ClearPath Consultants - John Coulter

12/06/2026

There's a difference between a consultant who used to do this work and one who still does.

I'm not saying that to be critical of anyone. There are excellent consultants who left practice years ago and still add enormous value. But in conveyancing specifically (where the pressure is immediate, the volume is relentless and the problems are operational rather than strategic) I think it matters.

When I walk into a firm and sit with a conveyancing team, I'm not drawing on what things used to be like. I know what the market feels like right now. I know what the pressure feels like right now. And, I know what works because I'm testing it in my own practice every single day.

ClearPath Consultants was built on ClearPath Conveyancing. The P.A.T.H framework didn't come from a business school or a research paper. It came from twenty years at the coalface, and it's still being refined by what I learn every time I work a case.

That's what I bring to a firm visit. Not a framework off a shelf. The lived, current, tested version of it.

The ClearPath Capacity Audit is a half-day in your firm, followed by a written P.A.T.H report within five working days. Practical, specific, actionable.

Drop me a message if that sounds like what your firm needs.

10/06/2026

Most conveyancing firms I've worked with can't tell me how their pipeline is performing this month.

So here is what I would do.

At the daily level, the team has a fifteen minute stand-up. Not a meeting - a 15 minute run through of their cases - high level, where are we at and what needs to happen to move it forward. Done in fifteen minutes, every morning.

That's where outliers get caught early before a slow file becomes a missed completion.

At the management level, there's a real-time dashboard. Pipeline run rate, fall-throughs from instruction, mid-transaction fall-throughs tracked separately, and outlier cases flagged so they don't drag the average down and distort the picture. Available to heads of conveyancing, team leaders and partners at any point.

At the team level, there's a monthly review. Monthly 1:1s to run through the numbers and have an honest conversation about what the pipeline is saying. That review then feeds upward - so when the head sits with the partner, they're not guessing. They're reporting.

That's the H in P.A.T.H connecting directly to the P.

Daily visibility catches the problems. Real-time data tracks the pattern. Monthly reviews close the loop.

Most firms have none of this. Some have one piece of it. Very few have all three working together and the ones that do complete more, under less pressure, with a clearer picture of where their business is heading.

If you want to find out where your firm stands, the free diagnostic takes five minutes.

https://clearpathframework.scoreapp.com

Most conveyancing firms are busy but not efficient. Find out exactly where your firm is losing time, revenue, and momentum - free, in 5 minutes, built by a 20 year conveyancing solicitor.

08/06/2026

The firms that most need to fix their workflows are always the ones that are too busy to fix their workflows.

When completions need to happen and clients need managing and the team is stretched, stopping to look at how you operate feels impossible and it's the last thing on the list.

But the busyness and the broken structure are not two separate problems.

They're the same problem.

The reason the team is firefighting is because there's no structure protecting the work that matters. The reason files drift is because there's no real-time view of the pipeline. The reason the day runs the team is because there's no operating structure that keeps attention where it needs to be.

Staying busy doesn't fix any of that. It just makes it harder to see.

Don't wait for a quiet patch - it doesn't exist. Commit to half a day and let the process do what it's designed to do.

The ClearPath Capacity Audit is half a day in your firm. A written P.A.T.H report within five working days. A clear picture of where your completions are being lost and a practical plan for fixing it.

£995. No ongoing commitment.

If this sounds like your firm right now, don't wait for the right moment. COmplete the FREE online diagnostic now: https://clearpathframework.scoreapp.com

Most conveyancing firms are busy but not efficient. Find out exactly where your firm is losing time, revenue, and momentum - free, in 5 minutes, built by a 20 year conveyancing solicitor.

06/06/2026

My thoughts on communication, conveyancing and prop tech

05/06/2026

I haven't posted for the last couple of days. I have been dealing with my own cases - one of which is causing a few headaches for everyone involved.

I'm not going to go into the specific of the case - that's not what I want to talk about - instead what I noticed is that when things start to escalate (even slightly), the number of emails grows significantly.

It is so easy to find yourself in that back and forth email chain and you end up doing little else - and it feels like you're being weighed down by the sheer volume of emails you now have to deal with.

What I learned, is that when I find myself in that situation (as I am in right now) it pays to try and take a step back - look at the big picture and take some time to clear that inbox down and hit re-set. And, if you have a framework to guide you - the quicker you can get back to it - the better.

If you want to learn more about how my framework might be able to help your team- take 2 minutes to complete the ClearPath diagnostic

https://clearpathframework.scoreapp.com

Most conveyancing firms are busy but not efficient. Find out exactly where your firm is losing time, revenue, and momentum - free, in 5 minutes, built by a 20 year conveyancing solicitor.

03/06/2026

I want to be careful how I say this, because every firm is different and I haven't visited them all.

But in the firms I have worked with, when completions are lower than they should be and the team is under more pressure than the caseload justifies, the same three things are almost always present.

No real-time view of the pipeline. Files are being "managed" but not "progressed". Instead they're sitting without a clear next action, waiting for some external force to get them back to the top of the pile.

Workflows that record what happened but don't tell anyone what needs to happen next. Good people making it work through experience and memory rather than structure.

A day that runs the team. The urgent beating the important, every single day, until it just becomes normal.

What strikes me every time is that none of this is the fault of the people involved. These are smart, committed professionals doing their best inside a structure that was never designed to support the volume and complexity of modern conveyancing.

The good news is that all three are fixable. Quickly, in most cases.

If you want to find out which of these your firm is carrying, the free diagnostic takes five minutes and gives you your results straight away.

https://clearpathframework.scoreapp.com

This Quiz helps consultant solicitors build calm, profitable growth with a proven system. Discover where you’re strong, where you’re stuck, and how to move forward - without working harder.

01/06/2026

Half term is over.

Kids are back to school (thank God)

Back at it- full steam ahead - no-one demanding snacks and trips to the park.

01/06/2026

A file sat in my to-do list for two weeks. I never got to it because other clients, agents and conveyancers were shouting louder.

It wasn't until I did a file review that I realised nothing had moved on what should have been a straightforward case. By then I was in damage-limitation mode. Fire-fighting on a file that should have been ticking along.

And from that point on, everything was urgent with that file. Which had a knock-on effect to all the others.

Looking back, I can say with absolute confidence - a weekly file review is not good enough.

The whole team needs Pipeline Clarity.

That is knowing - without needing to open every file - the status of each case and what needs to happen next.

If you can't answer that right now, the free diagnostic at https://clearpathframework.scoreapp.com it takes five minutes and will show you exactly where your pipeline visibility is breaking down.

29/05/2026

Let's be honest - conveyancing is hard right now.

The pressure to meet increasing demands from clients, agents and your own business targets is relentless. So you take on more cases and try to hit those financial goals.

But at the level conveyancing fees are at, your team is already stretched. So maybe you step in and take on cases yourself. You tell yourself you're leading by example - in the trenches with your team. Or you hire quickly, take on the first person who comes along - not the right fit, but you needed the headcount.

Neither solves the problem.

If you're a head of conveyancing, a partner, or a firm owner carrying this weight right now - this is for you.

It's a vicious cycle. And it's the one I built ClearPath to break.

Don't let another week go by. The first step is right here.

https://clearpathframework.scoreapp.com

This Quiz helps consultant solicitors build calm, profitable growth with a proven system. Discover where you’re strong, where you’re stuck, and how to move forward - without working harder.

27/05/2026

Most fee earners I've worked with start the day with good intentions.

A list. A plan. A clear idea of which files they need to work on today.

By 10am it's gone. A call came in. Then an email that needed an immediate response. Then a colleague with a question. Then another call. And somewhere in that first hour, the day stopped being theirs and the constant firefighting began.

This is what happens when there's no structure protecting the work that actually matters from the noise that surrounds it.

The fee earner isn't under-performing, they're just operating in an environment where the urgent constantly beats the important. The to-do list wasn't wrong. It just had no defence against the day.

That's what the H in P.A.T.H addresses. The operating structure that means your team's attention goes where it needs to go and not just where the next interruption points it.

Because a team that can't protect its focus can't progress its cases. No matter how good the people are.

The free diagnostic below takes five minutes and will show you where your firm stands across all four P.A.T.H pillars right now.

https://clearpathframework.scoreapp.com

This Quiz helps consultant solicitors build calm, profitable growth with a proven system. Discover where you’re strong, where you’re stuck, and how to move forward - without working harder.