Conveyancing Association Annual Conference highlights future path for success for conveyancing firms

11 February 2025

The Annual Conference of the Conveyancing Association, the leading representative body for the conveyancing industry, pointed to a more successful future for conveyancing firms if they could embrace the business and technology opportunities that exist for them.

Taking place on Thursday 30th January at the Hilton Deansgate Hotel in Manchester, with Landmark Information Group as its Headline Sponsor, this year’s Conference was entitled ‘Past, present and future – where is the conveyancing industry up to and what can we expect in the future?’

The Conference covered a range of sessions, panels and seminars designed to look at pressing day-to-day issues for member firms such as the economic environment, pricing, recruitment, marketing and technology usage, alongside a broader view of the potential impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the conveyancing process and firms themselves.

Behavioural Economist, Roger Martin-Fagg, kicked off proceedings looking at the major economic trends and how they might impact on the UK itself and conveyancing firms, focusing on the potential for a greater flow of money supply to open the door to increased levels of mortgage funding and property transactions.

Rob Gurney, Managing Director of Ochresoft, looked at both customer expectations for the conveyancing process and the current reality, and the ways and means by which conveyancing firms might be able to deliver a shorter timescale to exchange and completion.

The Conference also held a number of break-out discussion groups focused on four key topics including pricing models delivering customer satisfaction and staff well-being, tactics for marketing, how to attract the next generation of employees and conveyancers, and how best to utilise technology within the conveyancing process.

The key theme of the afternoon sessions was AI within conveyancing, and Ed Boulle from Orbital, outlined the pace of change, and the likely future ways and means by which conveyancing firms might utilise AI within their firms in order to both bring down the administration burden and to smooth the path to exchange and completion for clients.

This was followed by a panel session on the same topic where attendees learnt how to deploy AI safely and train it to comply with regulatory requirements.

The CA Annual Dinner followed the Annual Conference with Stewart Title as the main Drinks Reception Sponsor. The CA was raising money for The Children’s Society Charity via the Dinner, with Propertymark sponsoring the evening raffle prize. As a result, £2,995 was raised for the CA’s chosen charity.

There were also a large number of other sponsors who attended the event and exhibited during the day including: Landmark Information Group, Stewart Title, PEXA, Conveyancing Data Services, LMS, Orbital Witness, CoPSO, WNS, Post Partner, Armalytix, Dye & Durham UK, LPG, inCase, Thirdfort, Dual Asset, Propertymark, Leap, Redbrick Solutions, Legal Eye and Howden.

The CA said it would be outlining details of its 2026 Annual Conference and Dinner shortly.

Nicky Heathcote, Non-Executive Chair of The Conveyancing Association, said:

“Set in the middle of the decade, half-way between 2020 and 2030 which has been identified as the point at which we could get a truly end-to-end digital conveyancing process, this year’s Conference was always going to be about the here and now, with tangible insights, support and advice for member firms to grow their businesses, and also with an eye firmly on the near future through a focus on technology and, particularly, AI.

“We hope that all those who attended felt the benefits of such an approach, with a raft of information available for member firms to use right now, specifically around how they price but also in key areas like marketing and recruitment. And a sustained delve into the current economic factors that are going to shape all our working lives over the course of this year.

“It was also important for us to recognise the huge, potential shift that greater usage of AI will bring, and attendees will I hope have been enthused by the opportunities that exist if we embrace this and also the checks and balances that need to be in place in order to fully benefit.

“We would like to thank all those who both attended the Conference and Dinner, and our sponsors and exhibitors without whom we couldn’t have delivered such a successful day. It’s also important to us to support our chosen charity, The Children’s Society, as much as possible so thank you to everyone who donated money on the day.

“The CA’s Conference is always about providing real benefits, tangible advice and plenty of food for thought for everyone who attends, and we hope and believe that was achieved in Manchester. Our meetings in 2025, and our next Conference in early 2026, will seek to build on this fantastic event and we’re looking forward to engaging with existing and new members on this as the year progresses.”