La Tour International is using the Connective advanced electronic signatures solution (eSignatures), in response to the increasingly international nature of exchanges with our resolutely nomad clients, to improve fluidity, speed and safety, whilst complying with the legal profession’s professional ethics and confidentiality regulations.
La Tour International was founded in September 2015. It is a multidisciplinary, agile and proactive law firm, specialising in French and International corporate and tax law. La Tour International decided to take advantage of the gradual abandonment of paper documents, which have been digitised and made more reliable thanks to Connective’s eSignatures, in order to meet the requirements of the business world, corporate clients and private individuals, in terms of efficiency and speed of transactions. Connective’s eSignatures solution is fast, simple, flexible and confidential. This means that La Tour International Corporate law firm can optimise its real-time professional practice and client relations.
“Our clients expect their lawyers to use digital solutions to make their files’ legal acts proceed more smoothly and speed up the process by freeing themselves of time and geographical constraints. European eIDAS Legislation has given electronic signatures a new legal status, which is identical to hand-written signatures. Electronic signatures are a digital solution that helps us be even more proactive and facilitates close relations with our clients. The “Image d’Epinal” print, depicting lawyers and clients spending hours signing piles of documents, which would probably slow down strategic operations, or even get lost in transit when shipped abroad, used to be a longstanding reality.”
Benoit Philippart, Associate Lawyer at La Tour International
Acquiring a technological solution, which “complies” perfectly with the legal profession’s ethics
Nicolas Cys, Associate Lawyer explains, “Professional secrecy is an inherent part of our profession. The selected electronic signature solution had to meet our ethical requirements, in order to protect confidentiality of exchanges and ensure perfect compliance with clients´ expectations ” In Autumn 2016, La Tour International called upon the Ordre des Avocats de Paris to validate the pertinence of its project for the electronic signature of documents. Once the Ordre validated this process, the law firm reviewed the solutions available. The Connective solution differentiates itself due to its digital security and ergonomics, which guarantee its user-friendliness. Indeed, the Connective solution provides an advanced or qualified signature via a secure internet platform, which guarantees the author’s identity, the signatory’s consent, the integrity of the document and its validity as legal proof towards National and European courts. In addition to this, the solution provider Connective is currently very successful in Belgium, which has a similar legal culture to France.
The Connective solution was selected in January 2017 and was operational within 24 hours.La Tour International carried out many “life-sized” tests involving some of our international clients, to ensure that digital solutions do not destabilise trade relations in anyway. Our international clients were thrilled with the new digital service. Nicolas Cys adds that “We really appreciated the involvement of Connective France’s team, as they tailored their solution according to our specific legal, trade and professional constraints.”
Combining simplicity and security to help run professional practice smoothly
Today, La Tour International places documents online to be signed directly on Connective’s secure platform. When these documents are opened, the client can immediately view the signature or legal notice fields that need to be completed. The client can thus sign large files electronically, such as Private Equity files, without making mistakes or forgetting to sign something. La Tour International can also schedule simultaneous or sequenced signatures with multiple stakeholders worldwide with preset expiration deadlines. Signing the documents and receiving the copies by email only takes a few minutes! “The signature process’ streamlining and simplicity in an economic context, which is moving even faster, allows us all to save time and carry out procedures in France as well as worldwide more quickly,” Benoit Philippart notes.
The electronic signature, providing added value for clients
The Connective solution was “designed and tailor-made” according to clients’ requirements and uses. It also provides other benefits, which go beyond saving time for signing legal notices or in the final stages of closing. It ensures the process’ “faultless” security, via multiple recipient identification procedures (Text message code, email code etc.) and real-time monitoring of the status of the signature process. Completely digital files can then be archived easily and consulted by Legal or Tax Directors. Fastidious searches through tonnes of paperwork are no longer necessary. The automatisation of low added value administrative tasks increases lawyers’ productivity, as they can answer their clients more quickly and more precisely according to their added value, and therefore better meet their requirements.
Benoit Philippart concludes that “The electronic signature is a genuine opportunity to perfect our digital practices. The next stage to accelerate its widespread use in the corporate legal profession, in my opinion, depends on public authorities’ commitment to fully enter the digital age and to make its practices in this domain evolve.”