The offices of lawyers in popular media are often portrayed to be full of filing cabinets overflowing with stacks of papers sandwiched between folders. Real-life lawyers' offices are not too far off from that picture.
Despite paper's reign in the legal sector and in several other industries, many law firms are trying to go as paperless as possible. With it come several benefits, including improved productivity, easier information sharing and better customer experience.
If your law firm is one that wants to integrate paperless operations, you must learn about the importance of electronic signature too.
The Role of Electronic Signature in Law Practices
One of the most inevitable parts of any lawyer's job is getting their clients to sign endless documents. From contracts to settlement agreements and many more, signatures are required for a document to be legally binding.
However, it's not always easy to get hold of every party involved when you need their signature. Of course, you can always e-mail a file to the parties involved, have the signatories print and sign it, scan the signed document, attach it to the e-mail and send it back. Writing that process in a sentence form is exhausting enough. The actual act is even more tedious and can cause severe delays.
Companies like Blue Car Technologies and DocuSign can provide law firms of all sizes with a complete electronic signature solution with DMS integration, making it easier to sign, enact and manage any agreements. Here are just some of the key benefits:
Reduce Operational Costs
Research has consistently shown that transitioning to a paperless office reduces overhead costs.
According to accounting software developer Reckon, keeping physical documents comes at a cost of over £14,000 every year for small and medium enterprises in the UK. This includes the costs of reams of A4 sheets of paper, running and maintaining printers and buying filing cabinets. There is also the cost of the space these filing cabinets take up in an office, something to consider especially in areas where real estate is at a premium.
Leveraging electronic signature can dramatically reduce the time spent on preparing, sending, tracking and managing documents, and as a result reduce paper, ink, faxing and postage costs. The benefits apply to lawyers as well as other employees such as HR and Finance executives who process and manage contracts and transactions.
Provide a Better Client Experience
Did you know that millennials make up over a quarter of the UK's population? They're the second-largest generation in the population, next to baby boomers. They are also forecast to make up the largest generational workforce by 2020.
As their population grows, law firms need to come up with a robust strategy to provide all customers with an excellent client experience. Millennials tend to be tech-savvy, doing everything, from ordering food to going around town, all from their mobile apps. They would expect a simple and streamlined document signing experience.
Asking them to download an attachment then print, sign, scan and send it back can be seen as a cumbersome process. With electronic signature, providing customers with a convenient and delightful signing experience is one of the easiest ways for law firms to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Prevent Tampered Documents
In paper, you would be hard-pressed to prove that a legally binding document has not been recreated or tampered with unless you witnessed your client signing it. While tampering is not a huge problem in law firms, it still can be a security risk.
With an electronic signature solution and its anti-tempering controls, law firms and their customers can expect accurate and secure transactions. Every document stays legal with complete traceability throughout the signing experience.
As a DocuSign partner, Blue Car Technologies can provide you with a complete electronic signature package that will help your business transformation strategy to be more innovative, productive and competitive. Contact us today and see how electronic signature transforms law firms and corporate legal departments.