Law Society of Scotland announces partnership to develop e-conveyancing platform

The Law Society of Scotland has formed a partnership with the ESPC (Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre) andBDP Estate Agency Software, to deliver a one-stop-shop digital platform for property solicitors.

The online system, Altis, which is due to go live this spring, aims to speed up the Scottish conveyancing process as well as provide a secure and transparent environment to store all the information relating to clients and their properties.

It follows an attempt to implement a similar system south of the border which failed so badly the Law Society of England and Wales had to scrap it – at an estimated cost of £7 million to its members according to The Brief.

Lorna Jack, chief executive of the Law Society, said: “We can see huge potential benefits in having an e-conveyancing platform and we know there is appetite for this among the profession. Recent legislation allowing solicitors to use electronic signatures on documents alongside the rollout of the Law Society digital Smartcard, which all solicitors will have in the next few months, means there is an opportunity to introduce an online service which will help to speed up conveyancing processes as well as providing an accurate and fully accountable system, benefitting both solicitors and their clients.

“We launched an open tender process in April last year to source a suitable product that would meet the needs of property solicitors and I am delighted to announce our partnership with Altis. We are looking forward to working with them in the final development stages of this new service for our membership.”

The system follows a similar project south of the border – Veyo – which has not fared well. A spokesperson from the Law Society said they were aware of that system’s failings.

“But where Veyo was starting from scratch and required significant development and investment to break into what was a new market, Altis is more advanced in its development. Altis is a different product from Veyo. Right from the start, Scottish conveyancers have been involved in the creation of Altis and we believe it is a service that our membership will benefit from,” she said.

Paul Hilton, ESPC chief executive, said: “We are very pleased to be working in partnership with the Law Society of Scotland in developing an online property platform which could potentially change the landscape of the Scottish conveyancing process.

“Altis is different to other e-conveyancing platforms. It has been developed with Scottish conveyancers and we have a working platform that is ready to launch throughout Scotland in spring this year.

“The feedback so far from solicitors testing the platform, along with input from other key stakeholders including Registers of Scotland and the Council of Mortgage Lenders has been excellent. This thorough testing has allowed Altis to create a product and service that meets the needs of conveyancers all over Scotland.

“The system we have created offers an unrivalled level of capability. Not only has it been carefully designed to be user friendly, it has the ability to greatly improve risk management, assuring all parties of a secure and supported experience.

“Our commitment to improving the efficiency of the conveyancing process extends beyond our ESPC membership and we look forward to working with the SPCs and conveyancers across Scotland to allow them to benefit from this intuitive online system.”