Ensuring Electronic Signature Lawfulness for Shipping in United States

How to eSign a document: electronic signature lawfulness for Shipping in United States

welcome thanks for joining us today and we're going to take a look today at how firms can reduce paper use at several points in the document lifecycle we'll review how digital signatures can help and what you need to think about and do to implement digital signatures appropriately my name is Chuck henrich and I'm a document lifecycle evangelist of litera Microsystems I've been working in legal IT for over 35 years helping business users understand how technology can help and helping technologists understand business users needs I focused on developing solutions across the whole document lifecycle from first draft to final delivery creating checking and collaborating joining me today in absentia is Adrienne Mansfield of Chapman and associates Adrienne is an expert on paper reduction excuse me among other things I met Adrienne at a recent UK document excellence group event in London where she spoke entertainingly and passionately about paper reduction in law firms she couldn't join us today but I'll introduce her now because I called her later Adrienne is a highly qualified business change and transformation consultant in both the public and private sectors she spent over a decade working with law firms around cultural change and business change programs and she has in-depth knowledge of governance and delivery methods for all areas of program and portfolio management recently at a conference I was fortunate enough to hear a presentation from the head of IT for the International Criminal Court in The Hague court proceedings at the ICC are a fully digital no paper involved take a close look at this picture there's a very little paper on the desks and everyone's got at least one screen in front of them judges lawyers and their clients may work with their own paper for taking notes and so on but everyone has immediate access to all evidence and transcripts on screen in a variety of languages the ICC IT team has developed software and practices that enabled them to scan paper objects and media files into the ICC system translate text and audio into the official languages of the court as well as any languages involved in a case before the court and make all of that available completely digitally usually within hours of receipt with full security and digital signatures were necessary to validate evidence it's an amazing and frankly inspiring undertaking that kind of gold standard digitalization is overkill for most situations still it demonstrates that a paperless office is achievable so why would people want a paperless office look at this picture would you want to live there would you be able to find anything there really there's just so much that can be proved improved about situations like this paper gets lost in the shuffle it's a security risk exposing confidential client information to anyone who walks into your office like cleaning or security staff paper can't be secured unless it's under lock and key and even then that costs money paper reduction and digitalization increases security searchability efficiency and it reduces costs from printing and restocking paper not to mention the real estate costs of saving folders in shelf space in the office or off-site in long-term storage so the paperless office technologists have touted the completely paperless office for decades it's a perennial goal people understand the benefits of reducing paper use environmental concerns as well as the potential savings of up to ten times the purchasing cost of paper through reducing the cost of storage toner printing labor postage and disposal new software tools regularly appear for delivering and working with content electronically and good tools get better faster more flexible Hardware options enable different ways to work keyboard and screen obviously but now stylus and tablet mobile phone predictive keyboards voice to text and text to voice user interface design improvements as well as greater breadth and depth of available data sources enable increasingly integrated fully electronic workflows and yet for most of us the paperless office remains elusive Adrienne Mansfield points out that 40% of people described themselves as paper people they like to have paper in their hands rather than looking at a screen and that's a very hard habit to break she also notes that many people are more comfortable with paper files because they feel confident that they can find this specific document they're looking for in a physical paper file rather than an electronic document management system without universal confidence among both professionals and support staff that they can quickly find what they need electronically the paper file will remain a business staple in many organizations and then of course there's that sense of power that some people feel when they have physical custody of a paper file several points in the document lifecycle offer opportunities for targeted targeted automation amendments many authors edit their own documents on screen but paper people like to edit documents that they can hold in their hands they generate a first draft from an automated template or they dictate voice to text print a copy mark it up with a pen hand it to their secretary who transfers the mark-up to computer and prints then hands the new printed version back to the author for another amendment cycle note-taking people certainly take notes in notebooks or on legal pads or so forth then they have to transfer their notes to computer it's a duplication of effort assuming they haven't misplaced their notes using OneNote or word would be much more efficient and make those notes available on any device and also search searchable and secured converting image only pdfs to editable versions this is something that's coming up more and more as I talk to customers but historically the only way to convert a scanned PDF to an editable format has been to print the scanned version then feed it through a scanner that generates an editable word document redaction most people either don't understand that electronic redaction is possible or they feel more confident that visible content has been destroyed when they obscure it with pen marker or whiteout so they print out electronic documents then physically redact the hard copy and then perhaps scan the redacted version back into electronic form while many applications support overlaying content with opaque shapes they don't actually flatten the document to remove the hidden content and instead they leave that obfuscation that shape as a layer on top of the still searchable content and that's not true good action final versions for signing the vast majority of official records require hard copy document with an original ink signature ink signed hard copies offer security against accidental electronic deletion and a great degree of future proofing because paper can last for centuries while electronic file formats traditionally become obsolete in decades many people have the misimpression that paper and ink provides greater security against counterfeiting because a counterfeit digital file may contain no internal evidence that hid it it has been tampered with while paper and ink counterfeiting often leaves forensic traces sometimes people print out the last page of an agreement sign it scan it back to digital form then merge it into a final executed master PDF that's very time-consuming and awkward digital signatures can completely bypass that process and can offer greater security and efficiency in specific workflows so let's talk about going paper light versus paper less starting with digital signatures digital signatures are increasingly accepted for a variety of situations they enable easier sharing and storage of C finalized electronic documents redundant cloud storage and standardized archival for file formats like PDF a increase the long-term viability of electronic documents while reducing the risk of originals being coming lost or destroyed that's provided that you have appropriate backup procedures in place there's a lot to think and talk about regarding digital signatures if you're considering digital signing for any of your workflows it's really best to work with a knowledgeable consultant and trusted technology vendors today we're going to take a look at some of the basic considerations you need to think about before embracing digital signatures first let's talk about what is a digital signature the term digital signature is often used to mean electronic signature but they're actually very different things electronic signatures are essentially cosmetic you can insert a scanned image of a pen-and-ink signature or you can use a touchscreen design with a stylus directly into a document either way you're just inserting an image into the document there's no security around that image and the document can be amended or tampered with after signing sometimes without a trace electronic signatures are convenient but they prove nothing really and they aren't generally enforceable digital signatures on the other hand add a form of encryption to a document that includes verification information about who added the digital signature as well as the date and time the signature was added it requires a digital certificate from a third-party certificate authority that includes public and private encrypted keys changing a digitally signed document removes the digital signature and that's one of the reasons why digital signatures are legally enforceable they prove that a document was signed by a specific entity at a known date and time and hasn't changed since bear in mind digital signature certificates expire after a set period usually two to three years certificate expiry helps ensure that current certificates use the latest security standards and in fact are controlled by the current certificate owner long-term validation is a PDF standard that adds a digital signature verification to a PDF file so that the validity of a digital certificate and signature can be determined at a later date regardless of whether the certificate has expired or been revoked or the issuing certificate authority no longer exists because the record is stored inside the sign inside the signed document it reduces the chances for error or fraud professional regulatory organizations like the American Bar Association or the UK Society Law Society published guidance for lawyers about digital signatures various national and regional governments have enacted legislation controlling digital signatures including over all 50 states in the United States it's important to adhere to the rules and regulations and work with vendors who understand and support them so when should you use ink versus digital ink and paper is a tried-and-true technology people understand it they're used to it most people especially clients aren't familiar with digital signature technology and are probably uncomfortable with it or just don't have access to it the technology adds cost and requires extra administration and those are things that have to be factored into any cost-benefit analysis also paper and ink have been proven to stand the test of time they can last for hundreds or thousands of years nevertheless there are many internal processes where digital signatures can achieve real efficiencies and also can be used to prove the technology and its ease of use with a view to wider adoption one area is HR where there's sometimes a lot of to and fro with contracts of employment or forms and the use of a digital signature makes this far more efficient also for external use with engagement letters which are notoriously difficult to get a signed copy back from clients a digital signature makes it easy for the client to confirm that the client has read and agreed all of the relevant clauses without having to signs can and post a hard copy so how do you get started with digital signature technology you will need to purchase a digital significant certificate from a reputable certificate authority also known as a CA certificate authorities are a type of trust service provider there are third-party organizations that have been widely accepted as reliable for ensuring key security the encryption security and that can provide digital signal certificates when you purchase a digital certificate consider how long the certificate must remain valid they are always time limited short time frames may be just fine for time limited matters like HR contracts or forms while long term validity might be needed for others like wills if you need to retain a digitally signed document for longer periods you should find a vendor who supports long-term validation where possible save digitally signed files in the PDF a format the a stands for archival PDF a is a simplified version of the PDF file format and it's designed for long-term compatibility make sure you have redundant storage and backups so the signed final document is disaster proofed and you can recover a copy from another location turning to amending and annotating touch screens and modern operating systems support writing on screen with finger or stylus and can automatically convert electronic ink to text reducing the time and effort needed to change content by a handwriting people who prefer to sit back and think and write can find tablet and stylus technology a more efficient use of their time and effort than waiting for an assistant to process their handwritten markup and the physicality of writing on a touchscreen with a stylus more closely mimics how they would work with pen and paper than writing with a keyboard people increasingly need to convert PDFs to an editable format many times you just need to tweak in PDF and you don't want to convert it to word for that you need a PDF editing application like phantom PDF that allows you to edit PDF text with reflow that kind of application doesn't need to be expensive to provide full features we've been able to open searchable PDFs in Microsoft Word for years but of course word can't convert image only scanned PDFs because they don't contain a text layer increasingly our clients are asking for an easy way to convert scanned PDFs to searchable PDFs for example when they need to edit a document that was scanned many years ago and now needs updating a good PDF editing application automatically offers to OCR and image only PDF when you open it and then enable saving the editable PDF as a Word document bypassing the print and scan OCR workaround let me show you an example so here I have a PDF that I received it's a scanned PDF it's not a double editable so I'm just going to open it up and you see that I get a prompt saying that there's unrecognized text do I want to recognize it so I click yes and I want this to be editable so I choose the editable option I click OK we give it a second for the OCR to do its thing and then we get shortly and editable PDF now I can edit this PDF in this PDF application but right now I want to convert to word so I first have to save the PDF and then the application saves it as a Word document for me and then opens the document in Word and now I have an editable word document it should be that easy for people to work with a scanned PDF and convert it to word redaction requires careful handling with the right software electronic redaction completely replaces digital content more efficiently and even more securely than paper and whiteout reduction as whiteout can be removed while electronic search and redact can find redaction candidates more comprehensively than scanning by eye especially when you're tired and your concentration is fading but it's important to work within an application that does full redaction that completely replaces whatever your redacting with an pick shape and doesn't just lay an image on top of the redacted content but being that content still intact underneath so how can we encourage using less paper and streamline how we work new technologies and workflows present challenges learning something new can seem daunting even after training lack of practice can slow you down because you have to retrain your mental habits and muscle memory intelligently designed software can answer those challenges Vitara Microsystems document lifecycle solutions help reduce paper use especially the PDF solution phantom PDF phantom PDF includes support for PDF editing conversion digital signing and complete secure redaction at a more attractive price than other solutions but it isn't all down to software the space is where we were profoundly affect how we work here's a couple of tips from Adrian Mansfield that can help start the paper reduction ball rolling clean desk policies are increasingly common clean desks are more attractive when clients come to visit and they're more secure when because client confidential documents aren't left out in the open where passing eyes can see things they shouldn't like cleaning staff or security staff getting rid of those files that you're not using on a daily basis and all of those closed files waiting to be archived physically removing them off-site won't reduce your overall paper volume but it will give you a realistic idea of what you're dealing with and it'll clear spaces in your office that you can use for something else or even just breathing room that one exercise can be the first step to starting to change the way people think about paper and office space you'll probably be surprised how much space that clears out there may already be a group in your firm that works without paper or is at least more paper light use them as an example of what can be achieved and how it can be done it's very hard to rubbish something that's already working somewhere else into buying the right attack it's important to manage any change in how people work a trusted advisor who understands your business and the technology that powers it can help you find the right solution for your specific challenges our document lifecycle evangelist team has over a hundred years combined experience working with professional services firms and their users many of the people at litera Microsystems have worked inside law firms and consulting practices and have implemented successful technology all over the world we can help you so please get in touch to learn more well thank you and now are there any questions hey check it Steve great presentation I picture you showed earlier about the cluttered desk resonated with me not because mine is messy but because it freaks me out so yeah great content as always so for everyone's on the line you have by all means feel free to enter you can enter questions into the questions window we've got a couple that I'm gonna run through real fast but I'm happy to address more um as we've got about seven minutes left so here's the first one for you check and it's regarding digital certificates the question is do I have to buy a certificate or can I create my own you have to create you have to buy them from a reputable certificate authority the reason for that is certificate authorities are widely recognized industry standard vetted organizations that everybody trusts if you create your own digital certificate then that is something you might be able to use internally but it's not gonna be legally enforceable and it's easily d as well that's why self they're called self-signed certificates are not generally accepted by any application any software application that looks for proper certificates and it certainly would be problematic if there were ever any question about its validity like in a court of law so yes you do need to get in touch with one of the several recognized certificate authorities excellent see next question here where can I find a digital certificate provider Google Bing search for them there's a number of them and you know we're completely agnostic about who you would choose names like Verisign or search in a search engine for certificate authority or digital certificate certificate authority and you'll find a number of reputable widely used organizations is it possible to redact a Word document yes it is provided you compare you convert it to PDF so let me show you right so we have we have a document here and now this is the document that I just converted from scanned PDF but here you see we go to this PDF tab and I want to mark for redaction so I can choose the area that I want to mark so I'm gonna mark I want to just blank out Mary's name so I choose mark for redaction and then I highlight whatever it is I want to redact and then I choose I could choose two different types of redaction I'm just going to use standard here the document obviously has to be sent say it before it's converted so I'm going to save this as a reactant and save it and it's converted to PDF and there you go so now it's now it's been redacted now if I search for Mary I shouldn't be able to find it ya see there's no matches but let's just open it up in some other application to prove that it's not just you know that application that can't find it so I'm going to open this with Chrome let's say right so knows nothing about what I just did it's just opening up the PDF that I I just redacted so I'm going to try to find Mary and you see there's no there's no results Mary doesn't exist because that that black area has been flattened into the PDF and removed that the text that's behind it now I can search for something that hasn't been redacted and you see that it is searchable so that's when we talk about redacting and flattening full redaction that's what we're talking about we're talking about not just overlaying a shape on top of a word or two and then saving this PDF you really need to use proper proper redaction like we just showed you now if you were doing if you were doing it in Word just to follow up on that if I were to say insert a insert a shape on top of this phrase here you know I could hide it like that and that's good enough if nobody is actually searching for it but then obviously if you search for it it'll be found so that is not redaction and it's not really possible to do it inside word itself but with the proper tool you can take a word document redact it and convert it to PDF excellent demonstration thank you about two minutes to make sure we let everyone out on time so we'll wrap questions up there but if you had a question that we didn't get to on Chuck and I will be in touch with following up if you're interesting what other webinars we have on the roster you can view those and send it for the full list of upcoming webinars at litera dot-com slash webinars I want to thank Chuck for a great presentation and for sharing his expertise and thanks to all of you for joining we hope to see you on another webinar soon and have a great rest of your day okay take care thanks everybody bye-bye