The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California is examining the potential adoption of an E-Signature rule and platform.  If you practice in this Court, we encourage you to sign this petition supporting the adoption of an e-Signature rule.

On October 1, 2000, the ESIGN Act became effective in the United States and is codified at 15 USC § 7001. ESIGN implements a national uniform standard  for all electronic transactions and encourages the use of electronic signatures, electronic contracts, and electronic records by providing legal certainty for these instruments when parties comply with its standards. ESIGN preempts any state laws to the extent they aren’t consistent with it.

Judicial opinions addressing a challenge to the legality of e-signatures in the United States are relatively rare. This is likely a function of the widespread adoption of electronic signatures (over one billion signing transactions
with DocuSign alone) combined with the effectiveness of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) and the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN) in confirming their legal validity around the start of the millennium.