Facilitating transfers of real estate has been the bread-and-butter of thousands of Ontario Lawyers for generations.

Demand for urban property has quickened the pace of deals, folding elevated risk into the mix as homebuyers forego home inspections and financing conditions to gain an edge in bidding wars. At the same time, new technologies reduce Lawyer-Client and Client-Lender face time, creating a changing dynamic in those relationships.

The electronic transmission of transaction information between lenders and lawyers saves time and money, prevents communication lapses, and allows those lawyers who are willing to adopt new approaches to interaction to handle more deals. Also, pressure to adopt new technological supports is coming not only from the Lender Client, but from Buyers and Sellers as well.

Lawyers who hope to continue in the practice of Residential Real Estate Law will need to engage with technology, actively considering and comparing solutions, including online portals, which propose to streamline and safeguard real estate deals.

While technological supports to practice may lead to the “automation” of certain tasks, the systems currently available anticipate a robust role for legal oversight and free up administrative time, allowing lawyers to focus on the aspects of transactions that most require their involvement. The increased transparency of electronic communication systems that allow information-sharing among multiple parties – including Buyers, Sellers, and Lenders – minimizes the gaps in communication and misunderstandings that lead to about 40 per cent of malpractice claims. In other words, embracing technology may actually make the practice of law safer for Lawyers.

Real estate transactions require a uniquely collaborative approach.

Prior to the advent of web-based communication, these tasks were tracked on paper in various parties’ offices and files.

Electronic data transmission and cloud-based data storage have altered the process fundamentally by permitting real-time tracking to replace the traditional, labour-intensive “checking-up” process. A wide range of applications now permit users to access online document storage and sharing through multi-user platforms.

Because everything happens within the portal and because documents are stored there, parties will be able to see the current status of the transaction for themselves. This level of transparency has the potential to eliminate not only effort, but also errors and misunderstandings that can threaten the transaction or even lead to malpractice claims.

The systematization of real estate transactions is inevitable and underway, and if Lawyers fail to “step up” and adopt (or even design) the relevant systems, other service providers will pick up the slack.

Many web-based programs designed to support the delivery of legal services track (and confirm) the completion of steps in a matter, allowing Lawyers and other professionals (law clerks, lenders, insurers, etc.) to easily review whether key questions have been asked and answered, and to see which issues remain unresolved on a pending transaction.

Lawyer’s Back Office has always taken the position that consumers benefit when Lawyers are maintained as the fiduciaries and quarterbacks at the heart of real estate transactions.

*Excerpts above taken from article published 2017 and written by Maurizio Romanin, President & CEO, LawyerDoneDeal & Nora Rock, Corporate Writer & Policy Analyst, LawPRO.