The Digital Conveyancing Maturity Index was released this year. Designed to spotlight the adoption of technology by conveyancing firms, it helps them to understand where they are on their journey and how they compare to industry peers. The Index is a valuable new resource for law firms looking to learn and benchmark their progress. Breaking down results across each element of the conveyancing process, it enables firms to truly understand where opportunities exist and where they are performing well.
The Digital Maturity Scores measured by the Index are compiled by assessing a firm’s processes and available tools from the least to most digital options. To put this in context, the average Digital Maturity Score across all the firms that participated was 43%.
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Bell Lamb & Joynson secured the third highest-ranking in the index, of over 200 firms that took part, reaching a remarkable 86%. InfoTrack spoke with Bell Lamb & Joynson’s Managing Partner, Mike Leeman to discover what the firm is doing that helped them to achieve this impressive score.
Get to know Bell Lamb & Joynson
Bell Lamb & Joynson Solicitors is one of North West England’s longest-operating law firms, opening in 1821. Between a trio of offices in Liverpool, Runcorn, and Warrington, the firm specialises in Criminal law, Family law, Conveyancing, Wills and Probate, and more. Bell Lamb & Joynson has around 60 staff, including six partners, who have embraced digitisation with unbridled enthusiasm. Their business is focused around "putting our clients’ experience and journey first,” and technology plays a key role in delivering against this expectation.
Bell Lamb & Joynson’s ‘why’
The team at Bell Lamb & Joynson describe themselves as “advocates of digital transformation within the legal sector.” Their focus is based on the improvement of the conveyancing process for all parties. An emphasis on building strong and effective relationships with clients is supported by technology across every stage of the process. As Mike tells us:
“From this comes better customer service and higher productivity. As the team spends less time doing administrative tasks, the client has a better experience with us, which leads to happier clients and more satisfied staff.”
What helped Bell Lamb & Joynson to become high performers?
Bell Lamb & Joynson significantly exceeded the industry average scores in every area of the Digital Maturity Index. For Bell Lamb & Joynson, it all begins the moment a prospective client engages with them: from quoting to lead management and through to onboarding, they’ve digitised the entire process. Mike comments that:
“Using technology as an enabler, we are helping our conveyancing clients have a better experience when buying a property.”
From digital TA forms, ID verification and Opening Banking, to dedicated apps and websites, Bell Lamb & Joynson’s team are using technology to minimise administrative processes so they can spend more time focusing on clients. This also results in better risk management for their team and they’re introducing digital onboarding across other areas of the business, including Family Law and Wills and Probate.
Automation plays a key role in Bell Lamb & Joynson’s high ranking too. From Lender updates to reporting on title, they’re using technology to do the heavy lifting so the team can make maximum use of their expertise. Taking this a step further, they ensure everything is integrated with their CMS (Case Management Software). This is key, from pre-population and automated return of documents and results to the matter to having a single source of truth across the firm, CMS integration was crucial in Bell Lamb & Joynson’s impressive results.
Striving for digital-first
Bell Lamb & Joynson are early adopters, making the conscious decision in 2016 to leverage technology and become a digital first law firm. Mike says the firms “loves change and trying new ways of working, being prepared to fail fast if it doesn’t.” The investment has been a worthwhile exercise, with the firm growing their conveyancing department by 19% in 2022. Across the board, they’ve seen a 36% increase in their annual turnover in the last 12 months with growth from repeat business, referrals, and their online presence.
The power of partnerships
Bell Lamb & Joynson attribute part of this success to their choice of technology providers and the seamless integration between them. It’s not only the partnerships between their providers though, but the collaborative approach with clients too.
“We will continue to evolve the digital journey for our clients, we will continually refine and improve it so that it allows us to work smarter and not harder,” adds Mike.
Engaging in extensive beta testing, using client feedback, and by being open to making mistakes along the way, Bell Lamb & Joynson have continually improved their processes with tangible results for the firm, their staff, and their clients.
Recommendations for their peers
When we asked what Mike and the team would recommend to other law firms looking to optimise their digital conveyancing process, they were clear that getting everyone on board is crucial. Mike said:
“As a champion, you can only do so much on your own. Your team will help you to test, test, and test again, to ensure the technology is fit for them and your clients.”
The result is better customer service, higher productivity as the team spends less time doing administrative tasks, and the client has a better experience with us, which leads to happier clients and more satisfied staff.
About the author
Digital Conveyancing Summit
The Digital Conveyancing Summit provides conveyancers with a hub of leading-edge sector knowledge all packed in informative and comprehensive articles and interviews, offering guidance, best practice and food for thought around how technology can help us work smarter.