The Connells Group has expanded the management team of its Home Conveyancing panel management division by appointing Rani Sohi as Legal Panel Manager. Rani is an experienced conveyancer who will be supporting Conveyancing Services Director Roger Wilson and Conveyancing Sales Director May Thorn. She has previously worked with Countrywide Property Lawyers.
“I am delighted to take up the role of Legal Panel Manager for Connells Group and looking forward to working with its panel of law firms,” says Rani. “As part of my role here at Connells Home Conveyancing, I will be responsible for improving the delivery of our conveyancing service via the branches and ensuring customer service levels are maintained and, where possible, exceeded.”
Large estate agents have become an increasingly large source of referrals to conveyancers as Connells and other large estate agents have acquired estate agents throughout the recession. It therefore is not a surprise that Connells have decided to invest in their successful conveyancing team as they expand their market share. Committing to making the home moving process as straightforward as it can be Roger Wilson said “In the current market conditions, customers are more focused on achieving exchange of contracts as quickly as possible. Rani appreciates all the boulders that can be blocking the runway and will act as a useful point of escalation for our panel firms and branches.
I understand that many cynical lawyers will read this article feeling that large volume referred conveyancing is never in the client’s best interest however having been a panel manager and having worked with many estate agents I know that you can improve client service and satisfaction considerably in a way conveyancers have failed to do without panel managers generally. I wish Rani all the best of success in her new role.
Connells have recently acquired the Licensed Conveyancer Be Legal Property Lawyers in Burton on Trent part of the Birchall Edwards estate agency group adding to their success with the licensed conveyancer Conveyancing Direct in Hastings. Through its own wholly owned conveyancing companies Conveyancing Direct and BE Legal, Connells probably completes on 0.5% of all conveyancing transactions in the UK. The bulk of referrals from Connells continue to be panelled. Connells also own a stake in the panel manager LMS which owns its own licensed conveyancer.
Rani will have influence over a considerable amount of conveyancing referrals and also the Connells view of which firms are delivering the best performance for Connells.
Connells have also confirmed that they intend to implement a new panel management system developed by TM Group across their panel during 2012.
