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With the Fall '19 release, we noticed that the new eWitness functionality will be included in Enterprise accounts. For our industry, there's not mention in the regs that speak to how to incorporate witnesses in an electronic process.

Is there a use case, form, region or industry that the new eWitness functionality was specifically designed for? Why does DocuSign feel that this new eWitness feature satisfies the requirements of having a witnessed signature? Did anyone hear any information about it at Momentum?

Yes. In a number of countries such as UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, when Deeds are signed they are required to be witnessed by law.

Exert from a Practice Note from the UK Law Society:

"2 (ii) b

(b) section 1(3) of the LP(MP)A 1989 provides that an instrument is validly executed as a deed by an individual (including an individual acting under a power of attorney) if it is signed by him in the presence of a witness who attests the signature (and, by section 1(4), 'sign' includes making ones mark on the instrument). Section 44 of the CA 2006 provides that another of the ways in which a document can be validly executed by a company incorporated under the CA 2006 is if it is signed on behalf of the company by a director of the company in the presence of a witness who attests the signature. In the opinion of leading counsel and the JWP, where a suitable signatory signs a deed using an electronic signature and another individual genuinely observes the signing (ie he or she has sight of the act of signing and is aware that the signature to which he or she is attesting is the one that he or she witnessed), he or she will be a witness for these purposes. If that witness subsequently signs the adjacent attestation clause (using an electronic signature or otherwise), that deed will have been validly executed. The practical means of witnessing different forms of electronic signature will need to be settled on a case-by-case basis, with consideration given to the evidential weight of the form agreed (see paragraph 5 below). However, in the opinion of leading counsel and the JWP, it is best practice for the witness to be physically present when the signatory signs, rather than witnessing through a live televisual medium (such as a video conferencing facility), in order to minimise any evidentiary risk as to whether the person genuinely witnessed the signing."

https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/support-services/advice/practice-notes/execution-of-a-document-using-an-electronic-signature/

However a few things have been challenging for our customers with our initial offering:

  • Ensuring that the Witness signing is bound to a specific signer
  • That only the Signer can address their witnesses
  • That this is scalable for many signers requiring witnesses
  • That the IP is protected from the witnesses, such as to ensure that the witness only receives a notification to witness and does not have the ability to access the entire document of take a copy in any form
  • That the signer and witness are audited to show that they are in the same location and signed at the same time (within a reasonable period of time). The practice note defines this.
  • That specific information is requested from both the signer and the witness, signer defines their Name and Email Address, the witness completes this with adding their Job Title and Address, this is retained for auditing purposes

We achieved the initial specification and acceptance from a number of top legal firms in the UK and also Financial organisations legal counsel.

This was mainly focused on the UK and Ireland, however wider reach into Australia and New Zealand is expected. We also expect that there will be evolvement in this functionality as its wider deployment and use continues. There are also a number of initiatives with other legal solution vendors as a result of this new signing role.

Thanks for the info Iain, are there any updates to this functionality (specifically Australia) yet?

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