Conveyancing Association announce new Affiliate members

The Conveyancing Association (CA), the leading trade body for the conveyancing industry, has today (27th January 2016) announced a number of new Affiliate members from across a range of associated market sectors.

Affiliate membership is not available to all firms; instead it is offered to providers who specifically offer their services to the conveyancing sector in a number of areas. They are specifically appointed by the Association as key firms which can work closely with the CA management and can offer a range of relevant services to the CA membership.

The new CA Affiliate members appointed are:

• Search providers, Groundsure, PSG, Future Climate Info and Conveyancing Data Services.
• IT provider, Converge TS.
• Professional Indemnity insurance/cyber crime insurance provider, Howden Windsor.
• Bespoke conveyancing indemnity policy provider, Dual Group.
• Enhanced risk management tool for funds transmission, Lawyer Checker.

Affiliate members are able to attend at select CA Management Committee Meetings (MCM) – which are attended by 25 of the most active CA members – and each All Member Meeting (AMM) which are attended by all CA members. Each Affiliate member has the opportunity to present at one MCM and one AMM meeting.

Details on each Affiliate member are prominently advertised on the CA website, in its newsletters and on all relevant CA publications. All Affiliate members will also attend, and be promoted, at the CA Annual Conference which in 2016 takes place on the 1st December at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea; they will also have a table at the CA Dinner which follows the conference.

Lloyd Davies, Operations Director at the Conveyancing Association, commented:

“Our aim with our Affiliate membership this year has been to select the best service providers in our industry – this means we have opted for only a limited number of this type of member. By doing this, we can provide them with maximum exposure to CA members and deliver maximum value for money over the course of the year. We are therefore very pleased today to appoint such a high quality Affiliate membership group to work with the Association in 2016. We believe we have the right balance of Affiliates representing many different aspects of the conveyancing process.

“A key element of what we are trying to achieve this year is building the social aspect of the Association. After every CA meeting there will be a drinks reception and dinner to ensure all our members get the opportunity to meet one another, learn new ideas and establish business contacts. We have a limited number of Affiliate Members to ensure we can maximise their sponsorship offering to the CA membership but also to allow everyone to get to know each other on a personal footing. From a work perspective, our Affiliates will also work with us to implement new protocols for best practice and innovative conveyancing products when required. Everyone at the CA is looking forward to working with our Affiliate members to establish long-standing and beneficial relationships throughout the year and beyond.”

Nigel Wright, Managing Director at Converge, said:

“We’re delighted to be an Affiliate member of the Conveyancing Association; to support its work to promote best practice in the industry and to meet with leading conveyancers across the country. The conveyancing industry is experiencing a great deal of change which presents opportunities and challenges for firms. We’re looking forward to helping CA members successfully tackle issues such as cyber security and risk, staff retention and productivity. Our experience as the UK’s only cloud provider to legal firms means that we are well placed to support CA members and we’re looking forward to developing best practice protocols to support the association’s goals.”

Paul Tucker, Business Development Manager at Lawyer Checker, said:

“We are delighted to become part of the Conveyancing Association as Affiliate Members. Lawyer Checker has developed over time to match the market’s concerns regarding vendor conveyancer fraud, which has become more prominent across the industry. This is reflected within our new standing as part of the Conveyancing Association and we look forward to working with the CA alongside other members, to reduce conveyancing fraud within the market.

“We hope that through increased exposure and the chance to present to all members, a platform for open discussion and appreciation of the threat from cybercrime within the conveyancing market can be established, and ideas on how best to prevent this.

“Lawyer Checker’s mission is to help solicitors adhere to Principle 10; protect client money and assets. Where monies are to be remitted to another firm, regardless of how well that firm is known, the integration of a Lawyer Checker AES search into a firm’s process means that your team will be able to make an informed decision.”