The Scottish Conveyancers Forum has four main aims:
- to work together to develop the practice of residential conveyancing and provision of property law throughout Scotland; and
- to work together on issues and projects of interest and concern to the practice of residential conveyancing and provision of property law.
- to respond to the needs of clients and consumers in relation to Scottish property law and practice
- to represent Scottish solicitors in relation to the provision of property law and practice
The Scottish Conveyancers Forum represents lawyers but our work benefits a much wider community:
- Jill Andrew, Coulters LLP
- Stewart Baillie, Macnabs LLP
- Professor Stewart Brymer OBE, Brymer Legal Limited (Consultant)
- Paul Carnan, Blaney Carnan Solicitors
- Struan Ferguson, Blackwood & Smith LLP (Chairperson)
- Ross Mackay, Coulters LLP (Consultant)
- Gemma McClelland, Macleod & MacCallum Limited
The Scottish Conveyancers Forum builds on (but does not replace) the success and efforts of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Conveyancers Forums to promote good practice and streamline the sale/purchase process. The Forum created the current Scottish Standard Clauses (Edition 5) which are used throughout the entire Scottish residential property market to continue the ongoing effort to simplify and speed up the missive process. The Forum seeks to develop a suite of residential conveyancing property styles to ensure that lawyers and their clients can all benefit from the standardisation of documents and procedures where possible.
By engaging with stakeholders involved in the property market, the Scottish Conveyancers Forum can offer an undiluted voice to, and representation for, property lawyers on issues affecting practice in a way which other bodies representing wider legal practice cannot.
For many consumers, buying and selling properties will often be one of the only times in their life where they need the specialist advice of a solicitor. A good conveyancing solicitor therefore requires not only the technical knowledge of property and contract law required to transact over property, but also the ability to distil that knowledge down into accessible advice for their clients. By proactively promoting best practice, the Scottish Conveyancers Forum aims to streamline the conveyancing process for the benefit of home buyers and sellers as well as the professionals involved.
The Scottish residential property sector plays an important part in the Scottish economy. There are over 2.5 million residential properties in Scotland and typically over 100,000 will change hands every year, in addition to tens of thousands of properties being mortgaged. The work of Scottish property lawyers facilitating these transactions is crucial to a vibrant property sector and underpins the work of the many other businesses and stakeholders involved in Scottish property. By engaging with other bodies involved in the sector, the Scottish Conveyancers Forum aims to ensure conveyancing practice responds to and influences developments in this important sector.
