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Major Conveyancing Firm GW Legal Shut Down on Friday 13th

Journalist: Justin Moy, Contributing Editor

ended 16. December 2024

The curse of Friday 13th struck again last week as GW Legal (fka Goldsmith Williams) was shut down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), with little chance of trading again.

With thousands of clients using their legal conveyancing services for current property transactions, including many Equity Release applicants, this significant announcement also affects hundreds of staff at the worst time of year.

With GW Legal featured on most lender conveyancing panels and preferred conveyancers for many specialist lenders, are there any lessons the legal and mortgage industries can take from this news?

What is the wider impact of lender-only work for conveyancing firms? Will the cost of any conveyancing be affected as a result?

Your comments on the news, and the wider implications on larger conveyancing firms in general, appreciated.

4 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Chris Barry
Director at Thomas Legal
It’s extremely serious that a firm of this size and experience can be shut down with no notice to staff or clients. My thoughts go out to all impacted by this at what is meant to be an enjoyable time of year. The ripple effects will be far and wide, particularly around PII. Insurers will likely look at this and reduce their already very cautious appetite to risk by either more refusals to insure in the residential conveyancing space or increasing premiums. This will squeeze margins further for many firms and highlight the point that clients and property professionals should work with firms who charge reasonable fees, together will exceptional technical expertise.
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David Robinson
Co-Founder at Wildcat Law
The current conveyancing process is a house of cards that is beginning to fall flat. The drive to the bottom on conveyancing fees left the industry precariously balanced. For years now the industry has failed to service clients or practitioners correctly. To become a panel conveyancer you have to jump through a series of meaningless paperwork and certification hoops, none of which have improved the outcomes for clients or prevented firm failures. In fact by driving up compliance costs they have contributed towards business failures whilst deterring new entrants. It is time for a serious view of the market by lenders as only they can help drive the changes needed to cease the decline before the conveyancing bottleneck really starts to prevent any movement in the property market.
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Michelle Lawson
Director at Lawson Financial
This will be a Christmas hangover nobody wants and is sad news for the staff and all customers involved. There should be no need for panic as there are processes in place for consumers in such situations but it's terrible timing for all involved. GW Legal have been in the industry a long time and is on many lenders' panels for tied legal work. This is yet another reason for lenders to open up these panels to allow other firms to be checked so consumers are not left high and dry on such important transactions.
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Editor
Justin Moy
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
It's a huge shame to see a firm of this stature within our mortgage industry fall on its sword so quickly. Larger conveyancing firms certainly have a place for much of the volume-driven aspects of our business but with slim margins and the ever-increasing workloads for conveyancers, this may be the low point needed to change the conveyancing model, and client expectations on price and service, too.