How Law Firms Use Blockchain Technology to Deliver the Most Private, Most Secure Digital Signatures and Documents

Law firms of all sizes need legally-binding digital signatures, authenticated digital signers, the ability to track digital documents across multiple approvers and signers, and immutable audit trails to ensure digital agreements can withstand court scrutiny.

The rise of blockchain technology unites all of these capabilities for law firms and allows forward-thinking firms to gain competitive advantages in efficiency, client service, and operational cost-savings by leveraging blockchain solutions.

Blockchain for Law

Blockchains are distributed ledger technology (DLT) leveraging cryptography—user authentication, data encryption and verification—to secure information records (blocks) distributed across peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. DLTs replicate, share, and synchronize digital data geographically spread across multiple sites (nodes), with no central data storage or administrator. They can be run publicly (open) or privately (permissioned).

Public blockchains can readily be used as cryptocurrencies—creating and using a coin that serves as digital money. For example, Ether is the coin of Ethereum, Lumen is the coin of Stellar, and bitcoin is the coin of Bitcoin.

Private blockchains are commonly used as business apps. Here, an organization (or consortium of organizations) controls access to the blockchain—limiting its distribution but also elevating its security. While cryptocurrencies are often in the news for major purchases, market fluctuations, and hacks, blockchain business apps are often in the news showcasing how blockchain can shape business, government, healthcare, and many other industries including legal services.

Perhaps most importantly, blockchains can support smart contracts—where terms, conditions, and permissions written into the digital code that require an exact sequence of events to take place to trigger the agreement of the terms mentioned in the blockchain contract. This hard wiring, so to speak, of contract details greatly increases speed (via automation), trust (where accuracy and backup are built into the transaction), and autonomy (as no third parties are required to mediate or control the exchange) of transactions.

As such, blockchains have immense potential to transform business contracts, real estate deals, digital rights, supply chain security and provenance, estate planning, and many other legal transactions.

ZorroSign Uses Hyperledger Fabric for Privacy & Security

ZorroSign is built entirely on a blockchain architecture that protects identities and data—uniquely authenticating users, encrypting communications, and securing digital data immutably through its lifetime. Specifically, ZorroSign’s platform was built from the ground-up on private, permissioned Hyperledger Fabric: the framework for the IBM Blockchain Platform, Honeywell Aerospace’s marketplace for used aircraft parts, Walmart’s food traceability system, and many other corporate deployments.

For law firms that desire to securely transform paper-based workflows, ZorroSign’s digital signature and document management platform can decrease operating costs, reduce transcription errors, and increase attorney productivity. As a private blockchain, ZorroSign can ensure privacy is always maintained as only approved nodes (endpoint users) can write to ZorroSign’s blockchain. As a result, ZorroSign’s architecture has even tighter privacy and security measures than other blockchains.

ZorroSign for Law
While the legal industry has traditionally been very conservative when it comes to adopting new technologies, law firms today must serve a diverse, mobile, and technically savvy clientele.

“WE WERE LOOKING FOR A SOLUTION FOR OUR FIRM TO OBTAIN CLIENT’S ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES ON DOCUMENTS IN A VERIFIABLE MANNER. AFTER SPEAKING TO SEVERAL DIFFERENT COMPANIES THAT OFFERED THIS SERVICE, ZORROSIGN WAS THE MOST COST EFFECTIVE, THOROUGH, AND BEST PRODUCT OUT THERE TO MEET THE NEEDS OF OUR LAW FIRM. ESPECIALLY DURING THESE TIMES OF SOCIAL DISTANCING AND MANY CLIENTS ONLY HAVING ACCESS TO SMARTPHONES AT HOME, IT ALLOWED US TO OBTAIN SIGNATURES, PROCESS DOCUMENTS MORE QUICKLY, AND GET RESULTS FOR OUR CLIENTS IN A MORE TIMELY MANNER. I WOULD RECOMMEND ZORROSIGN TO ANY OTHER LEGAL PRACTICE!”

Rex L. Patterson
Attorney & Owner at Patterson Law

ZorroSign supports such firms and their clients by delivering:

Non-repudiation audit trails and full progress tracking, including when documents are completed, rejected, expired or canceled
Cost-savings from reduced printing, faxing, scanning, and overnighting documents
Total control and visibility of documents-in-progress
An easily deployed document retention policy

Law firms use ZorroSign and our blockchain-based digital business platform (DBP) for incorporation documents; retainer, fee and non-disclosure agreements; purchase agreements (assets, products, and services); complying with Sarbanes-Oxley Act (board minutes, transparency, audit trail); power of attorney and proxy agreements; engagement letters; partner agreements; shareholder agreements; licensing agreements; and so much more.

We believe our digital signatures and document management solutions to be the most private, most secure available and look forward to proving it to law firms around the world! Contact us today to learn more.