Take a moment to consider how your law firm wins business. How many clients come to you because of your reputation or sales and marketing efforts, and how many are off the back of estate agency or developer referral fees? If the split is markedly skewed toward the latter, this article could be for you.

Following the recent scrutiny on referral fees, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) announced its plans to review the process in early 2026. Whilst no one yet knows if this will result in an outright ban, a cap on fees or more transparency to clients, if your CLC-governed business relies heavily on referrals for generating new business, it may be time to start researching alternative avenues to ensure you’re prepared for whatever the review concludes. As the practice is currently under the spotlight, SRA-regulated firms should also consider reviewing their referral fees procedures, whilst we appreciate it is trickier with all the limitations on how you can market.

Adam Bainbridge claims that as many as 80% of instructions come from estate agents. Though this may be considered by many as an overzealous estimation, referrals from estate agents and developers are standard practice and have been embedded in the industry for years. For the busy law firm, it may feel like a quick win with very little effort. For the smaller law firm without the luxury of a big marketing budget, it’s an easy route to a steady stream of instructions. However, reliance on referrals is limiting your lead generation capabilities.

What’s more, paying out huge commissions can eat into your margins. Todays Conveyancer found that many companies charge over £400 in commission for a single conveyancing referral. Some firms cover referral fees by raising their own service charges. The fact that most clients accept the price shows that they’re prepared to pay more for your service even without referral fees, highlighting an opportunity to increase your pricing. This is something we always advocate for at TwentyConvey, as we believe conveyancers are hugely undercharging for their service.

For law firms that rely heavily on referral arrangements, the review could create disruption. However, according to First4Lawyers, buyers now seem to be moving away from relying solely on recommendations or referrals. They actively research conveyancers online and seek out a law firm that will help guide them through the complicated process. First4Lawyers believes that firms that are responsive, visible online, and transparent will speak to and win business from the next generation of homeowners. This turning of the tide suggests that it might be time to shake up your lead generation methods if you want to be successful with the younger generation of homemovers. People are savvy to referrals and rely heavily on the internet to find and vet their own conveyancer. They’ll shop around and compare conveyancing solicitor quotes. To back this up, a 2024 report by The HomeOwners Alliance found that one in five people now begin their search for a conveyancer online.

It’s interesting to ponder if abolishing the fees would create a level playing field for all conveyancing firms? Would it add pressure to find new lead sources in an already stressed-out industry? Or would it drive referrals back underground where they once were?

There’s also the elephant in the room - that referral fees can cause a conflict of interest. Are conveyancers being referred to because of the kickback or because they’re the best at the job? In this article, we will look at other forms of lead generation that can yield the same impressive ROI as referrals. We discuss how you can work on improving your lead generation if you have to, or would like to, move away from referrals.

Other routes to winning conveyancing work

Conveyancers are not natural salespeople; we understand that. You didn’t become a solicitor to get into sales after all! However, the truth is that you do need to become better at marketing your law firm. We understand that your time is precious and the last thing you need is more work. You’re also working to tight margins, so an added marketing cost is not going to be welcomed either. Unless you have the budget to outsource your marketing or hire a specialised marketing person, the only solution is to select marketing solutions that offer quick wins.

Here are some suggested alternatives to referral fees:

Improve the client experience:

• Master the art of the initial quote - if the homemover rang you, they’re well on the way to becoming a client
• Promptly follow up on any quote enquiries - according to ConveyancerPlus, law firms that follow up within 15 minutes of a quote request are 2.7 times more likely to convert it to an instruction
• Communicate to clients more often – a weekly check-in goes a long way!
• Simplify and explain everything – the public continues to prove they don’t understand the process so it’s your job to effectively ‘hold their hand’
• Invest in client communication tools – client portals are a great way to keep communication lines open and transparent
• Reposition your law firm not as a hurdle but as a means to protect the buyer and seller’s investment – prove your worth!
• Invest in your team to train them on customer service – there are some great trainers that can support. Take a look at Clare Yates Training

Improve your digital marketing

• Enhance your website – improve the usability of your website and ensure you have lead capture tools like a quote calculator, quote form and fee list
• Post on socials – be more visible online, showcase your staff and post opinions on property market trends
• Improve your SEO – work on including keywords movers search for when looking for a conveyancer
• Create content – ask each solicitor to write up a blog or case study, answer regularly asked questions from clients and comment on the latest laws or economic climate

Collect reviews and testimonials

• Use sites like Trustpilot, Google Reviews and Reviewsolicitors
• Ask satisfied customers to review – if you don’t ask, you don’t get!

Keep in contact with your clients

• Follow up with clients post move – ask for feedback to improve
• Send out a regular e-newsletter with stats on the property market to stay top of mind

How can TwentyConvey help?

We have a client retention tool that is easy to use and takes up very little of your time. Every day, we’ll send you our Convey Alerts. These are notifications telling you when your former clients have relisted their properties for sale. You reach out to them via a quick phone call or email, offering your services again. It’s a warm lead. The client is familiar with your law firm and is likely to be grateful for you proactively reaching out to offer help in their new possible sale and purchase.

Client retention is tricky for conveyancers because of how infrequent house moving can be. Our alerts make client retention a breeze. We carried out an analysis of how many clients reuse the previous law firm when they next move. Shockingly, only 11% do! Our tool can help you to boost your client retention rates. There’s little selling to do, you simply reach out to an old client and reintroduce yourself. It’s a quick win for business leads. In the Legal Services Consumer Panel Tracker Survey 2025, 86% of people surveyed were satisfied with the service of their conveyancer and 90% were satisfied with the outcome. That means there’s little reason that the client would not return to you, should you reach out to them to offer your services.

We can also help you provide market stats for newsletters, social posts or client updates to keep your former clients engaged. Our tool, Convey Insights, gives valuable insights into market performance and lets you track how your law firm is performing in terms of market share and transaction speed.

If your firm holds the largest market share in a region or completes transactions faster than competitors, you can highlight this in your marketing, on your website, social channels or when speaking to prospective clients. People trust results and demonstrating that you handle the most instructions or transact efficiently carries real credibility. The tool also helps you identify high-growth regions, showing where to focus your efforts for maximum lead generation.

Speed remains one of the biggest pain points for homemovers, with the slow transaction timescales causing much frustration. Our tool tells you how fast you transact, so you can showcase it to clients and stand out from the competition. It also allows you to be transparent from the outset, so the client understands just how long the process is likely to take.

Final thoughts

Conveyancing fees should be higher to reflect the work you do and the risk you take on. Your margins are already squeezed in this price-driven market. If referral fees are removed from the equation and this extra cost is retained by the law firm, you’ll be well on the way to being paid more fittingly for your service. Higher fees and a lower file count should then lead to better service. But how do you source business if referrals are no longer an option?

Your law firm must be proactive to find its own leads and nurture them. Relying on referral fees may have been the traditional way to bring in new business, but it’s no longer necessarily the most sustainable or profitable path for conveyancers. Instructions should be won based on merit and service standards. By embracing smarter strategies, you can build a pipeline that’s both resilient and reputation-led.

Work hard to create a satisfied base of customers to ensure clients return naturally and refer you to family and friends. According to Access Legal's The State of the UK Conveyancing Market 2025, clients expect three things from their law firm: communication, professionalism and fee transparency. Keep this in mind if you want to create a strong reputation.

It’s hard for a client to judge if a conveyancer is good. That’s why social proof is so important. People now like to scroll through reviews from previous clients to get an idea of the worth of the conveyancer before committing. Work on collecting these reviews from happy clients. This can all be automated by email, requiring very little effort from you.

The firms that win in the long term will be those that take control of their own growth, rather than leaving it in the hand of third parties. Smarter business development not only reduces reliance on referrals but also strengthens client trust and positions your firm as the go-to choice in an increasingly competitive market.

It will be interesting to see the result of the CLC review. Should referral fees become less attractive, other streams of lead generation will be in demand. Now is the time to act to find alternative ways to source new business to stay ahead and be prepared for whatever the outcome should be. Who knows? You may find a lead generation source that works better and instead of paying out hundreds in commission, those additional fees remain firmly in your law firm’s bank account.