2011 Q3 Conveyancing Periodical - Smart(er) Legal Services?

October 2011

by Phillip Oldcorn

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A couple of weeks ago my Dad came round so that we could suffer England's first Rugby World Cup game together.  The moral support we were able to provide each other carried us through, once again.

After cold towels and collective sighs of relief Dad lifted out his new Kindle e-reader and I sat and watched in wonder as my nine- year old daughter proceeded to set it up for him in less than an hour.

I am not sure why this came as a surprise.  Every other Saturday, my children (the other is six) Skype their six and nine year old friends in Sydney.  And both are real dab hands with the 'happy snappy', taking pictures of Mummy and Daddy on family holidays and then photoshopping them when we get home.

By this juncture, I suspect many readers will be wondering what this has to do with conveyancing.  Well, there is a definite connection.

You may have heard that First Title became a solicitor PII insurer in October.  Our products will be targeted at good quality solicitors, whom we welcome with open arms.  After all, conveyancing of the highest quality is what the whole industry is after - not to mention any member of the general public who is trying to buy or sell a residential property.

So, over the last year or so I have been reviewing conveyancing claims, particularly the most expensive ones we encounter which, unsurprisingly, involve mortgage fraud.

Most claims that we see are not the result of conveyancers getting tricky areas of law wrong.  They are the result of clerical mistakes in the office, and by being sucked into mortgage fraud inadvertently by borrowers and their advisers.  These cases are often tragic domestic situations where desperate people behave badly, leaving their professional adviser to try to piece together the evidence that they discharged their fiduciary duty later, as the situation unravels. 

Too often this occurs where clients do not physically meet the solicitor or Independent Legal Advisor, face-to-face. 

We are not alone in the UK. These claim patterns are entirely consistent with the experiences I recall from my time fighting mortgage fraud in Australia and New Zealand. The last three fraud cases of which we have been notified have involved a husband mortgaging the family home and defrauding the wife; or children  mortgaging their parents' house to fund gambling or  drug debts.  All very amateur.

So last weekend, during the household electronic media fest, it occurred to me that technology has a potentially very useful part to play in combating mortgage fraud.  My thoughts went like this:

  1. Why don't we take a photograph of the client as they sign the deeds?* 
  2. Where signing isn't attended, why not have the witness take the photo?  
  3. Why not take one of the witness signing too? 

With a Smartphone  all this can be  done in a flash and instantly emailed to the office.  Finally, why don't we Skype the Independent Legal Adviser as the client meets them to sign the deeds? 

Can you imagine the improvement in your position and that of your PII insurer if you could lift out photos of the people who did execute the deed? 

I can hear the siren calls from the technophobes already, as you open up this (electronic!) newsletter.  My answer: don't even try. Get the nearest teenager to do it for you instead. It will be worth the Christmas bonus if they do nothing else for you all year.

 

*Bearing in mind the consideration of Data Protection implications

Phillip Oldcorn is a non-practising solicitor and worked in private practice before joining First Title plc in 1995. After establishing First Title in the UK, he spent two years with First Title in Australia before returning in May 2005 to develop the European market. Phillip is now Senior Vice-President for FAF International, a trading style for First Title Insurance plc in Europe and Turkey, focusing on new products and new markets. 

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