Conveyancing Direct ceases trading

Glasgow law firm Conveyancing Direct has ceased to practise. The Law Society of Scotland was appointed to access all the files and documents at the volume property firm on Friday 12 November.

Transactions involving Conveyancing Direct which had not already concluded were unable to settle on Friday. 

In a statement the Society said: "We understand this is a very worrying time for clients of the firm and our team will be working as quickly as possible to assess and address the situation to protect clients.

"We would advise any clients who are due to settle a transaction for a house sale to appoint a new solicitor who should contact the Law Society regarding the position."

The Society will seek authorisation for an intervention from the Client Protection Committee when the statutory grounds set out in the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980 appear to be met. It said that in this case, once that point was reached, it acted very quickly to protect the public by intervening to secure the books and records of Conveyancing Direct.

Update as at 17 November 2021: 

Graeme McCormick, the co-founder of Conveyancing Direct, has contacted the Journal to say that he is owner of the business name, which was used by Martine Bisiaux under licence from Mr McCormick.

He stated: "That licence to use was revoked by Mr McCormick when Ms Bisiaux failed to respond to Mr McCormick’s proposals for her to continue the business with additional support.

"The business was profitable until Ms Bisiaux abandoned it, which caused the Law Society to intervene at Mr McCormick’s request."

He added: "It is immensely sad that as it approaches its 25th anniversary the business my wife, Susanne and I established with Sabina Donegan has been brought down.

"Conveyancing Direct as we managed it changed house purchase and sale dramatically for Scottish consumers. Terms of business were introduced before they became compulsory; a short plain English missive removed some of the mystery of conveyancing; a 25 hour week for staff with no loss of salary was widely welcomed; but most of all we saved the Scottish consumers millions of pounds with our exceptionally modest legal fees.

"We made a good profit throughout my tenure in charge.”

Mr McCormick is considering a new venture with the name "Conveyancing Direct".