How this community-focused law firm reimagined client engagement

At the heart of the Bendigo community sits HQ Law, an independent law firm specialising in family law, wills and estates, child protection, and conveyancing—helping clients with legal solutions that support life’s biggest milestones.

Having first begun using Docusign sparingly pre-Covid, HQ Law quickly ramped up its usage when remote working took off—exploring new use cases for the eSignature component along the way.

Now, the team is leveraging it to significantly boost the turnaround times of conveyancing transactions, improving team productivity and reducing costs. 

We sat down with Paige Crouch Team Leader – Conveyancing Assistants, at HQ Law to learn a bit more about the important work the firm is doing for the community and all the ways they’re leveraging Docusign to do so.

A pillar of trust in a tight-knit community

As a law firm, it’s important for HQ Law to uphold the most stringent legal and compliance standards when serving its community. At the same time, the growing threat of cybersecurity attacks in Australia is putting more pressure on businesses that hold confidential information to ensure their cyber resilience is top notch.

“When we had our initial meetings and considered taking on Docusign, there was a lot of reassurance about how well the security features were set up,” Paige added.

Not only did the solution seamlessly integrate with HQ Law’s legal platform but being ISO/IEC 27001:2005 certified, PCI compliant, and TRUSTe certified meant the team easily met compliance requirements through a controlled signing process, full audit trail, signer verification, and state-of-the-art encryption.  

What’s more, is that electronic signatures are lawful in Australia. Agreements signed via Docusign eSignature are enforceable in a court of law and include a court-admissible audit trail.

Speaking on the added benefits, Paige attested to how the credibility of the brand provides an extra layer of reassurance for clients.

“Docusign being a well-known and trusted brand also helps to reassure clients. In many cases, they’ve already heard about Docusign and are familiar with it.”

A faster and more affordable way to add value

In today’s modern, fast-paced economy, businesses are always looking for new and innovative ways to get more done each day—and HQ Law are no different.

Being ranked 14th by PEXA for the number of settlements in Victoria, HQ Law processes a significant number of contracts annually, with some needing as much as 300 pages per document. Prior to using Docusign, the preparation of these documents was both a time consuming and costly process for Paige and her team. 

“We used to spend around 40 minutes preparing and finalising the bigger contracts—those with around 300 pages or so. Now, we can complete these in 10 minutes,” Paige said.

Since implementing the eSignature solution, HQ Law has also reduced client turnaround time on documents from three days down to just one, representing a 66% improvement in relation to the time it takes to obtain signatures from clients.

“Initially, we would follow a client up after three days and now we automatically receive signed contracts back within a day.”

Looking at the bigger picture, by shifting its workflow to a digital alternative, HQ Law has increased overall productivity by recouping 750 hours per year—giving them more time back in their day to focus on engaging with clients, giving advice, and solving complex legal problems.

On top of the extra time back in their day, the HQ Law team have simultaneously reduced overheads by cutting down on printing and postage costs. This has also allowed HQ Law to drop its printing and postage costs from annual conveyancing client fees, extending cost savings to clients too. 

Not only has the digital solution saved time and money, it’s also reimagined how HQ Law engages with clients.

Facilitating flexible and agile ways of working

Now, imagine it’s a Friday afternoon and a property is not yet settled. You're trying to get clients in under a licence agreement and time is ticking. Whether it’s last minute changes to a document, or the need to spin up a new document entirely, this can be a daunting task for many.

For Paige’s team, this was far from it.

“The fact it can be done all electronically and so quickly is incredible. You can have it signed within 10 minutes—it’s a real game changer.”

With Docusign eSignature, what would have been a burden for both the HQ Law team and their client on a Friday afternoon, was seamlessly thwarted by the ability to settle on the spot electronically.

“Signing a contract when purchasing or selling a property can be overwhelming, particularly without being there in person. It’s a big part of our clients’ lives,” Paige said when reflecting on the importance of providing a trusted and frictionless experience for her clients.

This quick and easy process has been a boon for HQ Law’s conveyancing clients, with some even opting to do things exclusively through Docusign. What’s more is that now clients don’t have to worry about where they are when they need to sign a document—giving them the flexibility to enjoy life without being beholden to in-person appointments.

“We’ve had clients who are travelling around Australia or elsewhere and have had to sign a document while they’re away. It’s been very convenient for them to sign electronically via Docusign—taking the stress out of worrying how they’re going to get it signed remotely,” Paige added.

Beyond providing a seamless experience for clients, the team at HQ Law have since expanded their use of Docusign with templates. 

Paige spoke to just how easy it is to create bespoke templates for the firm and how the use of these templates has expedited the contract drafting process. “This was another game changer for us. It’s crazy to think back on how long it used to take us to do the exact same task without Docusign.”

“From the start, Docusign was our number one choice. It’s been really easy to guide clients through and it’s had a hugely positive impact on our business,” Paige concluded.