A campaigning organisation today failed with a bid to secure a vote of no confidence in the Law Society’s ability to represent conveyancers. Of some 500 solicitors who registered to attend a special general meeting of the Society, 123 voted in favour of the motion, which was targeted at president Nick Emmerson and chief executive Ian Jeffery, with 207 against. Twenty abstained.
There were 350 votes in total. It is understood not all those who registered to attend the SGM did so.
The meeting was instigated by solicitor members of the Property Lawyers Action Group, which describes itself as an informal group of property lawyers ‘who have become increasingly concerned by the way in which the legal profession is heading’. The meeting was called following receipt of a requisition from 100 solicitors, as required under the Society’s bye-laws.
In particular, PLAG claimed Chancery Lane did not adequately consult with solicitors over controversial changes to the TA6 form, which was updated to support National Trading Standards guidance on ‘material information’ required for property listings. PLAG fears revisions to TA6 might increase solicitors’ criminal liability, but the Society believes those concerns to be unfounded.
Earlier this month the Society postponed compulsory use of the new TA6 as it launched a six-month consultation to further engage with solicitors. Independent research agency 2CV will carry out direct member engagement exercises and survey, and analyse feedback. Until 15 January 2025, members will be compliant with the Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditation standard if they use either TA6 (4th edition, second revision 2020) or the new TA6 property information form (5th edition 2024).
Today’s vote followed a robust debate attended by dozens of solicitors in person and many more online.
For the motion, Stephen Larcombe, chair of the Property Lawyers Action Group, said the latest TA6 form was the catalyst for the SGM, but stressed that the requisition encompassed wider issues. The home buying and selling group was ‘dedicated to the dumbing down of conveyancing so dumbed-down conveyancing can fit the demands of the lawtech sector’, Larcombe alleged.
The lawtech sector was significantly represented in the Digital Property Market Steering Group, Larcombe noted. The steering group ‘promotes the idea of open data which should raise for the Law Society and solicitors the question of client confidentiality and data security’. The recent Microsoft outage ‘highlights the danger of putting all your eggs in one digital basket’, he warned.
The Society should not have joined both groups without a mandate and consultation, said Larcombe.
Opposing the motion, Society chief executive Ian Jeffery pointed out that he had spent 30 years as a practising solicitor. Answering accusations that the Society is too ready to capitulate to authority, Jeffery added that since he joined Chancery Lane had taken the government to court on legal aid and access to justice, spoken consistently against the Solicitors Regulation Authority becoming regulator of CILEX members, called for a full investigation into the collapse of Axiom Ince and commissioned expert insights on in-house ethics.
‘We do not always get everything right,’ he conceded. ’When we need to correct things, that’s what we will do.’ The fifth edition of TA6 was launched ‘too early’ and the Society ‘should have communicated more than we did. The strength of feeling has been heard’.
The Society is committed to holding a genuine consultation, there is no pre-determined outcome and the exercise is being approached with an open mind, the CEO added. Supporting the motion would ‘divide our profession and weaken our standing’, Jeffery said.
Attendees were given more than five minutes to vote and instructions on what to do if they were experiencing technical problems.
After the result was announced, Amerdeep Somal, chair of the Law Society Board and Mark Evans, deputy vice president of the Law Society, who chaired the SGM, said: ’The Law Society Council and Board fully support the president and CEO and are pleased with the outcome of today’s vote. We have listened to the concerns raised by some of our members on this specific issue. It is important to note that we have already taken steps to address these concerns by postponing the compulsory implementation of the updated TA6 form. We have also launched a consultation to ensure we understand the full range of member views.’
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