Electronic Contracts: Best Practices and Legal Implications

Keep pace with the current speed of business and effectively use electronic contracting or find yourself trailing behind.

Over the past 25 years, businesses worldwide have shifted to doing much of their business electronically through email and other electronic systems. Many jurisdictions, including the U.S. federal government, and most U.S. states, have enacted legislation that recognized, and even encouraged that shift. Some of these statutes have now been in place for 20 or more years. The realities of COVID-19, including especially remote work, have only reinforced the importance of completing transactions electronically rather than in person or through printed paper contracts and ink signatures. This course revisits the legal underpinnings for electronic transactions. The program will examine the basic legal principles that validate use of electronic records and signatures in commercial transactions, and how they apply in practice. This topic also examines practical issues, such as the ease with which contracts can be formed electronically, including over email, and the role of specialized software such as DocuSign and Adobe® Sign. This information will provide the basic legal principles governing electronic contracting, as well as practical advice for those conducting business electronically.