The Law Society has announced a joint venture with Mastek UK, a leading global IT solutions company, to deliver the Conveyancing Portal. The Conveyancing Portal is an online service that will help solicitors and licensed conveyancers save money and will speed up the house buying process for consumers.

The Law Society and Mastek have set up a joint venture company called Legal Practice Technologies and the joint venture company will launch its testing programme later this year and will be seeking a wide range of participants to test usability of the services prior to full launch.

Law Society deputy vice president Jonathan Smithers said, 'The Portal will make it easier for conveyancing professionals to better serve the house buying public. In its first phase the system will allow professionals to better communicate with each other, clients and other parties, satisfy due diligence obligations more quickly and at lower cost and facilitate the conveyance of residential property through established protocols.

'Mastek UK was chosen as our partner in a joint venture following a rigorous research, development and negotiation process. This project has the potential to transform the way conveyancing works, so it was imperative that we found a partner with a strong track record in delivering secure, reliable IT projects for high profile clients,' he said.

'Our partnership with the Law Society is an innovative approach that will empower conveyancing professionals with next-generation IT services. This strategic alliance is in line with Mastek's vision of delivering transformational IT solutions that positively benefit the wider community with operational agility and significant savings in operating costs,' said Sudhakar Ram, managing director and group CEO at Mastek.

Shares of the company gained Rs 10.15, or 5.26%, to settle at Rs 203.15. The total volume of shares traded was 135,967 at the BSE (Friday).