These are interesting times for conveyancing solicitors. Over recent years, our area of business has been under intense pressure, but that could change.

Firstly, the case management nature of the transaction has seen moves to commoditise our services. The ubiquitous nature of the internet seeing conveyancing services piled high and sold cheap.

Then, as the debate around the imminent arrival of Home Reports started to rage, conveyancing solicitors were accused of being protectionist and against the new system, when collectively we had already solved many of the problems the single survey element of the report aims to correct.

And, right now, the law firms with property services are the ones feeling the strains of the credit crunch.

Yet, conversely, in the current economic climate, the value of the expert conveyancing solicitor has never been more important and as a result we, at least, are seeing the role re-establishing itself in the eyes of clients.

With the property market as it is, knowledge of the market, knowing what price to offer and negotiation skills are once again becoming more valuable. People are buying people as they re-evaluate what is ‘best value’ and what they want out of a legal adviser in a property transaction. Legal expertise is again being recognised as more than just case management.

Conveyancing is pillar of strength for many of law firms to build upon and if our backs have been against the wall, perhaps this is the time to show our true worth.