Cambridge is a world-renowned centre of excellence and attracts many leading technology companies. With major expansion plans at two new sites near the city, the Waterbeach based company was impressed with Legalesign for its unique electronic signature witness feature that is integrated into its software, which they describe as second to none.
Legalesign provides best witness signing
Nick Hadley, managing director with Cambridge Innovation Parks (pictured), said: ‘Our key legal document is a commercial property lease between us and the tenant. Some contracts for us can be into many hundreds of thousands of pounds in value.
‘The main reason we chose Legalesign is because of its witnessing facility, which is very, very rare in electronic signing. We found one other from a big name brand, but it was not as good as Legalesign’s, or as cost effective.
‘The way that Legalesign has done this emulates the traditional way of doing witness signing with paper documents. When the principal signer sits down to sign the document the first thing it says is you need a witness for this signature. You can’t proceed until you have one. You click the button that says someone is witnessing it and can now electronically sign the document. Then it says, hand over control now, in other words, get the witness to hold the mouse and sign.’
Legalesign’s witness signing is legally binding
Up until very recently Cambridge Innovation Parks had been using traditional paper contracts. Legalesign, which adheres to guidelines from the English and Welsh Law Society, provided them with peace of mind that the electronic signing was legally binding and as close to a paper contract witness signing as you could get. The feature enables witnesses to provide their personal details, including a photograph, to verify their identity.
‘We’ve used Legalesign and signed around 18 documents, it was very smooth, no problems at all. We have an eye on sustainability and these are meaty documents 30-40 pages long. The support from Andreea in their customer services team has been exceptionally good,’ said Nick.
Working from home with Legalesign during coronavirus pandemic
‘We never realised at the time the added value Legalesign would bring us, being able to use its software during the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown with our staff working from home.’
More than half (53%) of the documents were signed within the hour.
Tracking the electronic signing process with Legalesign
Nick added, ‘I find it fascinating to track the visibility of the process, you can see if the person has opened the document, but not yet signed it. It makes you think, I wonder what’s going on there? We are then able to get back to them and ask if there is something we can help with.
‘Another benefit is the immediacy of being able to sign contracts, the ability to say let’s do it now, instead of saying let’s meet next Tuesday and sign it.
‘I would absolutely recommend Legalesign. I can’t think of any reason why you wouldn’t use it. I admire its really clever functionality. A couple of times I have smiled to myself and thought, yes, that’s clever, and you realise someone has really put some thought into it.’
For more information about Legalesign’s electronic witness feature click here.