A law firm for lawyers
Following many years of assisting other solicitors with tricky title problems and land registration issues, Frances founded Lexares LLP to focus on providing specific services to the conveyancing profession.
In this way, we can focus on the areas that you need to outsource from time to time - whether that be title investigation or conveyancing opinions for an ongoing transaction, legal research, in-house CPD training, or professional support for reviewing and maintaining your internal property law systems.
As a key figure in the law of land registration in Scotland, Frances is well aware of the challenges facing solicitors in the post-2012 Act world, and so we also offer a full land registration service.
All of our work is done on a fixed fee basis, so you get no surprises - just a friendly, professional support system when you need it most.
Frances Rooney, LLB (Hons), LLM, DipLP, NP
Frances Rooney, formerly of Harper Macleod, is the founding member of Lexares LLP. Frances is well known as one of Scotland’s leading experts on land registration, and for many years has worked closely with Registers of Scotland (RoS), the Law Society of Scotland (LSS), academics and other key stakeholders in shaping law and practice following the overhaul of land and property law under the Land Registration etc (Scotland) Act 2012.
A prolific author and speaker on all matters relating to property law and conveyancing, Frances has produced over 50 publications and talks, most notably authoring the second reissue of the Conveyancing title of the Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia. Other publications include a long running series in the Journal of the Law Society of Scotland co-authored with senior members of staff at RoS to assist the profession with the practical issues of land registration following the 2012 Act’s implementation, and contributions to works such as Millar & Bryce’s Conveyancing manual.
In addition, Frances is a member of the Property Law Committee of the Law Society of Scotland, and has also sat on various other committees and working parties including RoS’ public stakeholder group, land registration mapping working party, and digital services registration group; LSS’s common property project; and an LSS/PSG working party creating standardised residential styles for the profession. Previously she was a tutor in the property law course of the Diploma in Legal Practice at Glasgow University.
In recent years Frances has been highly commended under the Rising Star of the Year category at the Legal Awards, and mentioned in Legal 500 as a recommended lawyer, with comments in that publication noting that she is “tenacious” and “always goes the extra mile for her clients”.
What's in a name?
Lexares LLP was founded to help the legal profession with conveyancing and property law issues, particularly in the post-2012 Act world.
We are often asked about our name and logo. As with all we do, we balanced our corporate, pragmatic approach with the academic route of our profession to create this unique brand.
The name Lexares stems from the Latin words lex (law) and res (thing/property). So although not a Latin word in itself, Lexares is a nod to the "law of property" in Scotland. This reflects the fact that our firm encompasses all title matters from Sasine to land registered, boundary disputes and title conditions such as servitudes. In ancient Greek, the word Lexare essentially means "to read". So using the combined layers of Greek and Latin, our firm's name means simply "to read property law".
Our logo shape is a modern representation of a plot of land, while the three lines that run through are reminiscent of rivers, streams, fences, and other land features.
Our colour scheme uses three colours. Green, to represent land and property. Purple or mauve (our logo uses the exact colour of "mauve" that Registers of Scotland use in title sheets) to represent land registration and the future of conveyancing. And a dark grey, almost black, as a nod to the fact that the law is never fully black or white.