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I'm afraid the world is changing - I accept not for the better - and some of you are going to be left standing.

The driving force in changing conveyancing is technology. This is the 'lower case' factor that those of you here who are complaining can't escape from. Computerisation changed conveyancing forever. Then from about 2004 onward, e-mails began a revolution in property work to the point where, by about 2010, the transaction time (offer acceptance to exchange) in a straight-forward house purchase had decreased from an average of 2/3 months to 1 month. Almost everything is now done by e-mail. Lawyers no longer send each other pieces of paper sealed in envelopes, sent hundreds of miles in vans and trains, on which is printed, "We would like to complete next Thursday the 10th.. Will this be convenient for your client?" Those days are over.

I think the mistake that was made by the profession and the technologists, was to assume that the next stage would be full-spectrum digitisation and automation. While this is possible with current technology, it isn't quite practicable or commercial due to certain complexities in conveyancing.

In fact, the next revolution will be the development of analogue systems that allow consumers (yes, I called them consumers) and conveyancers to self-direct house sales and purchases using simplified on-screen transactional software. If developed to its full potential, 'analogisation' will make most of the administrative aspects of the legal work effectively redundant, and in many cash purchases, there will be no need even for lawyers. But it will not make lawyers completely redundant as mortgage lenders will still want the assurance of title certification, so a specialist professional role will remain in the process.

The Veyo system was a flawed attempt at analogisation. It didn't work for a number of reasons - mainly to do with the commercial model. I would argue that only a devolved commercial model can work - and I am currently developing such a system and business process.