PDF for Lawyers

Useful tip regarding digital signatures

Yesterday I had the pleasure of doing a 60 tips in 60 Minutes session with several good friends and follow law-techies. Even though I've done dozens of these 60 tips programs in the past few years, I always wind up learning something. Here is an interesting PDF tip I picked up, along with a useful/humorous one:

• How to create a Digital ID for using with Adobe Acrobat, which Nerino Petro says is a surefire way to have true digital signatures that actually get accepted by the recipient. I'm going to start using this for sure.
• Let Me Google That For You - I forgot about this one, but it's a classic. If you're adept at using Google but find that you get annoyed when people ask you for information that they could just as easily have googled themselves, you need to check it out. I won't ruin it for you; just go do a sample search and you'll see what this tool does.

If you want to see all the tips that we did, here's the link to our presentation.

Adobe Reader now enables digital signatures

Adobe has added native EchoSign integration for users of Adobe Reader. Hence, those users can now: (1) digitally sign any document in Adobe Reader (with the new "Sign" button in Reader, and then (2) send the document out for others to sign through EchoSign. All this is free. This is a great development, especially if people actually start learning how to use real digital signatures. Click here for screenshots and to learn more.

Sign contracts on your iOS device

Adobe has just released the EchoSign app for iOS, which enables legally binding contracts to be signed with a click. The app is free, but the EchoSign service costs money. It's free for one user who only signs 5 times per month or less. The next tier of service is $14.95/month and allows one user to sign unlimited times. Not sure if this is of use to most lawyers, but some will undoubtedly be interested.

A question about creating digital signatures

The other day I got an email from a lawyer who had watched the video I created on How To Create A Digital Signature.  He asked me the following question:

I very much enjoyed your video on creating a digital signature. I had managed to create a signature a while ago, but the background is not transparent, which creates the problem that you described with the signature overwriting my name.

Did you simply print and scan the letter you were using as an example? Is there a way to scan in a piece of letterhead, then superimpose (for want of a better word) the text of a letter on it? Then add the digital signature?

My response was as follows:

To get the signature to be transparent you simply follow these steps: (1) sign paper with several examples, (2) scan in the paper (3) crop out target signature using Adobe Photoshop Elements (4) do the steps I outlined in the video to select only the signature and then to place it in a new file with a transparent background.

I wouldn't go through the steps of scanning letterhead and then superimposing text as that would be cumbersome and unworkable in most situations. The simplest way to do this is to either (1) add the digital signature once you create a PDF of the letter that you want to 'sign', or (2) have the digital signature in your word processing template so that it's already there when you create your correspondence. In other words, do as much of the set up in your word processing program so that when you 'print to PDF' the letter is ready to go.

If you want to learn how to create a digital signature I recommend you go look at this blog post over at our sister publication, DigitalWorkflowCLE.com. And don't forget to install the javascript file that enables flattening.

Create a digital signature stamp (& never print to sign again)

If you have a digital signature stamp in Acrobat you can affix your signature to any PDF. Why would you want this? Well, if someone sends you a form to sign you can do that without having to print it out. Saves time and, over the long haul, you might even save a tree or two. Here's a document that spells out the process, and here is a javascript file that you'll use for the 'flattening' process that is described in the document. 

And, because I really want to make it easy for you to figure out how to do this, below is a 12 minute video that demonstrates the process of creating a digital signature from start to finish.

 

Creating Digital Signatures for use in Acrobat

I've written about digital signatures before on this blog, but it's a topic worth revisiting often. One of the best things you can do to become 'more paperless' is to have a digital signature. A digital signature can be a full blown security-restricted signature, or just a basic stamp. What level of security you want (or need) is up to you. All I care about is showing you how to create a digital signature, and how to import it into Acrobat.

And towards that end, I've created this document guide you. There are a lot of steps, but once you get your signature scanned and then place on a transparent background, you're within a whisker of never having to print out a document just to sign it. And that, my friends, is a very good place to be.

Digital Signatures - Advanced class

The other day I attended a free online webinar by some Adobe gurus who dove deep into the arcana of digital signatures.  After the dive I realized that I had a mild case of the bends.

Here's the problem.  Like most people who don't live in an 'enterprise world,' where there's a rigorous document review cycle, I just want to sometimes slap a 'digital signature' on a document and not have the recipient feel like I've sent them some bizarre totemic glyph.  

 

My needs are simple.  Apparently, true digital signatures are not.

 

I've written a short blurb (on my Digital Workflow site) on how to take your basic signature and turn it into a stamp that you can slap on any document that requires ye olde John Hancock.  This is not a true digital signature, but it makes people happy.  

That would be in stark contrast to the signature example set forth below:

When people see this kind of signature they immediately present a glum countenance.  Then they hastily reach for the phone to tell you how unhappy your digital signature has made them. 

 

Basically, as the guy said in the movie Cool Hand Luke, what we have here is a failure to communicate. So, let's break digital signatures down and find out where the communication problem comes from. 

 

A signature, digital or not, has to satisfy two elements: (1) non-repudiability, and (2) acceptance by the receiving party.  In other words, the point of signing a document is so the recipient knows it's from you, and that you can't deny it's from you (i.e. you can't repudiate authorship of the document).  Digital signatures are far superior to regular signatures in this arena.  Where they fail miserably is in the 'acceptance' part.

 

Because digital signatures are not familiar to most people they freak out if they see a bunch of numbers where they're used to seeing indecipherable human scrawl.  So, how to remedy this problem?  

 

The quick and dirty fix is to do what I outline in that blurb I mentioned a few sentences ago. Just create a stamp and slap that on the document you want to 'sign.'  It won't be secure like a real digital signature (and if you want to repudiate it you can say your secretary exceeded her authority and stamped it without your knowledge).  But, let's say you're a fair-minded, by-the-rules kind of guy (or gal).  Is there another option?

 

Turns out there is (although this wasn't covered in the Adobe webinar; I had to find it myself using a snorkle).  Here are some steps:

1. Do all the stuff in that blurb, which will result in you having a .PNG file with a graphic of your signature. Keep that in a handy place on your computer hard drive. 
2. Then when you're ready to sign the document open it in Acrobat and find the 'signing' icon (look for a graphic that looks like a tilted blue ballpoint pen (or look for the menu ADVANCED > SIGN AND CERTIFY). 
3. You will then be presented with a dialogue box that looks like this: 

  

Do not click sign, or else your recipient will see weird stuff that will make them not accept your document. Instead, note where it says 'Appearance' in the dialogue box and select the drop down menu and look for 'Create New Appearance' as in the graphic below:

At this point you will be shown a new dialogue box like the one set out below. 

So, you'll want to do two things here.  First, you'll import the .PNG graphic that I told you about in step #1.  This will introduce that indecipherable scrawl which is really the key to getting your signature accepted by people you send your documents to.  

But, second, and most important, you'll want to uncheck ALL of those boxes under the 'Configure Text' section.  Like this:

After you do this, fill in the 'Title' field to name your new 'signature profile' (I suggest you choose something like 'Basic signature' but it's up to you).  Then next time you go to sign a document you can just use the 'signature' tool and imprint a real live 'digital signature.'  But with the added benefit of being something that the recipient will actually accept.

If you want to make the signature something that looks like a signature (i.e. it looks like you signed it) and also has true security, then import a graphic of your signature when you're at the stage where you are creating a new appearance (see graphic #4 above). Select "Imported Graphic" and then navigate to the image file of your signature and select it. Once that graphic is associated with your "Digital Signature" it will be placed on the document and the document will have true security.

The only problem with this is that the person on the other end may still receive a warning flag (I won't get into why here, except to say that true digital signatures are designed for really paranoid people). That's why I always just use a graphic stamp of my signature and avoid the "true digital signature" altogether. Unless I'm sending documents to the CIA or NSA.

 

Fax signatures - how secure are they?

Tristian Wilson was released from a Memphis jail on the authority of a forged fax message. So why, then, do we place so much faith in fax signatures? That's the excellent question posed by security expert Bruce Schneier.

Electronic signatures gaining acceptance

Today was a first for me.  I received my renewal application for my professional liability insurance by email.  It was a PDF form, which is not surprising.  What was surprising is that the signature line was set to accept an electronic signature.  I had already set up my Acrobat program to input this, so it was easy to do with a click or two.  Once I signed it I was prompted to click a button to email it back in, which I did.  This was the first time I've been able to easily sign a form like this. 

I'll bet there aren't too many lawyers who signed the form in this manner.  But I'll bet that the number will be higher next year.  Have any of you had the opportunity to electronically sign a PDF form?

Be more efficient: scan your signature into your form letters

No one should print out a letter to sign it unless it's absolutely necessary. For example, if you plan to send a letter to someone by email then you should have your signature already included in your form letter. That way you can create a PDF and email it without ever printing it out. Even if you do print out letters, having your signature scanned in and loaded into your standard form of letter can save lots of time. Here's a good article on how to scan in your signature.