We can't sign electronically because?..
Thursday, August 4, 2011 at 2:04PM I have wondered for a long time why lawyers don't make more (or any?!) use of electronic signatures.
There can't be many professions where you deal with as many documents which need signing... yet in my experience even lawyers who have embraced paperless (or more accurately less paper) working seem to reach for the print button as soon as a document needs signing.
I see plenty of completions on the basis of scanned copies of signed documents, but they are still scanned copies of a document which has been printed out for signing. Basically it's just a slightly more efficient fax machine (remember those?!).
Where a document is being executed as a deed this is probably necessary, but in the majority of cases documents and contracts could be quite validly signed electronically.
A classic example is the engagement letters which law firms send out at the start of a retainer. Typically by posting two copies to the client with one to be signed and returned by the client (at least this is what I have seen every time I have been on the client side of the equation).
Obviously this means at least two days in transit in the post... but the time lost can easily be much more than this if the letter then finds its way onto the client's "to do" pile. It's not uncommon to see more letters going out (by post) chasing the client to sign and return it.
If the matter is urgent then the engagement letter might get printed out, signed by the firm, scanned and then emailed so the client can print it off, sign it, scan it and email it back (how many steps in that workflow?).
The wet ink signature on this letter isn't a regulatory requirement (in fact all that is really required is for the information to be given in a "a clear and readily accessible form" so there isn't strictly any requirement for it to be in a letter).
A service like Echosign would be perfect for this and cuts down the workflow to the following:-
Produce your engagement letter in Word and then use something like Nitro PDF to print it as a PDF (or if you are lucky enough to work on a Mac just use the "Save as PDF" function).
Upload the PDF to Echosign and click to sign on behalf of the firm and send to the client for signature.
Client receives an email notifying them the document is ready for signature and clicks to accept the terms.
No scanning or printing is needed and you potentially have a signed engagement letter in the time it takes the client to read and digest it and hit the button to sign it.
It also makes it much easier to get the engagement letter signed when you need it - before you start work.
Saying to a client with an urgent matter that you are going to post him a letter which he has to sign and post back before you will do anything is unlikely to get a great reaction...
Telling them that it will be with them by email in 30 minutes and that you can get things rolling as soon as they review it and accept it is a whole lot more palatable.
There are two recent developments which I think show where this is headed:-
Mac OS X Lion was released last month with the built-in ability to sign PDF documents using your Mac's Facetime camera. This is likely to get Mac users thinking a bit more about how they sign documents.
Perhaps more importantly, Adobe have just acquired Echosign. The incorporation of this kind of electronic signature in Adobe products won't be far away even if the press release's stated aim that:
Together, our aim is to make electronic signatures the standard way for people to sign documents and automate contracting.
may take a little longer to come to fruitition.
EchoSign's blog has a feed of all the tweets from their customers who are using the service to sign contracts and a glimpse at this shows that it isn't just for geeks... Groupon and BT are a couple of the more noteworthy users.
Are there any law firms who are already doing this... or are lawyers still going to be posting out paper contracts for signature (or sending their clients scuttling around hotel business centres on a quest for the world's last remaining fax machine) in ten years' time?
