SRA Compliance and E-Signatures: What Every Solicitor Needs to Know

The SRA's Position on Electronic Signatures

The Solicitors Regulation Authority does not prohibit the use of electronic signatures. In fact, the SRA has been broadly supportive of law firms adopting technology that improves client service, provided certain safeguards are maintained. The key question is not whether you can use e-signatures, but whether your implementation meets the standards the SRA expects.

Electronic signatures have been legally recognised in England and Wales since the Electronic Communications Act 2000, and the UK retains the framework established by the EU's eIDAS Regulation. For solicitors, the regulatory overlay comes from the SRA Standards and Regulations, which set out what the SRA expects in terms of competence, record-keeping, and client protection.

SRA Principles: Where E-Signatures Fit

The SRA Principles are the fundamental tenets of ethical behaviour for solicitors. Several are directly relevant when adopting electronic signatures:

• Principle 2 — Act in a way that upholds public trust and confidence: Your signing process should look professional. A branded, secure signing experience reinforces client trust. A clunky, third-party-branded process with account creation prompts does the opposite.
• Principle 6 — Act in the best interests of each client: If e-signatures make the process faster and more convenient for clients without compromising security, adopting them arguably serves this principle. Making a client print, sign, scan, and post a retainer when they could sign digitally in 30 seconds is hard to justify.
• Principle 7 — Comply with legal and regulatory obligations: Your e-signature process must produce evidence that a signature is genuine and that the signer consented to the specific document. This means audit trails, not just a signed PDF.

Code of Conduct Requirements

The Code of Conduct for Solicitors (2019) and the Code of Conduct for Firms contain specific obligations that affect how you implement e-signatures:

• Paragraph 4.2 — Effective record-keeping: You must keep records of your work, including the basis on which instructions were given. An e-signature with a full audit trail — IP address, timestamp, consent text, document hash — provides better evidence than a wet signature on a document that was posted back unsigned with no record of when or where it was signed.
• Paragraph 2.4 — Client information and explanation: Clients should understand how the signing process works. A brief explanation in your client care letter that documents may be sent for electronic signature is good practice.
• Paragraph 2.5 — Informed consent: The signing process should include an explicit consent step where the signer confirms they have read the document and agree to sign it. This is not just good practice — it is evidence that the signature was given with informed consent.

Record-Keeping: What the SRA Expects

If a signature is challenged, the SRA will want to see evidence that:

• The document was sent to the correct person at their known email address
• The recipient accessed the document (view event with timestamp)
• The recipient gave explicit consent before signing
• The signature was applied with a recorded IP address and timestamp
• The document was not altered after the signature was applied

A basic e-signature tool that produces only a signed PDF and a summary certificate may not provide all of this. What the SRA expects is a per-event audit trail — individual log entries for each step of the signing process, each with its own timestamp and metadata.

Practical Steps for SRA-Compliant E-Signature Adoption

Based on the regulatory framework, here is what your firm should do when adopting electronic signatures:

• Choose a tool with per-event audit trails: Not a summary certificate, but individual log entries for email sent, document viewed, consent given, signature applied, and document downloaded. Each entry should include IP address, user agent, and timestamp.
• Ensure document integrity verification: The tool should hash the document at upload (SHA-256 or equivalent) and record that hash before any signer accesses the document. This provides cryptographic proof that the document was not altered between upload and signing.
• Include explicit consent in the signing flow: Before the signature is applied, the signer should confirm they have read the document and consent to sign it. This consent text should be recorded verbatim in the audit trail.
• Retain records for the appropriate period: The SRA requires firms to keep client files for at least six years after the matter is concluded. Ensure your e-signature records are retained for at least this long.
• Update your client care letter: Include a paragraph explaining that your firm uses electronic signatures for certain documents, and that signed documents are stored securely with full audit trails.
• Train your team: Fee earners and support staff should understand how to use the e-signature tool correctly, including how to place signature fields, how to verify that a document has been signed, and how to export audit certificates when needed.

What About Deeds and Witnessed Documents?

Not all documents can be signed electronically. Deeds executed under section 1 of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 require witnessing, which raises additional considerations for electronic execution. The Law Commission published recommendations in 2019 supporting electronic execution of deeds with qualified electronic signatures, but the law has not yet been reformed. For most standard solicitor-client documents — engagement letters, retainers, authority forms, settlement agreements — electronic signatures are fully appropriate and legally binding.

The Bottom Line

The SRA does not prohibit electronic signatures. It requires that signatures are genuine, that consent is informed, and that records are kept. A well-implemented e-signature tool with per-event audit trails, document integrity hashing, and explicit consent steps meets these requirements more thoroughly than a wet signature on a posted document with no record of when or where it was signed.

The question is no longer whether law firms should adopt e-signatures. It is whether your current signing process produces the evidence the SRA expects — and whether it respects your clients' time.