associate news

From constant e-mails and phone calls to colleagues asking questions and requesting spontaneous ‘quick catch ups’, it sometimes seems like the single most prominent part of work is interruption. Add a pandemic into the mix and new interruptions brought about by remote working – such as Zoom meetings, deliveries and dogs barking – and it can quickly feel like you’re fighting a losing battle.

The current Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) holiday has helped deliver a property market stimulus that has far outweighed the immediate response to the 2007/08 financial crisis, according to new analysis by Search Acumen, the property data and insight provider.

Every day The National Will Register locates Wills that were thought not to exist. In 2020, 20% of Certainty Will Searches resulted in a Will being located where the estate was presumed intestate or a later Will being discovered that would supersede the Will being used to distribute the estate.

Organisations are faced with exorbitant costs collecting, processing, analysing, and reviewing data triggered by regulatory and legal matters. Rising data volumes and frequency of litigation and regulatory oversight have forced these organisations to respond by hiring more people, which isn’t a winning long-term strategy.

Inheritance lending specialist Tower Street Finance has launched a dispute funding product with a £30m funding line for its panel of inheritance dispute lawyers.

For many conveyancers, the practice of preparing a Report on Title is an onerous task and one that hasn’t changed for over 30 years, still dependent upon word documents which require editing in every single case. But it doesn’t have to be that way.  

It is widely recognised that the legal profession has a diversity problem. Around 21% of solicitors and 34% of barristers attended fee-paying schools, compared to 7% of the general population. More than half have parents with degree-level qualifications, compared to 19% in the general population.

Tim Suiter is the product manager of DocsCorp’s document style and template applications. He works closely with law firms to help them create professional documents in less time. Here, he explains why every law firm needs its own house style to ensure every document is consistent and easy to work with.

On 30th April 2021, The British Conveyancing Awards announced which law firms, teams, individuals, and legal technology providers were shortlisted for the seventeen separate categories for this year’s awards. The judges have factored in the uncustomary nature of the past year, by considering how the nominated candidates have worked through such adversities to best support their staff and clients.

Throughout May, The National Will Register are holding their annual Free Will Registration Month which runs from Tuesday 4th May until Friday 4th June.