Major UK player, OchreSoft Technologies Ltd [1], have engaged the services of Lawyer Checker in order to provide the ultimate in best practice to all Conveyancers using their Intelliworks workflow solutions. Used by 160 UK law firms, the software offers effective and low-cost case management for today’s modern law firm.
The message being shouted out from the rooftops by Lawyer Checker is that ‘prevention is protection’. Users of the Intelliworks software now have access to the comprehensive set of checks that Lawyer Checker carries out; with its Account and Entity check system giving enhanced due diligence to any law firm who employs its use.
Built in the wake of vendor conveyancer fraud, where a growing number of cases have had purchase funds lost to sophisticated criminals, the Lawyer Checker database has been created to demonstrate whether or not an account has had a track record of successful use within conveyancing.
The need to perform such a check is becoming increasingly relevant given the changing landscape of the legal sector. In 2012 the SRA issued a warning not to rely on its own list of solicitors “as verification that the firm is genuine” when criminals managed to register themselves on this list in order to gain a further badge of legitimacy in a fake transaction.
Thanks to the integration of Lawyer Checker a firm and its conveyancers will now be able to perform a Lawyer Checker check at the click of a button.
Pauline Freegard, Business Development Director of OchreSoft explains why Lawyer Checker was such a good fit with their Intelliworks legal workflow product for Conveyancing and Private Client:
“Law firms are increasingly concerned about risk; OchreSoft has always built compliance and risk-management into everything we do. Intelliworks makes best practice part of everyday process, to reduce risk and increase compliance.
We know that fraud detection and prevention is a high priority for our customers, including the ability to prove compliance through full audit trails. Lawyer Checker is an important part of that integrated approach so we build it into our comprehensive Conveyancing and Private Client legal workflows. “
With the ammunition of the risk management capabilities Lawyer Checker provides in this battle against fraudsters, law firms and conveyancers can be assured Lawyer Checker will further mitigate the potential risk for a firm’s clients.
Prevention is protection in the commercial sense too; it helps reduce the risk of possible professional negligence claims thus limiting the potential for increased PI insurance premiums as well as reputation damage to the individual law firm.
Due diligence requires all solicitors and conveyancers to check the firm that they are sending monies to. Checking the roll of solicitors is no longer enough. OchreSoft have recognised this and the need to both reassure the conveyancer themselves and the purchaser who they represent. Lawyer Checker offers peace of mind to both the legal practitioner and the client, whether borrower or lender. Its introduction has been developed to reduce uncertainty in an uncertain era for conveyancers and purchasers alike.