The nominees are in. The tension builds. The red carpet gets hoovered, and evening dress is dry cleaned. But who will be the winners at the star studded event in March 2022?

I’m not talking about the Oscars, by the way. I’m referring to the British Conveyancing Awards which take place in London on 15th March. Once again I was delighted to be asked to be a judge for these awards. It’s always a bit of a double edged sword. It’s very time consuming and quite intense, but it is also incredibly inspiring.

For anyone who has done this kind of judging, you’ll know what I mean when I say time consuming. Today’s Media who run these awards have worked really hard to optimise the tech we use for reading the submissions and marking each response to a specific question. However it still takes ten or fifteen minutes to properly review a submission. With over twenty to review across three categories, it effectively needs a full working day to do it justice.

As always, though, the effort is worthwhile.

It’s not often you are effectively forced to sit at your desk and look at how great some law firms are. And they are… truly great in so many ways.

It was wonderful to read about firms who care for each other and for their communities. It was fantastic to hear about innovation in the conveyancing sector. A sector which over the last three years has probably faced more challenges than any other.

There were some themes which came across loud and clear. One of the main ones was that these firms understand the need for excellent client service, and they also understand that to achieve it involves a sophisticated union of process, people and technology. If any one of those elements is operating sub-optimally then the excellence for which these firms strive would be forever out of reach. They would fall short of the required standards, and it was inspirational to read about firms who simply would not accept that.

I’d add in my usual cautionary tale here for firms looking to make submissions for awards.

ALWAYS ANSWER THE QUESTION!

There were a few submissions which in many respects were impressive, but simply didn’t address the specific category questions in enough detail. I know from speaking to other judges that this is something the crops up every year.

So – a big thank you to the wonderful David Opie and Allie Jones of Today’s Media for giving me the chance to immerse myself in the conveyancing sector for a day, and for making the process as slick as possible. I’ll be donning my dinner suit for the 15th and waiting as eagerly as everyone else to hear the winners be announced. Maybe the winners should start being allowed to make Oscars-style acceptance speeches? Then again… maybe not!

Alex Holt, Director of Business Development.

Have a chat with Alex today here about how Cashroom can help you manage your finances.