Small Virtual Legal Firms Expand their Reach with Adobe Sign

In recent weeks, it’s become apparent that every company benefits from the ability to support remote work and virtual offices. This includes even the most traditional and conservative industries, such as law.

Many small and independent law firms have already discovered the benefits of running virtual firms in the cloud. They don’t need to worry about paying for offices to sit empty while employees work from home. Clients enjoy the flexibility of consulting with their lawyers virtually.

Virtual law firms still need to handle signed documentation. From contracts to settlements, clients may sign dozens of documents for every case. Two small law practices, Matanovic Law LLC and Geurts Law Firm, discovered that Adobe Sign is the best way to obtain more secure signatures in a virtual environment.

Enhanced security and mobility for cloud-based law

Stephan Matanovic is a business lawyer who spent his career working in large law firms before launching his own practice, Matanovic Law LLC, in 2013. One reason that Stephan chose to start his own practice was his desire to eliminate inefficiencies from his workflow. With a 100% cloud-based business, Stephan can work remotely and on any device, allowing him to improve his work-life balance while providing clients full legal support.

As a solo practitioner, anything that Stephan can do to streamline administration directly impacts his productivity and profitability, and increases the time and energy available to spend on clients. As a cloud-based business, both mobility and security are also essential.

Adobe Sign solves all of these challenges. “Most of my clients are mobile-first, so they don’t want to find printers or scanners, and they certainly don’t own fax machines, just to sign a document,” says Stephan. “Adobe Sign makes things much easier for clients, who can sign documents wherever and whenever. I’m getting documents signed twice as fast using Adobe Sign.”

Thanks to integrations with Microsoft Office 365, Stephan can create and send a document for signature directly through Microsoft Word in a fast, seamless workflow. Built-in audit trail capabilities create a legal record of when the document is delivered, opened, signed, and returned that helps protect Stephan and his clients.

“If there’s any question about a document, the Adobe Sign audit trail gives us confidence that the signature will hold up in court,” says Stephan. “Frankly, it’s more secure than an ink signature on a piece of paper.”

Saving hours of labor for a virtual law firm

Geurts Law Firm is a small virtual law firm that handles big clients. The firm primarily works with commercial firms across industries handling a wide range of legal cases including contract transactions, acquisitions, intellectual property, and commercial and civil litigations. This California-based firm utilizes virtual technology to seamlessly integrate the services it provides, even though the providers live in three states.

KC Waters, Senior Legal Assistant, is the firm’s paper wizard, drafting much of the firm’s correspondence, contracts, and court filings. These documents often require appendices or exhibits that can end up over 100 pages.

“About 70% of our work is in the courts, which requires that I create and file documents with fully searchable text,” says KC. “I’ve worked with Adobe Acrobat for years, because it’s great software that allows me to create documents that people can read on any device.”

It was this familiarity that led KC to look at Adobe Sign for electronic signatures. Before Adobe Sign, it could take days or even weeks for clients to review, print, sign, and return documents. Now clients often return signed documents in less than a day. Clients love the electronic signature process because it’s fast and easy. KC appreciates that she gets a clean, complete PDF that’s ready for filing—no extra scanning and shuffling required.

“Using Adobe Sign gives me a lot more time,” says KC. “I can spend more time keeping up with calendaring—a must for a firm spread across multiple states. I also have more time for reviewing documents instead of rushing to meet a court filing deadline. I can double-check all of the details, such as dates and case numbers. This makes my work more accurate, which is a big benefit for the firm and our clients.”

Matanovic Law LLC and Geurts Law Firm use the electronic signature solution Adobe Sign to improve productivity and security in a virtual work environment. Learn more here.