A CONVEYANCER has been banned from practising on grounds of being “dishonest, reckless and ultimately lacking integrity”.

But former Monmouth RFC chairman Lloyd Davies, 55, of Tretire near Llangarron, has hit back at the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, saying: “The CLC prosecution was neither proportionate or fair and the conduct of the CLC in relation to all of these matters requires independent investigation.”

The founder of Convey Law in Newport was found guilty of misconduct and misleading learners registered with training company The Conveyancing Academy, which has since lost its accreditation, rendering apprentices’ work worthless.

As well as being disqualified, he was ordered to pay costs of £175,000.

Mr Davies launched The Conveyancing Academy in 2014, offering courses under the Scottish Qualifications Authority, which during 2021/22 had 302 students.

But it was suspended in April 2021 by the SQA, while alleged exam malpractice, where a staff member had given candidates exam papers in advance, was investigated, and had its accreditation removed in March 2022.

The CLC ruling said the academy continued to take on new students though, by sending learners and employers communications which “misleadingly” created the impression courses would lead to qualifications.

it also claimed that Mr Davies failed to inform the Department of Education about the SQA action.

But despite admitting a CLC adjudication panel’s allegations of misconduct, he claims the SQA “illegally suspended” the academy, and had told them to “keep their investigation strictly confidential”.

In a statement, he added: “The SQA investigation took ten months to complete, when it should have only taken a number of weeks.

“Both of my fellow directors and I were found not guilty on conclusion of the SQA investigation, but the SQA still terminated its training agreement...

“In 2023 the CLC instigated proceedings against me and my fellow Licensed Conveyancer colleague for failing to tell Academy students about the ‘confidential’ SQA investigation.”

Mr Davies, who surrendered his licence in 2022, apologised to “the eight students whose CLC courses were delayed”, but slammed what he termed “the incompetent and draconian actions of both the SQA and the CLC”, with only 18 of 224 funded Licensed Conveyancer Apprentices having gone on to qualify.

“The “CLC Training Trial” took a full two years to conclude, included an abandoned trial because the CLC had to recuse a bias judge they had appointed, with the trial deliberately rescheduled to a date which neither my solicitor nor barrister could accommodate,” he claimed.

“The proceedings have cost over £350,000 in excessive legal fees, of which CLC Members will be required to pay over £100,000.

“I was in no way confident of a fair trial and, in order to secure the exoneration of my colleague, I agreed to surrender my Licensed Conveyancer practising license, which I had not renewed since 2022...

“It comes as a great relief to no longer be regulated by the CLC.”

A CLC spokeswoman said his actions “damaged the education of many trainee licensed conveyancers who were working hard to achieve their ambitions”.

“It brought into disrepute the reputation of the profession of which he was a member and harmed the efforts of so many to increase the numbers of qualified licensed conveyancers,” she added.