Volume is almost used as a disparaging term, says Richard Hinton, business development director at Property Direct, the direct conveyancing arm of major midlands law firm Shoosmiths.

He speaks from the firm's dedicated office, which is separated from the main Northampton office by a picturesque brook.But whether its called bulk, volume or direct conveyancing, estate agents' practice of outsourcing their conveyancing work in bulk has given leading law firms a way to tap in to the property boom by forging links with estate agents and lenders, and gain access to the property-crazed public.More than 170 people are employed in Property Direct's Northampton office, which has been enviously described by a rival as a 'showcase for bulk conveyancing'.Unlike longer-running bulk operations, such as remortgaging and debt collection, which have been contributing substantial amounts to firms' coffers for several years, bulk conveyancing is a long-term investment that is only now starting to return profits.Kevin Doolan, Eversheds' head of retail finance, chairs the Direct Conveyancing Association, a group with expansionist intentions.

It includes all the players in direct conveyancing.

Eversheds is a member, along with Hammond Suddards, Addleshaw Booth & Co, Shoosmiths, Walker Morris, Dibb Lupton Alsop, Denton Wilde Sapte (Milton Keynes) Countrywide Property Lawyers, Taylor Walton, McKeag & Co, Blacks, Bretherton Price Elgoods, EDC Lord & Co and Goldsmith Williams Golds.

Mr Doolan describes the line-up as a 'ready-made panel'.Eversheds and Shoosmiths now say they have started to harvest a profit.

Mr Doolan says the adventure was an 'act of faith' for the firm.

He adds: 'We have just turned the corner after two years, I am pleased and relieved to say.'While refusing to be pinned down, Lucce Damonne, head of Hammonds Direct, the direct conveyancing arm of Hammond Suddards, puts it more bluntly: 'I don't do anything if I can't make a profit .

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We have already made a substantial investment and anticipate making more investment [in Hammonds Direct].'Mr Doolan says that taking large chunks of property work was the only way larger firms like Eversheds could justify advising on domestic property deals.

The individual deals themselves are low value, typically £450 each.

So the big firms have to do more to make it worth their while.

'This is how the big firms got involved in conveyancing work,' he explains.It's all about process and efficiency, say the bulk providers.

Their centres are organised with military precision.

Eversheds' service is typical -- its Manchester and Cardiff-based telephone call centres are open seven days a week, from 9am to 8pm Monday to F riday and from 9.30am to 4pm over the weekend.

It employs 125 people and is fuelled by work fed to it by chains of estate agents and lenders, including the Bradford & Bingley, estate agency chain Arun and Legal & General.A recent government survey of the property market revealed that it takes 12 to 14 weeks from offer to completion of a property sale.

The direct conveyancers are cutting this time to an average of less than ten weeks, usually on a no sale, no fee basis.Operations are manned by a mix of paralegals and solicitors and are organised in teams.

At Eversheds, there is a roughly equal split between legally-qualified -- either solicitors or legal executives -- and non-qualified staff.

But Mr Doolan insists: 'We do have quite a high number of solicitors and are using technology.

It is not a question of de-skilling.'And performance-related bonuses may be looming on the horizon.

Asked whether his firm offers them, Mr Doolan says: 'We don't -- but we should.

It has not been necessary up to now.'One of the rewards of this kind of work, claim the lawyers involved, is receiving thank-you letters from happy clients.

They say it is something that doesn't happen in other areas.

Shoosmiths goes one better and says it receives flowers on a weekly basis.

Mr Hinton jokes that the Northampton reception sometimes resembles a funeral parlour.Mr Doolan describes the operation as 'client-oriented', insisting that they do not de-personalise the joy of buying a home.

'A third of people in the high street don't see their client,' he claims.Mr Hinton insists that the long hours and conveyor belt turnover do not mean that staff are forced to work in a battery farm.

Instead of rows of people on phones, the fresh-faced employees are organised into 'teams' working for each provider under a brightly-coloured banner in the open-plan office.

It is more like an advertising agency than a sweat shop.

'We have re-established conveyancing as a valued career path,' Mr Hinton proclaims rather grandly.And the sheer scale of the venture means that documents can be standardised.

A computer link with the Norwich Union gives many of the big bulk conveyancers access to a title repair service which patches up minor defects and cuts down man-power on searches which hit a snag.

It is technology like this that the firms see as the way forward.Like other service providers, the next step for the direct conveyancers is cyberspace.

It is only a matter of time before a deal is struck with Internet portals to link the legal operations to Web sites showcasing the properties on sale.Mr Damonne says he perceives a gradual move towards the 'commodotisation' of services, as they become bought and sold over the Internet like goods.

He warns: 'You ignore the advances of technology at your own peril.'Mr Doolan agrees, predicting a surge in demand for electronic on-line conveyancing.

'The Internet is the next big thing.

We are in negotiation with Internet sites and are interested in exploring opportunities.

They are generating a tremendous amount of work.

Plans are well advanced.

We have to be on-line.

People will expect to be able to go home and tap into the Internet when they buy a house.'The Bradford & Bingley and the Woolwich are just two big lenders that have been axing in-house jobs as they outsource more conveyancing.

But Mr Doolan explains: 'Lending institutions are going through an outsourcing phase at the moment.

It's cyclical.

I don't think anybody was going to do conveyancing for the public in-house.'So where does the main competition come from? With al l the major providers of direct conveyancing banded together there is an almost unnatural air of camaraderie between them, although they insist there is also healthy competition.And there is some dispute about whether the high street is the real battle-ground.

'Our competition is the high street,' says Mr Hinton in a particularly forthright way.Law society council member Tony Bogan is a property seller at Barber & Co Solicitors in west London.

He set up on his own after his firm was taken over by Hambro Countrywide.

He sees the bulk providers as a real threat to the high street.

He says: 'If it takes hold it will remove work from the high street.

The real issue is not what the high street or the volume conveyancers are in it for -- it is what effect will it have on the public interest.'While the volume providers are marketing their services as improving the poor service available on the high street, Mr Bogan insists it is the other way around: 'They don't provide a better service for a number of reasons.

Property markets are local.

If you wanted to know what is going on in Shepherds Bush, for example if you are buying in Shepherds Bush, you want a lawyer with local knowledge.'Mr Bogan says it will all come down to the solicitor's role in the home transfer process -- whether it is simply to execute the deal, or to provide a more overreaching service and ensuring the client's protection throughout the deal.

He maintains that lawyers play a key role in the transaction in providing independent advice, but by getting into bed with mortgage lenders and estate agents the big firms have compromised their impartiality.

He says: 'It's not healthy.

How can it give independent advice without conflict? I don't believe it's in the public interest.'But even so, he maintains that there is no future for conveyancing as a stand-alone product if estate agents and lenders, often the public's first port of call, will be giving all their work to firms in bulk.

He says high street conveyancers have to branch out, into financial services or property selling, so that they can be the first port of call.Anthony Ruane, head of Addleshaw's housing group in Leeds, says that the market is so big, there is no real competition.'For the volume conveyancers, the future is vast,' he says.

'There is a vast market out there.

We don't think it is being dealt with and we want to take advantage of that.

At the same time, consumers are becoming more demanding.'All the major players are agreed they are in it for the long-term, and are prepared to fight for market share.

And as the middle-men select their panels, it wouldn't be much of a gamble to guess whether these well- oiled machines will be the winners.