Davies: Sincere apologies
Lloyd Davies, the high-profile licensed conveyancer we revealed this week has been permanently disqualified, is now in the process of transferring his shares in his firm, it has confirmed.
Though only just published, the decision of the Council for Licensed Conveyancers’ (CLC) adjudication panel was made over a month ago and it followed Mr Davies, the founder and then managing director of Convey Law in South Wales, admitting to multiple charges, including that he had acted dishonestly and without integrity.
He did not tell 302 apprentices and students that his training academy had first had its official approval suspended and then, some months later, removed altogether – and indeed continued to publicise its approval by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), which accredits CLC courses.
As a result, any work they did for their qualifications from that point was rendered worthless.
According to Companies House, Mr Davies resigned as a director of Convey Law in December, but he is still listed as having “significant influence or control” over the business, alongside his wife, Tracey.
Though one of six remaining directors, she is not believed to be active in the business.
A statement from the directors of Convey Law said: “The share transfer in Convey Law is with the CLC and the board run the company, which Lloyd is no longer a part of.”
Since Legal Futures broke the news of his disqualification, Mr Davies has issued a statement entitled “My apologies to the conveyancing profession”, in which he hit out at the “incompetent and draconian actions of both the SQA and the CLC”, as a result of which “only 18 of the 224 licensed conveyancer apprentices that the academy had secured funding for in 2021 have gone on to qualify”.
He accused the SQA of “illegally” suspending The Conveyancing Academy’s approval, pointing out also that it had told him its investigation was confidential.
He said the CLC prosecution was “neither proportionate or fair” and that, because he was “in no way confident of a fair trial… I agreed to surrender my licensed conveyancer practising license” so as to exonerate the colleague who was prosecuted with him. All charges against her were dropped.
Legal Futures has asked Mr Davies why he did not challenge the SQA suspension if it was illegal, why he did not change the way the academy was marketed during that period (having been told not to say it was SQA approved), and on what basis he did not think he would get a fair trial.
However, Convey Law said he was “otherwise disposed at the moment” with a family matter.
His statement concluded: “It comes as a great relief to no longer be regulated by the CLC and I wish my colleagues at Convey Law all the very best for the future.
“My sincere apologies again to everyone effected (sic) by these chronic events. Thank you to my colleagues and friends for their support and love throughout some very dark and difficult times over the course of the last five years.”
A CLC spokeswoman said Mr Davies’s actions “damaged the education of many trainee licensed conveyancers who were working hard to achieve their ambitions to enter the legal profession”.
She continued: “It brought into disrepute the reputation of the profession of which he was a member and harmed the efforts of so many to increase the numbers of qualified licensed conveyancers.
“It is always regrettable to have to take such action, but we are satisfied with the outcome and grateful to those who stepped forward to assist.
“The adjudication panel that makes disciplinary and enforcement decisions based on allegations prepared by the CLC is independent in its decision-making.
“It has accepted the agreement reached by Mr Davies and the CLC and would have heard the allegations had the case proceeded without an agreement. The published decision sets out the agreed facts of the case.”
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