East Park Communications Ltd. None of the editorial or photographs may be reproduced without prior written permission from the publishers. East Park Communications Ltd would like to point out that all editorial comment and articles are the responsibility of the originators and may or may not reflect the opinions of East Park Communications Ltd. Correct at time of going to press. FINDING YOUR VOICE IN TODAY’S DIGITAL AND PRINT MEDIA 4 From the Chairwoman 4 Our 2022 Conference Venue 5 SPG 25th Annual Conference Agenda 6 Teamwork made the Carden Park Conference a huge success in every way! 8 Get to know the Exec Team - Adjoa Djan-Krofa 9 Our 2022 Conference Sponsors 10 SPG Executive Committee 2022 12 Our 2022 Conference Exhibitors 14 Our 2022 Conference Speakers 16 Friday Night BBQ 17 Saturday Evening Gala Dinner 18 Rallying cry for wider adoption of UPRN 20 PI Futures conference: New business of consumer claims 21 Why Belt and Braces is the Best Approach For Conveyancing 25 Social Care in the UK before and since Lockdown 26 Use this 'Meerkat Method' to Grow Your Law Firm 28 Are Undertakings from Incorporated Firms Enforceable? 30 Tracing heirs to estates, property or assets - How Finders International can solohelp! APRSO18096 header.indd 1 02/02/2022APRSO1809512:41 header.indd 1 02/02/2022 12:40
The conference began on the Friday with a round of golf in the morning for keen golfer stalwarts with others arriving for the Friday night barbecue with music and dancing. On the Saturday, the Conference began after my opening speech with a well-received opening keynote speech from I. Stephanie Boyce, the President of the Law Society. Other interesting speakers quickly followed Stephanie. Although the Chair of the SRA, Anna Bradley was not able to attend, she kindly spoke to the Conference via pre-recorded video. Our Secretary, Clive Sutton gave a speech on the current Solicitors Indemnity Fund issue which was well received and had coverage in the Law Gazette. Videos of the speakers are available to view on our SPG website. The Saturday Hollywood Gala Dinner was a huge success. Everybody dressed up, had fun, networked and the food and entertainment were fabulous. The dancing continued until the small wee hours, and I suspect there were a few sore heads the next morning!
From the Chairwoman
This year’s annual conference took place at the luxury country house hotel, Carden Park & Spa, in Cheshire. This venue was chosen specifically to provide a relaxing setting, fun activities for everyone and a location easily accessible for all. There were various activities to keep the guests / family entertained whilst members attended the conference; archery, 4x4 off roading, Segway’s, laser clay shooting, football, swimming, indoor games, and table tennis, mini quadding, giant chess, spa facilities and two championship golf courses. spg.uk.com
04 I was honoured to be the Chair at the SPG’s 25th Annual Conference which this year was held at Carden Park in Cheshire.
On the Sunday after a good breakfast, the morning session commenced with more interesting speakers in different areas of law including conveyancing, family, and consumer law. Again, these speakers are also available on the SPG website along with their handouts. The conference finished with a delicious Sunday lunch. The AGM also took place. I would like to thank Carden Park and our sponsors including our preferred insurers Lockton Insurance and Leap Legal Software.
The Conference was a remarkable success. The feedback I have received from members who attended, speakers and our sponsors was incredibly positive and I think it is fair to say that a great time was had by all.
Our 2022 Conference Venue
Finally, a big thank you to all who attended and made it a wonderful 25th Annual Conference for all. I look forward to seeing you all next year.
Joanna Connolly SPG Chair
I would also like to thank those involved in the preparation and set up of the Conference without whom the conference would not have been the success it was the Conference Sub Committee Chair Penny Raby, together with our Marketing Sub Committee Chair, Sukhjit Ahluwalia, Jennifer Houlihan of Dotted Lines and my right hand Anika Holm, of AH Business Solutions who has been of great support to both me and the Executive Committee during my tenure as Chair.
Their view of the future of the regulated profession and how we can deal with unregulated, unqualified and uninsured cut price competitors. Jason Chapman - Legal Ombudsman How we can give best service and avoid complaints.
15:15 Clive Sutton, Honorary Secretary of The Solicitors’
SPECIALIST PRACTICE SESSION
12:00 Ashley Wynne, Senior Counsel from No 5 Chambers Birmingham Specialist in family finance and contentious probate cases to avoid problems in the future. Drafting wills can be fraught with risk – which may not surface for many years but threatens your practice. Contested wills and Inheritance Act cases have increased significantly in the past 5 years – don’t be a statistic! Come and listen to Ashley.
What are the latest business and practice developments and requirements and how can we deal with them to best advantage for our clients and our businesses?
13:00 Shaun Jardine of Big Yellow Penguin How to adopt new practices, including value pricing, which will make your future more secure financially and operationally.
10:00 Annual General Meeting of The Solicitors’ Sole Practitioners’ Group Members only to attend please. 10:50 Coffee Break
SATURDAY 25TH JUNE 2022
What The Law Society is doing to help practices, and what they recommend solicitors should do to help themselves.
12:20 Victoria Roberts Counsel from 18 St John Street Chambers will talk about secret commissions and the recent case law in this area. Many of you will have clients with problems in consumer law about poor service, unfair contracts or defective goods leading to substantial loss or dispute over bills submitted and avoiding problems.
12:00 Jamie Skelding - Director at Prime Chartered Accountants Managing your practice for profit and positive cashflow. Specialising in developing customised management information systems and interpreting data to drive efficiency and profitability for SME’s.
11:45 Coffee Break
Robert Bourns - Chair of The Law Society Board
13:30 Lunch and Networking 14:30 Richard Fallon, The Marketing Engineer How to Craft a Presentation which Generates Appointments and Clients. He will talk about effective and low-cost ways to influence people and win more clients.
11:40 SPEAKER: Graham Sellers Counsel from Atlantic Chambers There are pitfalls for the unwary in conveyancing including unexpected conflict issues and money laundering avoidance, to safeguard your practice from unexpected claims or even charges.
16:00 The Alpha and Omega of Sole Practice - How to run your practice and protect it from risk. How to deal with regulation, expense and risk when closing the practice – a practical session with PRECEDENTS including tips on Crisis Planning.
Stephen Gowland - Senior Executive - The Legal Services Board
12:30 Charlene Gisele Bourliout, Primal Health Coach Certified Coach and Consultant, specialising in burnout prevention and sustainable high-performance. She is committed to helping individuals and businesses maximise their sustainable potential by optimising wellness, building resilience and optimise performance.
Introduction to the SPG 25th Annual Conference by Chair Joanna Connolly
Brian Boehmer - Locktons Current insurance market, and how we can help our businesses get the best cover - and why that may not be the cheapest.
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FRIDAY 24TH JUNE 2022
19:00 Meet your fellow Sole Practitioners at our celebration - late networking BBQ (weather permitting - otherwise indoors) with some light entertainment, music and lawn games.
SRASPEAKERS:Representative SRA will talk about new rules and regulations.
17:30 Close 19:00 Champagne Reception Hollywood Themed Gala Dinner with entertainment, live music and dancing.
15:00 Video message to the SPG from Anna Bradley, Chair of the SRA Board.
15:45 Coffee Break
12:45 Closing Session 13:05 Lunch and Networking
SUNDAY 26TH JUNE 2022
Jamie Skelding - Director at Prime Chartered LangdonSPEAKER: discuss in
10:10 Keynote Speaker I. Stephanie Boyce, President of the Law Society
PennySPEAKERS:Raby - Executive Committee Member & Sole Pracitioner for nearly 30 years. Brian Boehmer - Locktons.
10:00
Graham will advise you on best practice and answer your questions.
Q&A Session
10:30 Legal Practice Session
11:15 SPEAKER: Helen Gregory, partner with Milsted Langdon, and specialist Forensic Accountant will inform and discuss best procedures and what to look out for when inspecting business accounts. Any litigator will face investigating finances in civil or family law cases – establishing or challenging Personal Injury claims, for instance, due diligence in commercial transactions, and investigating or presenting financial disclosure in divorce proceedings.
Sole Practitioners’ Group SIF Update and questions, with SPG insurance subcommittee representative.
SPG 25TH ANNUALAGENDACONFERENCE
I have been honoured and delighted, again, to direct this event and look forward to next year – which will no doubt be even better. Don’t miss it!
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The social programme was entertaining and a great opportunity for networking – with the Saturday night Hollywood themed Gala Ball an outstanding success.
5. And then of course there was YOU, OUR MEMBERS. We had planned this year to urge everyone to book well in advance, and the vast majority of you did so. THANK YOU SO MUCH. This made a huge difference to the difficulty of the job and the success of our event. Please do just the same next year!
1. From myself, Joanna Connelly your esteemed Chair, and Sukhjit Ahluwalia your crack negotiator and Marketing Director, as the main team spearheading the event.
4. The venue must also be commended for their unfailing willingness to go the extra mile for us. They even managed to arrange sunshine and breaks in rain showers just when needed!
The venue came up to the highest expectations of the attendees – we had comprehensive approval and praise from all. Speakers on all subjects were interesting, relevant, and knowledgeable (including a last-minute stand - in Barry Mapp, to whom we give huge thanks). All the principal talks are now available on the members area of the website – all you need to do is sign up for free, to view these with our other webinars. A copy of the programme is at page 5 in this edition – together with details of the speakers at pages 14-15.
And of course, all our sponsors and exhibitors brought informative and interesting stands to our exhibition area, which was constantly crowded out between sessions.
Huge thanks to our sponsors particularly Lockton Insurance, whose regular annual support makes this and other services for our members possible. And also, to Leap Legal Software UK and the SRA who were the other principal sponsors for the event.
None of this would have been possible without the TEAMWORK which made it all happen: -
Teamwork made the Carden Park Conference a huge success in every way!
3. And there were so many others – in particular Lubna Shuja our very own TLS VP, who not only gave us the advantage of her advice, but also ensured that the Law Society Gazette honoured their promise to send a reporter – resulting in front page news for our Honorary Secretary; Clive Sutton’s revelations on the huge success of his SIF representations on our behalf.
Well done to all the girls who made a wonderful effort with the ultra-glamorous evening wear. And I lost count of the elegant James Bond lookalikes!
2. We were backed up by the ever-professional services of Anika at AH Business Solutions, our superbly reliable administration assistant, and Jennifer Houlihan of Dotted Lines, our expert on conference detail and hotel negotiation.
We were also grateful for the exhibitors: LandFindersLawShareLexisNexisInternationalRegistry
Penny Raby, Executive Committee Conference Director
Request a sample report and ask your provider to add DevAssist to your conveyancing package. e:t:www.devassist.co.uk01342890010orders@devassist.co.uk PROTECTING BUYERS, SOLICITORS & LENDERS Not all views are safe. Our reports educate property buyers about development risk. Don’t find out when it’s too late. Specialists in complex financial, national and international disputes on divorce and family matters, including Inheritance Act litigation. ARE YOU A PROBATE LAWYER FACING A DISPUTED ESTATE PROBLEM? LOOKING FOR A TRUSTWORTHY COLLEAGUE TO WORK WITH YOU ON THE LITIGATION? WITHOUT THE RISK OF LOSING AN ONGOING CLIENT RELATIONSHIP? We specialise in CONTESTED PROBATE litigation but do no conveyancing or standard probate work. You can refer to us with confidence. We are looking nationwide for partners to cross refer work for mutual benefit. We have clients spread far and wide from the Cotswolds to Chicago! We can help each other! Specialist sole practitioners are the best referrals for expertise and retaining clients. Harmony House, Church Street, Pershore WR10 1DT CONTACT US on 01386 555114 or email penny@harmony-house.co.uk for a chat. Penny Raby.indd 1 01/11/2021 12:53 07 spg.uk.com Experienced Cambridge and Oxford-trained consultant pathologist with particular interests in haematopathology (lymphomas, leukaemias), cardiovascular pathology & autopsy pathology Exper t Witness Cer tificate (Civil Law), Bond Solon / Cardiff University • Biopsy Pathology (esp Lymphoma & Leukaemia) • Autopsy Pathology (esp Cardiovascular Pathology) • Professional Conduct (GMC work under taken) Elizabeth J. Soilleux MA, MB, BChir, PhD, FRCPath, PGDipMedEd Department of Pathology, Cambridge University / Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge Tel: 07798 643879 Email: lizsoilleux@gmail.com www.expertwitnesspathologist.co.uk E J Soilleaux Advert.indd 1 02/11/2015 09:51 CONSULTANT PATHOLOGIST Clive Sutton speaking at the SPG 25th Annual Conference
WHY LAW? My late father, a retired naval commander instilled a real sense of duty, responsibility, and justice in us from a young age. I was encouraged by my school to channel these qualities professionally.
WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? A Teacher, Fashion Designer, Air Hostess and Farmer! Well, well, well, there is still time to grow up I hope WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB? A teacher at a community college as part of my national service in Ghana. Most of the students were far older than I. A very humbling experience. IF YOU COULD CALL UP ANYONE IN THE WORLD AND HAVE A ONEHOUR CONVERSATION, WHO WOULD YOU CALL? Not 1, maybe 3…. Efua Sutherland, Maya Angelo, Chinua Achebe, author of “Things fall apart.” WHAT ARE YOU REALLY GOOD AT, BUT EMBARRASSED THAT YOU ARE GOOD AT IT? Being a fantastic Big sister! WHERE IS THE MOST RELAXING PLACE YOU HAVE EVER BEEN? Anywhere near water or a beach. Busua Beach, in Ghana and most recently Vitzn au in Switzerland. WHO INSPIRES YOU TO BE BETTER? My late Father who challenged me to be a lifelong student/learner and walk in integrity.
Please visit the private client side of our website: www.nicholsonswines.co.uk/fine-wines
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However, if nothing is taking your fancy here, please contact us with your requirements and we will do the rest. Crisp whites at £10 a bottle 24 bottles min. order £20 off for first orders Nationwide delivery Nicholson’s: a world of wine awaits.
WHAT MOTIVATES YOU? My children, my nieces, and my family. They inspire me to set a good example, make me want to learn, grow, and create space for them to grow. They challenge me to push sometimes against all odds to achieve and exceed my dreams.
Every season we select 12 fine wines from £10 a bottle, all balancing quality with price, from classic wines, new and old world, to emerging regions and styles.
Adjoa Djan-Krofa qualified as a solicitor in 2006 and spent her early years working at large and medium sized practices in Brixton, London. She founded Pishon Gold Solicitors in April 2012 after the birth of her youngest son to work flexibly around her children. Pishon Gold Solicitors has grown into a boutique multi-disciplinary firm based at Chislehurst, LB of Bromley providing specialist advice to families, individuals, and local businesses. A modern firm built on traditional values of integrity and trust. Adjoa Djan-Krofa, specialises in Conveyancing, Wills and Probate.
WHAT IS THE FAVOURITE THING ABOUT YOUR CAREER? May sound like a cliché, but the pursuit of justice and equity for as many people as I encounter; if not all. My siblings tell me that I have been an advocate from birth.
WHAT IS THE MOST ANNOYING QUESTION THAT PEOPLE ASK YOU? When promoting wills, the most common question I get is “Is it true that the government will take all my money when I die” …. Why am I so calm even under pressure”?
Get to know the Exec TeamAdjoa Djan-Krofa
Don't let 2022 burst your bubble!
Adjoa is married to Richard and runs a free taxi service for their 3 sons. In her spare time, she walks, runs, reads, travels, and enjoys gardening.
■ THE LEGAL PRODUCTIVITYPRACTICESOLUTION (LEAP) (CONFERENCE SPONSOR) LEAP occupies a unique position in the legal software market as it includes traditional practice management and legal accounting attributes, document assembly and management, as well as many of the traditional legal publishing assets all in one solution.
■ LOCKTON MAIN GROUP SPONSOR Lockton is the world’s largest privately owned global insurance broker. From small beginnings in Kansas City in 1966 Lockton has become a leading broker worldwide. Our extraordinary year on year growth is the result of our relentless focus on client service – made much easier by not having to serve the needs of shareholders. From the chairman of Lockton down, almost all of our associates have direct client engagement. We are specialists in providing solicitors of England and Wales with Professional Indemnity insurance solutions. As an independent insurance broker, we are not tied to one insurer. We continue to maintain extensive direct access to the leading Participating Insurers, providing members of the Sole practitioners group with more choice. This extensive access is complemented by a full suite of insurance and risk advisory services.
Contact details: 0370 606 contactcentre@sra.org.uk2555 This is what Lockton’s had to say about the conference weekend: IT WAS A PLEASURE TO BE ABLE TO SUPPORT AND ATTEND THE 2022 SPG CONFERENCE AT THE FANTASTIC CARDEN PARK RESORT. THE CONFERENCE IS ALWAYS A GREAT EVENT TO BE PART OF, AND THIS YEAR WAS NO DIFFERENT, IT WAS A PLEASURE TO BE ABLE TO SPEAK WITH SO MANY PRACTITIONERS AND SEE SOME FAMILIAR FACES ONCE AGAIN. LOCKTON ARE A PROUD SUPPORTER OF THE SPG, AND THE CONFERENCE IS A SUPERB VEHICLE IN BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER.
MANY THANKS TO PENNY AND ALL OF THE SPG EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE FOR ARRANGING A THOROUGHLY ENJOYABLE WEEKEND.
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Contact details: 0330 123 solicitors@lockton.com3870 Our 2022 Conference Sponsors We couldn’t hold our annual conferences without the support of our fantastic sponsors. Our sponsors for this year’s 25th Annual conference are:
Contact details: 0845 683 info@leap.co.uk2517 Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) (Conference Sponsors) The SRA regulates firms and individuals in the public interest. What they say, “We are committed to providing a high standard of service and to dealing with everyone fairly and equally. We understand that we may not always get it right, and we will respond to any concerns you may have”.
Marc Rowson, Senior Vice President ‘‘
disputes.
Joanna is well known as an expert in the complex field of consumer credit law. She is a Solicitor Advocate and qualified to represent clients in the Higher Courts. Joanna’s experience and passion for helping people is reflected in her exceptionally high success rate. Joanna and her team run a thriving practice dealing with clients from all over the country. Hers is the ‘go-to’ consumer credit defence firm in the UK. 0330 053
Tel: 0121 551 7866 Email: lubna@spg.uk.com Legal Swan Solicitors 1st Floor • 168 Hamstead Road • Handsworth Birmingham • B20 2QR
go by. Tel: 020 8215 0884 Email: sukhjit@spg.uk.com Avery Emerson Gloucester House • 335 Green Lane Ilford • Essex • IG3 9TH MOSES SolicitorAJAYI Moses
Tel: 07876 711708 Sole Practitioners Group Executive Committee 2022 010 spg.uk.com
Ipswich •
and
Clive
Tel: 020
KMA
Seven
Business
Clive specialises in private and commercial litigation and has been a sole practitioner in Lymington in Hampshire since leaving a partnership in 1998. He is Chairman of his local Amenity Society in Lymington and Trustee of the New Forest Centre Museum in Lyndhurst. In the past he has served as Chairman of the local Citizens Advice Bureau and Churchwarden and in the early 70s as a Resident Magistrate in the Seychelles. Clive has been an SPG committee member since 2000 and served as Chairman, and then as Hon Secretary and Chair of the Insurance Subcommittee from 2006. He was on the Law Society Council Membership Committee for 10 years and since 2017 has been the SPG Nominated Law Society Council Member, serving now on the Councils Scrutiny and Performance Committee. 01590 672 595 F: 01590 671 466 : clive@spg.uk.com Sutton Solicitor,
Tel:
JOANNA ChairwomanCONNOLLY
read a good book and
Tel:
Harmony House • 7-9 Church Street Pershore • Worcestershire •
Kem qualified as a solicitor in November 2002 and has extensive commercial experience gained in demanding and challenging environments. Kem has spent time at some of the most prestigious legal firms in Suffolk and Norfolk. A keen gardener, Kem has completed the RHS Level 2 Certificate in Horticulture and other hobbies include reading, travelling and cooking in true “Nigella” fashion. : 01473 760 046 F: 01473 760 058 : kem@spg.uk.com Solicitors, Pishon Gold House 12 Old Foundry Road Suffolk • IP4 2AS
•
Tel
Tel: 01386 555 114 Email:
9340 Email: joanna@spg.uk.com Joanna Connolly Solicitors 33 Cheadle Avenue • Liverpool • L13 3AE CLIVE HonorarySUTTONSecretary
SUSHILA ABRAHAM Solicitor Sushila has lived in Surbiton, Surrey for over twenty years. She decided to start her own practice locally because she wanted to offer quality and care to the local community and to be free from the constraints of working in a larger firm. She is married to Matthew a barrister, and her son is also a barrister. Outside work Sushila is ‘Cllr Sushila Abraham’, having been elected as Lib-Dem local councillor in the Borough of Kingston in a byelection in February 2013 and then re-elected in May 2014. Sushila has been President of Surrey Law Society and Law Society Council Member for Surrey. She is also a Board member of the Membership Board at the Law Society and a Trustee of ICLR representing the Law Society. Sushila is a very community minded person and as Suzie’s Kitchen has run cookery classes for local school children teaching them life skills. Tel: 020 8390 0044 F: 020 8241 0601 Email: sushila@spg.uk.com S Abraham Solicitors 290a Ewell Road • Surbiton • Surrey • KT6 7AQ SUKHJIT AHLUWALIA Head of Marketing Sub-Committee Having worked in some of the most prestigious banking and consultancy organisations, Sukhjit opted to provide a more personal, one to one service through his own practice. He has been based in Goodmayes in Ilford since 2003. Sukhjit likes to get involved in charitable activities, working with organisation to assist people from all backgrounds and ages in reaching moral excellence either in their private or professional lives. His children are still young and take up a great deal of his time but when he does have time for himself, Sukhjit likes to sit, watch world was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1987. He has also a qualified solicitor in England and Wales. Moses specialises in Human Rights and Immigration, general civil and criminal matters. Outside work he enjoys sailing and has participated in many sailing events around the world. He also enjoys discovering new places and spending time with his family. 7733 Chairwoman) Penny has been a SP specialising in family law for 20 years, working with her husband Mike a Forensic Accountant on divorce cases business and complex asset income tracing and Inheritance Act She won Worcestershire Family Lawyer of the Year award in 2014 and was nominated for the National Family Law Magazine Family Law Firm of the Year for 2015. She has appeared on radio and television and has presented her networking pantomime ‘Snow White the Small People‘ here and abroad. penny@spg.uk.com Co WR10 1DT BARTON Editor, Solo David qualified as a solicitor in 1982. He became a sole practitioner in 2003. He specialises in solicitors’ professional misconduct and criminal road traffic work. He has rights of audience in the Higher Courts. David is married with 3 grown up children. He is a keen cyclist, golfer, walker, traveller, and reader.
6506 Email: moses@spg.uk.com Slade & Fletcher Solicitors Highland House • 165 The Broadway Wimbledon • London • SW19 1NE PENNY ConferenceRABYOrganiser (Previous
Penny Raby &
DAVID
LUBNA SHUJA Vice President of The Law Society Lubna qualified as a solicitor in 1992. She is currently the Vice President of the Law Society and is due to become the first Asian President in October 2022. She has been a Law Society Council Member since 2013 representing the interests of sole practitioners. She is also a member of the Law Society Board. Lubna has been a sole practitioner at Legal Swan Solicitors in Birmingham since 2007 where she specialises in professional discipline and regulation. Lubna works with various regulators as a Chair of a number of Disciplinary/Fitness to Practise/Investigating and Professional Conduct Committees. She is a Mediator (CEDR accredited) conducting both civil and family mediations. She is a past Chair of the Solicitor Sole Practitioners Group (SPG).
3 The Old Print Works • 85b High Street Lymington • Hants • SO41 9AN KEM HonoraryMASINBO-AMOBITreasurer
involving
the
and
DORCAS Vice-Chairwoman,FALODE Head of Pastoral Health & Wellbeing Dorcas has been a Sole practitioner for over 12 years and has offices in London and Lagos, travelling regularly between them. She specialises in Immigration Law dealing with entry clearance cases, settlement, visitors’ and students’ visa applications. The practice also deals with family and education cases, giving a voice to the weak and defenceless. She recently authored a book called Nigerians Inspire which serves to promote the image of Nigerians against a backdrop of bad publicity caused by a minority and to encourage young people to believe in themselves. She won the Gathering of Africa’s Best (GAB) Award of excellence for contribution to the promotion of positive image of Africa and Africans through motivation. Dorcas is married with four children and outside work is a counsellor, nurse, cook, Taxi driver and tutor to her four young adults. She loves to travel and finds shopping very therapeutic.
Tel: 020 3223 1061 F: 020 3223 1067 Email: dorcas@spg.uk.com
OLUWAKEMI MOSAKU Solicitor Kemi was qualified a barrister and solicitor in Nigeria in 1989 and admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales in 2004. She has a varied work experience which includes working in the immigration department of the Home Office and in private practice. She specialises in Immigration and Human Rights Law. She also undertakes family law work. Outside work Kemi enjoys spending time with her sons. She also enjoys keeping fit, music, networking, reading biographies and current affairs. Tel: 01634 780 230 Email: kemi@spg.uk.com Solicitors Old Courthouse • 1 The Paddock Chatham • Kent • ME4 4RE TAHIRA SolicitorSHAFFI
David Barton Solicitor High Halden Road Ashford Kent • TN27 8JG
Tahira is based in Bury, Greater Manchester where she lives with her family. She has many interests outside of the law. Tahira was previously an LEA school governor and has stood as a candidate in the local elections. She is passionate about civic duty and putting something back into the community.
ANDREW OSADEBE Solicitor Andrew was first called to the Nigerian Bar in May 1990 after qualifying. He practiced extensively as a Barrister & Solicitor in Nigeria before relocating to the United Kingdom in 1997. He has worked at several law firms as a Human right proponent before he qualified as a Solicitor in England and Wales in 2007. Andrew is highly organized and motivated, and describes his goal as achieving excellent results for clients. He has been a sole practitioner since 2008. He specialises in Conveyancing, Matrimonial and Immigration law. Andrew is a family man with 3 children. He loves jogging, gardening and listening to music in his spare time.
Tel: 0845 544 0499 Email: zoe@trantermills.co.uk Cornwall Buildings 45 Newhall Street • Birmingham West Midlands • B3 3QR
Adjoa Djan-Krofa qualified as a solicitor in 2006 and spent her early years working at large and medium sized practices in Brixton, London. She founded Pishon Gold Solicitors in April 2012 after the birth of her youngest son to work flexibly around her children. Pishon Gold Solicitors has grown into a boutique multi-disciplinary firm based at Chislehurst, LB of Bromley providing specialist advice to families, individuals, and local businesses. A modern firm built on traditional values of integrity and trust. Adjoa Djan-Krofa, specialises in Conveyancing, Wills and Probate. Adjoa is married to Richard and runs a free taxi service for their 3 sons. In her spare time, she walks, runs, reads, travels, and enjoys gardening. Tel: 020 8468 1032 Email: adjoa@spg,uk.com
Email: david@spg.uk.com
Tahira has been qualified for 20 years and started as a sole practitioner in 2010 after being made redundant. Working on your own can be a lonely experience but she has found the SPG to be wonderful source of support and friendship. It is important for her that there is an independent body outside of the Law Society working hard to look after its members interests.
Mikhael Law 197 Rochdale Road • Bury • Lancs • Bl9 7BB ZOE SolicitorTRANTER
Pishon Gold Solicitors 1 Bromley Lane • Chislehurst • BR7 6LH HAMISH MCNAIR SRA Liaison Lead Hamish is based in Fulham, London. Having initially specialised in copyright and trade mark work, both in the City and New York City, his practice now includes conveyancing, wills trusts and probate, as well as litigation. Married with three children, when Hamish is not at work he enjoys open-air swimming, sailing, overnight bike rides, and has a passion for the theatre.
•
RAHIL SolicitorCHAUDHARI
Rahil Chaudhari is a Senior Solicitor at Arlingsworth Solicitors. Rahil secured an LLM at University College London and trained and worked at some of the most prestigious law firms in the City before joining Arlingsworth in 2005. Rahil is a highly experienced and versatile solicitor and specialises predominantly in immigration, human rights and company law. Rahil has become a leading authority in these areas, his client base spans a wide range of sectors from multinational companies to private individuals.
Arlingsworth Solicitors Ltd 145 Islingword Road • Brighton East Sussex • BN2 9SH
Tel: 020 7371 7896 / 020 7371 7988 Email: hamish@spg.uk.com McNair & Co EBC House • Ranelagh Gardens London • SW6 3PA
Emerald
The
Tel: 01273 696 962 Email: rahil@spg.uk.com
DF Solicitors 791 Sidcup Road • London • SE9 3SB ADJOA SolicitorDJAN-KROFA
Tel: 020 7582 55743 Email: andrew@spg.uk.com
Tel: 0161 222 6092 Email: tahira@spg.uk.com
Zoe has worked in various organisations including national and international law firms, a Regional Development Agency, and consultant to a number of Local Authorities on regeneration projects. She has also acted for a number of major institutional pension funds and a number of major household names from the retail sector in connection with the management of their extensive property portfolios. She established Tranter Mills Solicitors 13 years ago as a niche firm reflecting her expertise. Outside of the office Zoe’s interests include hiking, reading as well as baking and gardening. Zoe loves rally driving and can often be found attending the WRC Welsh Rally Stages as a spectator. It is her ambition to attend the Swedish stages of the WRC at some point.
Zuriel Solicitors 290, Holloway Road • London • N7 6NJ 011 spg.uk.com
Advocate Ltd Flagstones •
This is what HM Land Registry had to say about the Annual Conference weekend. “HM Land Registry really enjoyed attending the conference and found it very useful to hear feedback from our customers directly. We look forward to attending events with the Sole Practitioners Group in the future.”
Our 2022 Conference Exhibitors We couldn’t hold our annual conferences without the support of our fantastic exhibitors. Our exhibitors for this year’s 25th Annual conference are: Finders (Exhibitor) Finders International was established by Managing Director Danny Curran in 1997 who has been in the probate research industry since 1990. Our global reach, exceptional results and quality of service are well known to our numerous regular clients. We have offices in London, Edinburgh & Dublin and a full international network and are regulated by the International Association of Professional Probate Researchers, the first and only international association for the probate genealogy industry, representing the cream of worldwide probate research, forensic genealogy, unclaimed asset reunification and estate research firms.
HM Land Registry (Exhibitor) Find information about a property in England or Wales, even if you do not own it. Search by address to find the owner and how far its general boundaries extend. You can download copies of the title plan and title register for a property in the service.
The title plan includes the property’s location and general boundaries. The title register usually includes: • who owns the property • details of any ‘restrictive covenants’promises to not do certain things with the land, like not building on a particular area • details of any ‘easements’ - the rights of one piece of land over another, like a right of way In some cases, the title register will not include the details of the restrictive covenants or easements but will say which documents do. Contact details: 0300 006 0411 isservicedesk@landregistry.gov.uk
Contact details: Peter Finkill-Coombs - Partner 0161 828 1957 07595 277 843 Lawshare@jmw.co.uk
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Members are vetted and approved and adhere to codes of conduct and ethics. We can trace our roots back to 1964, when Daniel Curran’s father founded a probate research firm in London that grew to become a highly respected firm. Finders International is now the largest probate research firm in the UK. Contact details: 0800 085 8796 (Freephone) 020 7490 contact@fi4935ndersinternational.co.uk
This is what Lawshare had to say about the Annual Conference weekend. “…Having a number of Sole Practitioners already as members of Lawshare, including the SPG’s current Chair, it seemed only natural to get involved and support the annual conference… and what an event it was! A superbly organised and insightful conference, bubbling with friendly and interesting people, at a sumptuous venue. It was great to see some familiar faces and lovely to meet so many new ones. We look forward to future events and adding value to SPG members with our free offering…”
Peter Finkill-Coombs, Partner
Members receive profit share in most referrals and more importantly are always provided with an absolute assurance that JMW will only act for their client in the referred case. This means Lawshare members safeguard their client relationships, generate extra income, and always ensure their clients get the advice they need. We currently have over 600 members, including a number of sole practitioners from all over the country, who trust Lawshare to service their client when they can’t.
Lawshare (Exhibitor) Lawshare members can refer work to JMW in any area of law when they are unable to deal with an enquiry from a client. This could be due to a conflict if the matter falls outside their area of expertise or if there is a capacity issue.
Leanne Wright, Customer Delivery Manager
The scheme is completely free to join and provides a host of member benefits. Please get in touch to join today, we’d love to hear from you!
Contact details: 0330 123 3870 solicitors@lockton.com
A leading global provider of legal and regulatory intelligence. We give organisations the business information and analytics they need to make better, more impactful decisions. We are building powerful new decision tools that use machine learning, natural language processing, visualisation and artificial intelligence that aid and enhance decision making.
Contact details: 0845 683 2517
LEAP occupies a unique position in the legal software market as it includes traditional practice management and legal accounting attributes, document assembly and management, as well as many of the traditional legal publishing assets all in one solution.
The SRA regulates firms and individuals in the public interest. What they say, “We are committed to providing a high standard of service and to dealing with everyone fairly and equally. We understand that they may not always get it right, and we will respond to any concerns you may have”.
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Contact details: 0370 606 2555 contactcentre@sra.org.uk
LexisNexis (Exhibitor)
Rakhee Patel, Senior Marketing Manager
Lockton (Main Group Sponsor & Exhibitor)
Thiscustomer.services@lexisnexis.co.ukiswhatLexisNexishadtosayabout the Annual Conference weekend. “We were delighted to exhibit at the SPG annual conference. It was superbly organised with insightful, informative talks held by wellregarded members of SPG and the legal world. It was a pleasure to be part of the event and speak to so many valued attendees.”
SponsorsAuthoritySolicitorsinfo@leap.co.ukRegulation(SRA)(Conference&Exhibitor)
Lockton is the world’s largest privately owned global insurance broker. From small beginnings in Kansas City in 1966 Lockton has become a leading broker worldwide. Our extraordinary year on year growth is the result of our relentless focus on client service – made much easier by not having to serve the needs of shareholders. From the chairman of Lockton down, almost all of our associates have direct client engagement. We are specialists in providing solicitors of England and Wales with Professional Indemnity insurance solutions. As an independent insurance broker, we are not tied to one insurer. We continue to maintain extensive direct access to the leading Participating Insurers, providing our current clients and, moving forward, the SPG membership with more choice. This extensive access is complemented by a full suite of insurance and risk advisory services.
The Legal Sponsor(LEAP)ProductivityPracticeSolution(Conference&Exhibitor)
Contact details: 0330 161 1234
Graham Sellers, LLB (Hons), LLM (Cantab), Barrister Graham Sellers was called to the Bar by The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple in 1990, completing pupillage in London Chambers, before moving to the North-West in late Graham1991.has had a diverse Chancery/Property/ Insolvency practice and over the last few years he has been consistently listed as a Leading (Band 1) Junior by Legal 500. He is a member of Atlantic Chambers based in Liverpool.
Robert was appointed a Deputy Lord Lieutenant to the County of Bristol in 2014 and Vice Lord Lieutenant in 2019.
Victoria Roberts, 18 St. John Street Chambers Victoria joined Chambers in February 2020 as a member of the Business and Property team, with expertise in Chancery and Commercial matters, and Insolvency. She appears regularly in the Chancery Division of the High Court. Victoria has extensive experience in mis-selling cases with a particular leaning to consumer loans and car finance up to High Court level and Victoria also undertakes Equine cases including cases relating to the sale of horses.
Stephen Gowland, Legal Services Board Stephen Gowland was the 50th national President of CILEx and the first who qualified as a solicitor, he ran his own successful high street firm for twelve years before moving on to other opportunities.
Helen’s specialisms include fraud and asset tracing, business valuation and quantification of business losses. Helen is also secretary to the Network of Independent Forensic Accountants and treasurer of the South West Fraud Forum.
Stephen now works in-house and sits as a police misconduct judge for twenty -two police forces across England and Wales. He also sits on the joint audit committee for the police force and police and crime commissioner in Durham.
Stephanie Boyce
Shaun Jardine, Big Yellow Penguin Shaun is unashamedly and unapologetically a disruptor, a solicitor, and former law firm CEO of a top 250 law firm, he has a unique insight into what makes law firms tick. Shaun founded Big Yellow Penguin (BYP) in 2021 with the aim of encouraging and helping lawyers and law firms to move on from the 20th century and adopt practices that will make their futures more secure, both financially and operationally.
Stephanie was admitted as a solicitor in 2002 and has a wealth of experience in corporate governance, regulatory frameworks, and professional regulation. She holds a Master of Laws in public law and global governance from King’s College and is a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute. In 2020 Stephanie was voted on to the Governance Hot 100 - Board Influencer and made the Power List 100 Most Influential Black People in the UK in 2021.
Helen Gregory, Forensic Accountant Helen is a Chartered Accountant and member of The Academy of Experts, she has specialised in forensic accountancy for almost 25 years, acting as an expert for the last 15 years.
Dr Richard Fallon, The marketing Engineer Dr. Richard Fallon has a Ph.D. in Electronic Engineering, with his work appearing on Tomorrow’s World in 1999. He then worked as a Business Analyst before setting up his own consultancy in 2004. Richard’s passion is helping smaller firms to achieve the growth they want by developing their marketing strategy, showing them how to best market and present their business.
Stephanie Boyce, President, The Law Society of England & Wales
Robert Bourns - Chair of the Board of The Law Society of England & Wales Robert is currently Chair of the Board of The Law Society of England & Wales. With over 40 years in practice as a Solicitor, he believes strongly in and advocates the power of a truly diverse and inclusive Profession.
Jamie Skelding, Prime Accountants As finance director, Jamie manages all things money at Prime! and leads the internal IT strategy for the firm. For over twenty years he has managed a varied portfolio of clients, providing all round business advice, to small and large businesses alike. This involves designing, preparing, and analysing management information with a view to appraising and improving business performance, helping clients to achieve their goals. Jason Chapman, Legal Ombudsman Jason is an highworkedCommercialexperiencedManager,havingnegotiatingandmanagingvaluecontractsforover 10 years in a number of sectors, including consumer finance, leasing, travel and facilities management. During this time, he also gained considerable experience managing regulatory and compliance functions.
Jason has a wealth of experience at the Legal Ombudsman, joining as an Investigator in 2010 and was appointed as an Ombudsman in 2013.
spg.uk.com 014 Our 2022 Conference Speakers
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY SAW A HOST OF GREAT SPEAKERS TALKING AROUND THE THEME OF GROWING YOUR BUSINESS, ALONG WITH PROFESSIONAL AND PRACTICE UPDATES, INTERACTIVE SESSIONS AND MUCH MORE.
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Brian Boehmer, Partner, Lockton Insurance Brian is a Partner at Lockton specialising in Professional Indemnity Insurance for all professions, particularly for Solicitors, IFA's, Insurance Brokers, and Surveyors. In addition to managing a portfolio of clients, he has a leading role in negotiations with insurers. Brian has a wealth of experience in structuring and administrating group insurance solutions - most recently for the Quality Solicitors group.
Charlene Gisele Bourliout, Primal Health Coach Charlene went to Cambridge University and then to a top Law School and finally her dream job as a Litigator at a top international law firm, and she thought being a lawyer was her dream job, but the reality was that her health deteriorated to the point where she burnt out.
Ashley Wynne, Barrister, No 5 Chambers Ashley is a specialist in financial remedy applications and associated areas including provision for children under Schedule 1 of the Children Act and financial disputes between cohabitees under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act. He has extensive experience of high value cases in all the above areas at all levels, up to and including the Court of Appeal and is consistently ranked in the top band as a leading junior in both Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500.
Now a certified Coach-Consultant, specialising in burnout prevention and sustainable highperformance. She is committed to helping individuals and businesses maximise their sustainable potential by optimising wellness, building resilience and optimise performance.
Barry Mapp, Speaker, trainer and personal development coach Barry is a speaker, trainer, and personal development coach based in the UK with a special interest in the brain, accelerated learning and people development and his present focus is developing high quality, simple, innovative, life-skills based, video e-learning courses. He now has around 35,000 students in more than 160 countries - this is the reach and power of e-learning. He has worked in schools, colleges, and universities in the UK, and in the corporate and SME sector, working with students, teachers, apprentices, managers, and leaders. Barry’s background is actually in clinical science where he ran an NHS Clinical Biochemistry Department in a District General Hospital and was also a Quality Consultant to his local hospitals and local Health Authority. He also has an active interest in Health and Healing. Back in 1996, after training in 'mental literacy' with Tony Buzan (the inventor of Mind Mapping), Barry set up his own training company the House of Learning. A year later, he put some of his new skills to the test and competed in the World Memory and the World Speed Reading Championships (he received silver medal position in the latter). Altogether, he has over 20 years’ experience working in the personal development sector and in the field of business leadership. spg.uk.com
Barry Mapp AS YOU CAN SEE FROM THE PICTURES AND THE CONCENTRATION ON THE DELEGATES FACES ATTENDING THE CONFERENCE, THEY FOUND THE SPEAKERS AND THEIR TOPICS VERY INTERESTING AND BELOWINFORMATIVE.AREAFEWCOMMENTS RECEIVED FROM THE ATTENDEES AFTER THE CONFERENCE: What“Wow!!a fantastic break! This was one of the best Conferences I have ever attended - and I have been to Congratulationsmany. and many thanks.”
“Thank you so much to the SPG team for an informative conference, it was a wonderful and well-balanced weekend.”
“My thanks to you, the Executive Committee, and members of the Sole Practitioner Group for your exceptional generosity and the warmth of your welcome to your annual meeting at Carden Park. From beginning to end, it was a meeting of friends, sharing a common interest in the promotion of the Profession, their practices, and the interests of clients. Even those attending for the first time, were fully embraced into the weekend, swearing their intention to return next year and beyond.”
Things had to change!
Friday Night BBQ
The weekend kicked off on the Friday evening with a “BBQ on the lawn” for members and their guests. This was a great way to network in a fun, relaxed, social setting; it was good for members to catch up with Sole Practitioners that they had not seen since the last conference, and to meet new members and mingle with the Executive Committee Team. As you can see by the pictures everyone enjoyed the light entertainment provided, which included, live music from Plain Folk, mind boggling tricks from Magic Danny and lawn games.
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Saturday Evening Gala Dinner
Our famous Gala Dinner with this year’s HOLLYWOOD THEME took place on the Saturday evening and everyone was invited to dress as their favourite movie star and there was a wonderful array of stunning outfits! The fabulous evening began with a Champagne Reception, and as always followed by great food, a fun atmosphere, lots of entertainment from Romany MC, and Hooray for Hollywood and of course the option to dance the night away, which we certainly did!
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But a Today’s Conveyancer survey of conveyancing practitioners at the end of 2021 identified that awareness across the conveyancing sector was growing with 65% of respondents suggesting they understood what UPRN are, and of those 85% suggested they would be “useful in providing a single point of focus for data on property.”
Ellie adds that from a search point of view UPRN will also provide greater surety of location.
Indeed a number of comments from the survey indicate that UPRN confuses the issue, with some respondents indicating that title numbers are, in effect, unique.
UPRN are designed to help capture data beyond the home moving process, such as emergency response, HMRC and other govt departments, and have the potential to build a “property passport” or “property logbook” as an immutable single source of truth to tie property data to” says Ellie. “We must, as an industry, embrace adoption to be an enabler in the digitisation of property data, rather than risk holding back progress and missing this critical opportunity to improve home ownership.”
For more information, please visit: www.geodesys.com
The adoption of Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRN) presents an opportunity to simplify and speed up the conveyancing process, according to Geodesys. Momentum is steadily growing behind the wider adoption of UPRN across the property industry. Currently, the main barriers to adoption are awareness and the availability of using the UPRN through a transaction with all parties.
“It’s another step in supporting the industry wide adoption of UPRN which we believe will bring huge benefit throughout the conveyancing process”. Property portal Zoopla has announced it is heavily investing in UPRN at a recent conference. It believes that by improving data quality around the home buying process, it is possible to reduce fall-throughs and speed up conveyancing.
However only 11% of respondents suggested they used UPRN “Every time” or “Often” in the course of a Intransaction.AprilUPRNs were included in the Buying and Selling Property Information (BASPI) protocol, developed by trade bodies from across the home buying sector to support the digitisation of property information and enable the collation of up front information from consumers. A “single source of truth,” the BASPI has been designed to reduce the huge duplication of information collected in the course of a conveyance and bring it into a single space.
“How many times have you had to provide more information about a parcel of land or check the plan to ensure you’ve included the full boundary of the “UPRNproperty?”willmapout property locations, including any additional parcels, and ensure the search covers the full outline of the property.”
There is a risk that wider adoption will become a catch-22 situation. The results of the Today’s Conveyancer survey show that wider adoption amongst property lawyers will be dependent on a demonstrable improvement in the conveyancing process, something only achievable if each side of the transaction is using UPRN.
“Title numbers are unique to the conveyancing process.
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Rallying cry for wider adoption of UPRN
“The idea behind UPRN is to provide greater certainty around the location of property and uniformity of addressing” says Ellie Player, Head of Geodesys. “We have incorporated UPRN search into the Geodesys platform for a number of years, alongside postcode and address look up. The Geodesys system works by linking a UPRN to a title number so you have the benefit of either because of how we match them up.
Geodesys. All you need to know. Call 0800 085 8050 Email customer.services@geodesys.com www.geodesys.com A dedicated account manager for EVERY customer? Imagine a dedicated account manager who’ll make your conveyancing searches a breeze. Imagine building such a close relationship with them that they become one of your team. Imagine having access to a bank of knowledge and expertise all under one roof. There’s a way to have all this –with a truly refreshing customer experience.
Last month, our Director, David Johnstone, spoke at Legal Future's annual conference.
PI Futures conference:
The event focused on how the legal landscape has changed since the introduction of the Official Injury Claim portal, almost a year ago.
Speakers at the PI Futures conference have highlighted the importance of keeping up with and preparing for changes within the legal market. If you are considering an exit from the RTA market to move into new areas, such as the consumer claims markets listed above, R&R Solutions can assist. R&R Solutions offer a unique service to any law firm wishing to exit any market. We provide a positive option for those wanting a structured exit from the RTA market as a result of recent changes.
David was joined at the conference by speakers from personal injury law firms, as well as businesses providing services to the legal sector and representatives from MOJ and the MIB.
David discussed the area of "getting out of RTA," and explained the options for solicitors considering an exit from the RTA market.
How R&R Solutions Can Assist
The unique scheme offered by R&R Solutions is suitable for both law firms and professional advisors. Our team manage the transfer of files from start to finish; placing case files with an approved panel law firm to protect the integrity of the client’s case, whilst maximising the value of their WIP. If you would like to find out more about R&R Solutions’ process, please get in touch with David Johnstone via email david.johnstone@r-rsolutions.co.uk, telephone 0788 779 6989, or contact Sally Dunscombe at sally.dunscombe@r-rsolutions.co.uk or 07774 205 870 New business of consumer claims 020 spg.uk.com
David Bott and Jeremy Brooke from our panel firms Bott & Co and SSB Law, along with Jeff Winn from Winn Group, also spoke to the conference delegates about how they had embraced the changes and identified innovative ways of diversifying into other areas, primarily in the consumer claims arena. They discussed the pros and cons of new consumer claims such as: CARET-RIGHT Cavity wall claims CARET-RIGHT Energy mis-selling claims CARET-RIGHT Plevin claims CARET-RIGHT Flight claims CARET-RIGHT Timeshare mis-selling claims They also explained how technology, the right staff and training had enabled them to rapidly ramp up the number of matters that they were able to handle, in what is, in many cases a ‘high volume, low value’ area. Jeremy Brooke from SSB Law further discussed “second mover advantage”, and how those firms following first movers into the market may actually capture a greater share of new markets.
The latest crackdowns by government and the Solicitors Regulation Authority, have paved the way for an increase in cases and fines for legal misconduct, as if conveyancers don’t already have enough on their plates! Couple this with the latest Risk Agenda report from the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) which states it’s a matter of “when not if” a firm comes under a cyber-attack and it’s easy to see why many conveyancers are advising solicitors to utilise new technology to protect their reputations and clients’ assets.
Proof and Source of Funds Checks
Leading provider of regulated property searches, X-Press Legal Services, is recommending legal professionals utilise a single point of access for storing property transaction documentation. It has developed its own Intelligent Conveyancing Online System (ICOS) that encompasses a full suite of due diligence and compliance products providing 24/7 secure access for clients. The first property search company to receive Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation, the highest standard achievable, ICOS ensures all data and documentation is kept digitally safe from cyberattacks and threats. “Utilising a centralised portal such as our ICOS system, not only ensures the complete fulfilment of due diligence and compliance requirements to satisfy the SRA but also protects clients from the growing threat of cyber-crime,” commented Lynne Lister, Managing Director at X-Press. “Today’s conveyancers must offer clients a belt and braces approach that ensures complete compliance alongside watertight security and that’s exactly what ICOS delivers.”
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Customer Bank Account Checker Veri¬fies the bank details to ensure that you are sending or receiving funds to and from the right client bank account. Fast, convenient and fully compliant, all the above ensure the expected professional standards are met through every step of the conveyancing process, ensuring clients meet the expected SRA standards. For further details on any of these products visit www.xpresslegal.co.uk
Quickly collates the vital bank information you need to verify the presence and provenance of funds. Proven evidence trail of SOF for SRA compliance (some SOF checks include a free refresh). Regulated by the FCA in relation to Open Banking. Anti-money Laundering Checks Fully compliant UK identity and address verification, with in-built mortality, departure, and optional passport, telephone, driving licence and NI number checking. This check can be used for people of any nationality, as long as they are living in the UK.
PEPs and Sanctions Checks PEPs and Sanctions checks with ongoing monitoring. A notification is triggered should a change in status occur – checking OFAC, EU and HMT Sanctions lists and PEP lists.
Lynne Lister, Managing Director X-Press Legal Services
Due diligence and compliance products available to order through ICOS, X-Press Legal Service’s online client hub include: ID Checks – UK and International A fast, convenient and highly secure way to verify a client's ID and complete checks on their smartphone in a matter of minutes. Fulfils all government regulatory requirements around digital ID verification. The International ID check allows you to validate the documentation (including passports and most EU ID cards) of any individual, regardless of nationality.
Why Belt and Braces is the Best Approach For Conveyancing spg.uk.com
Cyber Essentials Plus certified GDPRTwocompliantfactor authentification SECURITYCYBER DigitalAMLsIDs Source of Funds Lawyer Checker Bank Account Verification Bankruptcy COMPLIANCEPRODUCTS Residential EnvironmentalCommercialAgriculturalMining Water and Drainage CompanyUtilities RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL SEARCHES Indemnity Insurances Legal forms SDLT/LTT and Registry Gateway PRE & COMPLETIONPOST Personal and professional with unrivalled customer service. Established and experienced – we have been a trusted partner to hundreds of legal practices since 1998. Local experts – our reports are compiled by people who have an in-depth knowledge of their local area. Our Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation ensures a secure end-to-end service to our conveyancing clients. X-Press Legal Services provides professional property searches and reports to the conveyancing sector through our network of offices across England and Wales. Our complete range of products and services are available through ICOS – our online ordering platform – which means we are a one-stop shop for all your conveyancing needs. All your conveyancing needs in one place ASSOCIATE MEMBER EXECUTIVE MEMBER
For further information, simply send an email to info@xpresslegal.uk quoting LPASSUMMER22 How can we help you to raise the profile of your firm? Join our ‘Find a Solicitor’ directory of law firms and we will promote your firm for free… PLUS: Never lose another lead, get our free fee estimate calculator branded to YOUR law firm Save money on recruitment by advertising your vacancies on our Legal Jobs Board Get involved in the conversation - join us at #TheLegalHour every Wednesday 12.30 - 1.30pm Get noticed with Law Plain and Simple… Thousands of unique visitors to the website each month Over 7000 Twitter followers @Law_PlainSimple Write for Us… To promote your firm even further, submit an article for publication and drive traffic to your law firm’s website… all articles include a linkback.
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In 2019, for care providers across the sector and for many hundreds of thousands of individuals needing care support, the reality could be grim. Then Lockdown. The Lockdown re-enforced the problems and added more problems to the mix. Individuals needing care support in care homes, a person in their own home needing to see a GP or an inpatient in hospital, were all denied visits or visitors.
For care providers who have State funded clients, the Minimum Wage Rate is all they are able to pay to their front-line workers and therefore care workers will prefer to work with fee paying clients for a higher wage. As a result, many care providers have and are handing back State contracts as not financially viable. Free personal protective equipment and lateral flow tests which had been free, are now not available, apart from some specific situations and have to be purchased. Hospitals are discharging older people without support care in place, there is also a shortage, in all disciplines of nursing and the deficit gets worse each day.
State funding throughout the UK, administered by councils, were offering different hourly/ residential care rates to care providers A post code Varyinglottery.reports had been done on the sector, including the Dilnot Report commissioned by Government, but in essence nothing was in place to improve the situation of an aging population, numbers of which were rising exponentially.
Until the UK Government gets hold of the problem with a plan that can be funded and rolled out in the coming months, the tipping point for care support will be passed and the sector will descend into a catastrophe.
State funded individuals, the economic backbone of the care sector, living in their own homes were being allocated funds which were not covering the cost of their home care. People who needed a residential care setting but were reliant on the State for their fees were rarely given a choice of care home but offered one that could provide the care at the price offered.
www.ablecommunitycare.com
The position in the UK care sector pre pandemic was that of a failing system. Simply put, demand was exceeding the services that were available related in the main, to the economic cost of providing these services and the consequences of poor recruitment and care worker, retention levels.
Social Care in the UK before and since Lockdown
Angela Gifford Owner of Able Community Care Ltd.
Recruitment to address the shortage of frontline care workers has not been successful mainly due to no nationwide, training schemes in place or career structure. Currently it is estimated that there are 238,000 social care vacancies. Home care providers as a result are desperately short of staff and care workers themselves are ‘selling’ their skills to the highest bidder especially in the 24/7 care support arena.
Social Services Staff, Health Commissioning Staff, GP Surgery staff, voluntary bodies, support groups, all were working from home or ceased operating. The Care Quality Commission (the UK’s regulatory inspection organisation) stopped onsite inspections, and the care sector sunk into levels exacerbated by the number of care staff going down with the virus and self-isolating. Mandatory specifications that from November 2021 all care home staff had to be vaccinated, reduced by thousands those who worked in care homes as they exercised their right not to be Homevaccinated.careworkers were specified as having a similar short-term date for their immunisation; however, this was cancelled before it could take place. Social Service staff across all areas of care support, during lock down, were working from home or were on furlough. In 2022, many have not returned to workplace settings or have left the care sector. This is due to stress levels and higher wage opportunities elsewhere.
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Team members interrupt you. The inbox keeps ‘pinging’, demanding your attention. Before you know it, the time you’d set aside has been used up being busy with other people’s needs. Does this sound familiar? If so, you need to find ways to add more ‘scanning time’ so you can look ahead, see what’s needed, and make your own plans A great way to find more time for this is to block out time in your diary when you’ll switch off your email, your phone, and any other distractions. So you can really focus on what’s important to you and your practice.
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Even in times of uncertainty – no, especially in times of uncertainty – we need to keep scanning ahead and planning for the future. And the further ahead you scan and plan, the less distracted you are by the things up close.
In your firm or practice, do you spend enough time in scanning mode (assessing your firm’s future needs and creating a plan for that)? Or are you continually in doing mode (focusing on the day-to-day deadlines and demands of your firm)? If you don’t spend enough time in scanning mode, what gets in the way? For most people, even when they try to set time aside for this, the day-to-day interruptions get in the Clientsway.call.
Michelle Peters (The Business Instructor) is a former practising solicitor and the creator of the Profitable Practice Programme for sole practitioners and small firm owners who want more clients and to increase their profits without working more hours. In addition to working privately with lawyer clients, Michelle frequently runs webinars and workshops to help lawyers identify what is slowing them down from having more of their ideal clients and higher profits, and what to do about it.
If you’ve ever watched real meerkats (not the puppet ones on TV!) you’ll have seen that they love to get up on their hindlegs and scan the horizon. Then they drop back down onto all fours to pay attention to whatever is in front of them. They continually swap between popping up to get the long distance view (scanning), and dropping down to get on with the ‘now’ (doing).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A few months ago I attended a workshop where we were all asked to say what goals we wanted to achieve in the next 5, 10, 15 and 20 years – it was tough to do, especially the 20 year goal. But looking that far ahead was a great way to see the bigger picture beyond both the pandemic and the current challenges in my own business, and not to be constrained by those issues when setting my longer-term goals.
You’ll be amazed at how much you can get done in even 90 minutes of uninterrupted time – this is enough time to plan out the next 90 days. Even better, treat it as an ‘away day’ and you can plan out the whole year. So if you want to grow your practice, find ways to ‘Be More Meerkat’. Start with blocking out time, away from the distractions of the office, so that you have time to look ahead and plan your next steps. If you’d like my help with planning your next 90 days and beyond then why not block out time to attend my online workshop ‘Profitable Practice Growth Secrets For Small Law Firms’. At this workshop we’ll work together to analyse what your firm or practice needs in order to grow, and then start implementing the key Practice Growth ‘Accelerators’ to attract more of your ideal clients and increase your fee income and profits without you needing to work more hours. Check ticket availability at www.thebusinessinstructor.com/workshop
Use this 'Meerkat Method' to Grow Your Law Firm ‘‘ CLIENTS CALL. TEAM MEMBERS INTERRUPT YOU. THE INBOX KEEPS ATTENTION.DEMANDING‘PINGING’,YOUR
Michelle is also the author of the No.1 Best-Selling Book ‘The Client Magnet Strategy for Lawyers’ which is available on Amazon, or you can download the first four chapters FREE at: www.thebusinessinstructor.com/book
HOW TO BE ‘MORE MEERKAT’
Jay Sahota, Senior Partner, Jarmans Solicitors find out workshops reserve your place, visit: are presented by former practising solicitor Michelle Peters the to attracting more of your ideal clients increasing your profits (even in a difficult economy)
PRICES “Michelle’s
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Undertakings play an essential part in the effective operation of the legal system – in the conveyancing process most obviously, but in litigation also. All practitioners will need to have confidence that any undertakings that they accept will be performed by those providing them, and that if they fail or refuse to do so, that they will be capable of being enforced. As such the legal standing of undertakings has long been a basic aspect of legal practice, but there are now warnings that there might be concerns as to the reliability of undertakings provided in certain circumstances. So far as the SRA is concerned an undertaking is defined in the Glossary to the Standards and Regulations as being “a statement, given orally or in writing, whether or not it includes the word ‘undertake’ or ‘undertaking’, to someone who reasonably places reliance on it, that you or a third party will do something or cause something to be done, or refrain from doing something”. Based on this definition undertakings can be seen as being no less than promises given in the course of practice to another person who can be assumed to want or need to rely upon it to be met. The Codes of Conduct then stress the need for undertakings to be honoured with para 1.3 of both the Codes for Solicitors and for Firms also providing that solicitors must perform all undertakings that they provide within an agreed timescale, or within a reasonable timescale if no such time limit has been agreed in advance.
The particular point in question was that the agreement had been signed by the individual solicitor concerned “for an on behalf of” the respondent firm. An injunction was obtained on the basis of a contractual obligation but the High Court ruled that it had no jurisdiction to enforce the undertaking despite the breach. In due course the Supreme Court was asked to rule on whether the promise made was a valid undertaking and, if so, whether it was enforceable against the individual solicitor who had signed it and against that firm as well. The High Court had ruled that its supervisory jurisdiction over solicitors was confined to solicitors as individual officers of the court and did not extend to the limited liability partnerships and incorporated practices through which they might practise. The Supreme Court agreed with this view and, quoting Cordery on Legal Services agreed with the trial judge’s concerns as to whether those dealing with incorporated firms “are sufficiently aware that undertakings given by them are not currently buttressed by the court’s supervisory jurisdiction” (para 148).
Are Undertakings from Incorporated Firms Enforceable?
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To find out more about how Infolegal can assist your firm with its compliance, please email enquiries@infolegal.co.uk.MatthewMoore is a director of Infolegal Ltd, which provides guidance on this issue, including templates and policies tailored for sole practitioner users. See www.infolegal.co.uk
So how should this gap in the operation of the legal system be addressed? The Supreme Court suggested that insisting on the undertaking being provided by an individual solicitor within the firm, rather than from the practice as an entity, would be a partial solution only. They instead expressed the hope that Parliament would address the lacuna that the judgment created in relation to the enforceability of undertakings by incorporated firms.
USER by Matthew Moore
The evidence suggests that this traditional understanding as to the role and enforceability of undertakings continues to work well, with the Law Society commenting in its recent news item on this subject by regulatory expert Iain Miller of Kingsley Napley that there is no evidence of the reliability of undertakings having been questionable in the more than 1m property transactions conducted in the last 12 months. In this regard it may well be that there is no great problem here that needs fixing, but this does depend on the SRA choosing to become involved if a firm fails to honour an undertaking, and if they do not do so it may be necessary to apply to the court to enforce the obligation. Concerns have been expressed in the Supreme Court case of Harcus Sinclair v Your Lawyers [2021] UKSC32. The dispute arose from concerns as to the emissions from Volkswagen diesel cars and certain confidential information was shared between the parties in this regard, obliging the respondent firm not to accept instructions for, or to act on behalf of, any other group of claimants in any relevant litigation. This information was then nonetheless shared with another firm in breach of this agreement, and the dispute therefore arose as to which firm could act in the substantial litigation dispute that then ensued.
For the time being, however, greater care might be required when acting not so much in relation to the standard undertakings that make the conveyancing process tick, but more attention should perhaps be given to the more unusual circumstances that might arise in litigation.
‘‘ THE EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT THIS UNDERSTANDINGTRADITIONALASTO THE ROLE AND ENFORCEABILITY OF CONTINUESUNDERTAKINGSTOWORK WELL
So where does this leave the firm that wishes to be sure on where it stands on this issue? One view is that the professional rules that are in place, that are commonly accepted to extend to licensed conveyancers also, mean that all other such concerns are perhaps exaggerated. To the extent that this remains a concern, however, it has been suggested that the undertaking should be expressed to be a contract supported by consideration so as to be enforceable as such. The Law Society has also suggested referring to the issue in firms’ retainer letters or terms of business, though it is not immediately apparent how this might reassure the client or protect the solicitor.
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WE DO MORE THAN TRACE HEIRS
We are here to provide consultative and practical support to practitioners and estate administrators with the liquidation, disposal and return of a variety of assets located overseas. We have a range of International Asset Services to assist with complex multijurisdictional estate matters, offering Medallion Signature Guarantees, the sale and transfer of overseas stock, closure of overseas bank accounts and obtaining overseas Grants of Probate. These specialist services are designed to assist sole practitioners with overseas estate elements they may not encounter on a regular basis. UK Estates are much more likely to contain at least one overseas asset these days. From a bank account opened in Australia for work, to a holiday home purchased while on holiday in Spain, to tax planning investment accounts opened in the USA and offshore in places like the Isle of Man and Jersey, to accounts in Ireland or beyond, to shares that, due to corporate action, have ended up listed in all sorts of places worldwide – it’s quite possible that an estate may feature one or more of these scenarios. What unites them is that they’re often surprisingly time-consuming and challenging to deal with – whether that involves closing an account, liquidating a portfolio or selling an individual shareholding. Numerous legal and bureaucratic obstacles spring up which must be navigated before the value can be restored to the estate in the UK. The sheer variety of scenarios is something that an estate practitioner may not have encountered often, or at all. Another scenario is that you may be pressed for time and anxious to progress multiple aspects of the estate administration at once. That is where Finders’ International Asset Service comes in. We apply a practical, problem-solving approach to a range of asset services, helping to sell, transfer or recover a range of overseas assets including shares, bank accounts, and investment portfolios, assisting estates with the necessary administrative and legal paperwork. With a combination of specialist knowledge, contacts, and experience, Finders will get the job done.
We are best known for tracing missing heirs and identifying lawful and entitled next of kin, having worked extensively with lawyers, probate practitioners, banks, deputyship teams, trust companies and state trustees.
We are aware of the need to support the services of sole practitioners when dealing with Estate administration matters. In addition to tracing missing heirs or Executors, we can assist with a range of legal support services; searching for missing Estate assets, obtaining missing documents, carrying out overseas bankruptcy searches, and conducting thorough insurance-backed Missing Will Searches, as well as a range of probate property solutions, and offering insurances to enable safe distribution of funds.
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Finders have offices in London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Sydney and over 150 personnel, enabling us to complete searches quickly across multiple jurisdictions. When complex estates need to be dealt with, we have a proven track record of tracing beneficiaries globally. We support the legal profession and know our research forms part of a serious legal process that reflects on your firm. Therefore, we will work efficiently and in the best interests of your company, the personal representatives, and beneficiaries at all times.
Tracing heirs to estates, property or assets - How Finders International can help!
We are founder members of the International Association of Professional Probate Researchers www.iappr.org, which provides regulation, a Code of Conduct and a complaints procedure for a network of elite international companies. The IAPPR is one of many respected and recognised organisations we have chosen to belong to, or qualified as members of, to complete an impressive list of accreditations. In an unregulated industry, Finders International is a name to trust. For 4 years running, we have been awarded ‘Best UK Probate Research Firm’ at the UK Probate Research Awards and won the same award at the 2020 British Wills and Probate Awards. Our Managing Director, Danny Curran, is known as the industry spokesman with over 100 media contributions. From Forbes Magazine, The Times, and all the UK nationals, to appearances on ITV’s This Morning and numerous Radio interviews, positively promoting the probate research profession. We also complete hundreds of pro-bono cases every year, helping with stories of reunions of family separated by war or forced adoption and reuniting people with family heirlooms such as their ancestors lost war medals or long-lost books. For free advice or a no obligation quote, contact us today: PHONE +44 (0)20 7490 4935 envelope quotes@findersinternational.co.uk Globe www.findersinternational.co.uk
Finders International is a professional probate genealogy company, established in 1997 by Managing Director Danny Curran and is now one of the world’s largest firms in our field.
ESTATES WITH AN INTERNATIONAL ELEMENT
OUR CREDENTIALS – A TRIED AND TRUSTED FIRM Reputation is critical in the probate world, and we will safeguard yours as closely as our own.
practitioners since 1997 Freephone (UK Only): 0800 085 8796 contact@findersinternational.co.uk www.findersinternational.co.uk MISSING HEIRS, WILLS, DOCUMENTS & ASSETS FOUND WORLDWIDE O f f i c e s i n L o n d o n , E d i n b u r g h , D u b l i n & S y d n e y Contact us today quoting the reference: SOLO2022
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