Creating Digital (Image) Signatures...Step 1

Scanning. There was scanning everywhere. It was mad. It took me a while to figure out why but once I did, I was nearly horrified. Sometimes, the blessing is the curse.

A couple of weeks ago I was working with a new client, a 12-attorney firm in a city I refer to as The Past. Now, the firm itself it not living in the past, they, as a matter of fact have GREAT technology in place and are looking to make the most of what they have. As I interviewed all the attorneys and staff and as I walked around I realized that they sure are doing A LOT of scanning. At first, I thought, that's great! Scanning is so good. Well it can be, but sometimes it can just create more work. Here's how it went - they had:

1. Firm letterhead on pre-printed paper in the printer (read: cha-ching $$)
2. A letter created in Microsoft Word
3. That letter which required an attorneys signature (real sig, pen and quill style)
4. The desire to send that letter via E-mail not snail mail

And here's what they were doing:

1. Creating letter in Word
2. Printing to "Tray 2" (to get it on the oh-so-nice-we-are-classy- firm-that-spends-lots-of- money-on-preprinted-letterhead paper)
3. Taking the paper to the attorney to sign (include wait time if attorney is busy or out of the office)
4. Scanning the paper BACK into the system (sometimes saving it to DMS, sometimes not)
5. Shredding or filing letter (might as well be dollar bills you're using)
6. Emailing document out (hopefully as a PDF)

So all-in-all not really doing anything WRONG but certainly not doing it in a way that would benefit the firm from a financial point or in time management. So here's what we did. For those attorneys who were interested (some do not like this idea as they feel they have more control over their work and sig - no problem, you stay there PterodactAttorney and I'll deal with you later) we created digital images of their signatures (not to be confused with "Digital Signatures" from products like Adobe Acrobat) that can be inserted into a Word doc (and many other apps). The digital image is like a clipart/picture of their actual signature that they have on their computer and that they have given to their trusted firm members). We're going to start here and then get onto the firm logo and the pro's and con's to this system in future posts. So here's what you will need to get started:

1. Download this file:
   Download SigBoxes.pdf - it's a template for you to PRINT out and sign (have everyone who is interested sign). You can create as many sigs as you want. I usually have folks sign one full name and one first name only for less formal needs.
   - Be sure to sign bigger than normal and with a good pen - an Ultra Fine Sharpie is the best.
   - Don't use a regular ball point - too skinny.
   - Stay inside the lines, be sure you don't touch the lines of the boxes (we'll need the space around to lift the sig).

2. A scanner

3. Someone who knows how to use the scanner

4. Very important tool: Adobe Acrobat Standard or Pro - if you dont have it, you'll want to identify an imaging/picture software on your PC (more on that when we get to it).

So for today - your goal is to download the template, collect sigs, scan it back into your PC as a PDF preferably or some other image file (do not OCR the scan job).

If you get stuck, email me, I'll help you.

 

Comments

[BobbyEsq]

Having done something similar recently myself, a couple of notes:

1. No need for a special template, just use a blank sheet of paper. If you're really paranoid about writing "straight", put a piece of ruled paper BEHIND the blank sheet and "write on the lines" on the blank sheet.

2. One signature isn't enough, you'll psych yourself out. Do at least a dozen signatures, one after another in a column. Starting with about the 8th one down, they'll start to look more natural.

[James, The TabletLawyer]

Another idea: with Microsoft Office 07, including Word 07, the lawyer can sign the letters digitally with a Tablet PC and convert the letter to PDF thereby saving the scanning step. :)