Lawyers diversify to offset fall in conveyancing
A slump in sales of residential dwellings is having less impact on lawyers than it may have had several years ago as many law firms have reduced their exposure to conveyancing.
An article in the latest issue of the New Zealand Law Society’s fortnightly magazine LawTalk reports that national residential conveyancing fees are down an estimated $12 million – or 16% - on the same time last year.
LawTalk says the fall in sales is hitting all parts of New Zealand, although regions such as Taranaki are doing better than other places such as Marlborough.
The owner of conveyancing service KeyTrack New Zealand Ltd, Auckland lawyer Richard Galbraith, is quoted as saying law firms around the country are finding there has been a big fall in the revenue coming from the conveyancing and property sides of their practice.
A partner at Hastings law firm Kelly McNeil, Margaret Wellwood, says she has seen many lawyers reducing their dependence on conveyancing work.
“She says there is an ageing population throughout New Zealand and many lawyers have found they are able to replace conveyancing work with providing assistance to their older clients through restructuring their affairs or working on moving to a retirement environment,” LawTalk says.
“David Roughan at Whangarei’s Northlaw says the shift away from conveyancing has been into estates, trusts and the fast-developing field of Elder Law.”
The magazine says Richard Galbraith believes that most legal practices around New Zealand have made an effort over the past decade to reduce the percentage of conveyancing to total turnover, to counter exposure to market downturns.
LawTalk estimates New Zealand residential conveyancing fees for the first eight months of 2010 at $61.6 million. While this is well behind the same time in 2009, it is slightly ahead of estimated fees of $61.1 million in 2008. LawTalk says this is “a massive $44 million behind the same time in the boom year of 2007.”