Electronic signature is a delivery channel for documents in Clio Operate, alongside email, fax and post. You prepare a document as normal, send it out through the Electronic Signature channel, and Clio Operate handles the rest: sending the request through DocuSign, tracking who has signed, and filing the executed document in your document management system (DMS).

This article is for people who send documents for signature day-to-day, including fee-earners, paralegals, secretaries, and support staff. If you set up the integration for your firm, see Electronic Signatures in Clio Operate with DocuSign Integration instead.

Before you start

Your firm’s administrator controls whether electronic signature is available to you, so several things need to be in place first.

• The Electronic Signatures global feature is enabled, with DocuSign set as the provider.
• A DocuSign linked service is configured.
• The document template you are using has Electronic Signature enabled under Delivery Channels.
• The template contains the signature anchor strings. These tell DocuSign where to place each field. The defaults are {{SIGN_HERE}}, {{DATESIGNED_HERE}}, {{FULLNAME_HERE}} and {{INITIALHERE_HERE}}. Your administrator sets these up. You do not add signature blocks yourself.

If Electronic Signature does not appear when you try to deliver a document, one of the above is missing. Contact your administrator.

Each signatory needs an email address recorded against them in Clio Operate. Participants without one cannot be signatories.

You do not need your own DocuSign account. By default, Clio Operate sends through a shared system account. Some firms let you link a personal account instead, in which case, see Link your own DocuSign account.

How electronic signatures work

Sending for signature happens in two stages, which is the most important thing to understand about this feature.

1. You choose the Electronic Signature channel on a generated document. Clio Operate creates a draft Electronic Signature work item on the matter, holding the signatory, the subject and the covering message. Nothing reaches your signatory at this point.
2. You review the draft and select Send. Clio Operate packages the document and covering message into a DocuSign envelope and sends it.

Clio Operate then creates a second work item, a Document Expectation - Electronic Signature task, which tracks the outcome. When every signatory has signed, the executed document is attached to that task and filed into your DMS.

Your firm can rename either work item, and can change the default message, the filing location and the file name. Where this article and your screen differ, your firm’s configuration wins.

Send a document for signature

1. Open the matter and select Prepare Doc on the action bar. On a matter blade rather than the full portal, the same button is labelled Prepare.
2. Select the document template you need.
   The Prepare Document blade opens.
3. Under Document Generation, set the Output Folder. This is where the generated document is saved. Generate Document stays unavailable until you set it.
4. Set the recipient in the To field.
   
   Where the matter has several participants, To displays “Multiple participants found”. Select the chevron to open the Select Recipientde, choose the participant, then select the chevron on their row to open the Locations for [name]de and pick a location.
    
5. Select Generate Document.
   A confirmation displays, for example “Generated 2 documents”. The task moves to the In Progress phase.
6. Select Document Delivery on the ribbon, then select Electronic Signature under Available.
   Clio Operate creates a draft Electronic Signature work item. The Prepare Document blade now displays “The following channels are in draft:” with the new item at phase New, and the Electronic Signature blade opens.
7. Review the Electronic Signature Details section:

• Signer. Pre-filled from the recipient you chose, displayed as name and email address. To change or add signatories, select the … button. See Add more than one signatory.
• Template. The message template in use, System by default.
• Subject. The email subject your signatory sees, Please sign by default.
• The message body below, The attached document is ready for signature by default. Edit it as needed for this document.

8. Select Send.
   Clio Operate sends the envelope and flags the original document as Issued.
   Nothing reaches your signatories until you select Send. Until then the request sits on the matter as a draft, and you can delete it.
   Signing details are locked once the envelope has been sent. Editing them afterwards has no effect on the request already with your signatories.

Add more than one signatory

You do not need to add multiple signature blocks to your document. DocuSign creates a signature block for each signatory automatically, based on the signatories you add and the order you add them in.

To add a signatory:

1. On the Electronic Signature blade, select … next to Signer.
   The Select participant contact details: blade opens, listing the matter’s participants with their role and email address.
2. Select the participant you want.

Participants with no email address recorded display “No contact details found.” and cannot be used. Add an email address to the participant record first, or select Add new to add someone who is not yet a participant.

Signing is sequential, not simultaneous.

1. DocuSign emails the first signatory.
2. Once they have signed, DocuSign notifies the next signatory automatically.
3. This continues in order until everyone has signed.

Signing follows the order the signatories appear in the Signer field. There is no separate control for reordering them, so check the order before you send. Sequential signing means an incorrect order holds up the whole request, and it matters wherever your process depends on it, for example a client signing before a witness or a countersignatory.

You cannot copy someone into the request without asking them to sign. There is no CC option.

Track the signing status

Two work items on the matter tell you where a request stands.

The Electronic Signature item covers getting the request out of the door.

The Document Expectation - Electronic Signature task covers the outcome.

Two points to be aware of.

• Clio Operate checks DocuSign for changes periodically rather than being notified instantly, so the matter can be a few minutes behind reality.
• List and search views are built from a search index, so they can lag the task itself. The task is the more reliable view.

There is no separate phase for a request that has been opened but not signed. That still displays as Expectation.

Receive the signed document

When the last signatory signs, Clio Operate retrieves the signed documents from DocuSign, attaches them to the Document Expectation task for you to review, and files them into your DMS using the folder, file name and title your administrator configured.

The DocuSign certificate of completion is not returned to Clio Operate. If you need the certificate for the file, ask a signatory to download it from their signing session, or retrieve it from DocuSign directly.

Do not rely on a document until the task reaches Received - For Review and the executed version is attached to the matter.

What your signatories see and do

Signatories do not need a Clio Operate login or a DocuSign account. They complete everything from the email DocuSign sends them. Use this section to answer questions from clients and other parties.

Opening the request

The signatory receives an email from DocuSign, sent on behalf of your firm, containing your covering message and a link to the documents. They can also reach the documents by going to the DocuSign website and entering the document security code from the email.

If your firm has enabled an Electronic Record and Signature disclosure, the signatory selects the disclosure checkbox to agree to it. Otherwise they select CONTINUE to begin.

Verifying their identity

Where your firm’s DocuSign account requires it, the signatory verifies who they are before the documents open. DocuSign supports several methods, including an access code, SMS, a phone call, knowledge-based questions and ID document verification.

Clio Operate does not pass signatory mobile numbers to DocuSign, so SMS and phone verification are not available through this integration.

Signing

1. The signatory selects the yellow START indicator to jump to the first field that needs their input, then uses NEXT to move through the rest. Fields outlined in red are required.
2. They select the SIGN or INITIAL field on the document.
3. First-time signatories are asked to adopt a signature. They can pick a predefined DocuSign style, select the DRAW tab to draw one, or select the UPLOAD tab to upload an image. Your firm’s DocuSign settings determine whether draw and upload are offered.
4. They select ADOPT AND SIGN to confirm.
5. Once every required field is complete, they select FINISH.

DocuSign will not let a signatory finish until all required fields are complete. If they select FINISH early, DocuSign takes them to the next outstanding field.

After signing, the signatory sees a confirmation and can download or print the documents. They receive a copy by email once every party has signed. Creating a free DocuSign account is optional.

Other actions available to signatories

The OTHER ACTIONS menu offers further options, though which ones appear depends on your firm’s DocuSign settings.

A signatory declining cancels the request for everyone. This is DocuSign behaviour, not a Clio Operate setting.

Reminders and expiry

Your firm sets how often DocuSign chases an outstanding signatory, when an unsigned request expires, and how many days beforehand signatories are warned. You cannot trigger a reminder yourself. If a signatory needs chasing sooner, contact them directly.

Link your own DocuSign account

By default, all signature activity is attributed to your firm’s shared system account. Where your administrator has enabled it for your team, you can link your own DocuSign account so activity is attributed to you personally.

1. Select your name at the top right of the screen, then select My linked accounts.
   The My Linked Services blade opens.
2. Under E-Signature integrations, find Docusign. If it is not linked, it displays “You have not linked this optional service”.
3. Select Link, then sign in to DocuSign and grant access when prompted.

Linked services display in green with the account they are linked to, and offer Unlink in place of Link. Select Inspect to check the details of a link.

If Docusign is not listed at all, your administrator has not enabled personal linking for your team. Clio Operate uses the shared system account instead, and there is nothing further for you to do.

Where your administrator has made linking mandatory, Clio Operate prompts you to link before you can send for signature. If a linked account stops working, for example because access was revoked at the DocuSign end, Clio Operate unlinks it and prompts you to link again at your next login.

Personal account linking applies to any Clio Operate linked service that supports user tokens, not only DocuSign.

Current limitations

• You cannot cancel a sent request. There is no void or cancel action on the Electronic Signature work item. If a request must be stopped after sending, contact your administrator, who will need to void the envelope in DocuSign itself.
• You cannot resend or chase a request. Reminders are governed by your firm’s configuration. Contact the signatory directly if you need to chase them sooner.
• Status can lag. Clio Operate polls DocuSign rather than being notified, so allow a few minutes before treating the matter as out of date.
• Email verification only. Signatory mobile numbers are not passed to DocuSign, so SMS and phone verification cannot be offered.
• No copy recipients. You cannot copy someone into a signing request without making them a signatory.
• Signing starts from a prepared document. You cannot send an existing document for signature from elsewhere in the matter. Prepare the document first.
• No certificate of completion. The DocuSign certificate is not filed with the executed document.

What this feature is not

Three unrelated things in Clio Operate use similar names.

• e-Signature phase guards ask you to confirm a phase change with the signature image on your own profile. That is an internal sign-off, not a DocuSign request.
• Your signature on your user profile is an image used inside documents and emails. It has nothing to do with DocuSign.
• Clio Manage and Clio Grow have their own, separate electronic signature integration. Nothing in this article applies to them.

Related articles

• Preparing a document 
• Working with Document Expectation Tasks 
• Managing Documents and Emails via the Document Views 
• Electronic Signatures in Clio Operate with DocuSign Integration  (configuration)
• DocuSign eSignature Signing Process (DocuSign’s own signatory guide)