Commercial law firm KARIMI.legal accelerates QES and identification processes thanks to DocuSign

KARIMI.legal is a commercial law firm with headquarters in Berlin, which has specialised in commercial law, competition law and legal-technical mass proceedings. With a team of eleven employees, the commercial law firm focuses in particular on the representation of consumer claims against large-scale companies.

The founder of the commercial law firm, Roosbeh Karimi, is part of the new generation of lawyers who have the ambition of advancing digitalisation. His commercial law firm has already successfully relied on electronic files since 2016 and no longer requires any bulky filing cabinets. Docusign eSignature, Docusign Digital Signatures and Docusign Identify now also enable the legal digital administration of signatures and identity checks, for example for powers of attorney and assignment agreements.

Docusign solutions enable efficient digital processes – in place of time-consuming paper processes

Digital transformation is progressing slowly in the German legal industry. Many documents still have to be submitted in paper form. For powers of attorney and assignment agreements, in particular, the legislature still frequently encourages a handwritten signature. As a pioneer in the matter of digitalisation, Karimi is trying to organise these processes more efficiently using electronic means but had not yet found a solution that was valid for legal purposes. So the commercial law team was not yet spared from the daily battle with paper.

As a result, the expenditure is enormous: A typical day at the commercial law firm sometimes involves having to send hundreds to thousands of powers of attorney abroad for legally binding signing by hand. In addition, the documents have to be printed and sent to a number of different recipients. Frequently the commercial law firm has to check whether the documents have reached the right destination. Then, the signed power of attorney also needs to find its way back. The whole process is thus very lengthy, inconvenient, intensive in terms of personnel, and therefore expensive.

Moreover, the legislature requires secure identification within the scope of the Money Laundering Act, for example for real-estate businesses or also with the (fiduciary) administration of money, securities or other assets. Until now, this was achieved in most cases by the clients being identified at the commercial law firm in person with their identity documents.

An effort that is inconvenient for all those involved: “We also represent a lot of international companies, some from the travel industry, and in those cases, no one from the management has the time and desire to come to Berlin just for identification or a signature. But that was the challenge of getting a legally valid power of attorney”, said Roosbeh Karimi, founder of the commercial law firm.   

Docusign solutions are well-known, simple to operate and minimise expenditure.

The attorney was therefore looking for a Digital Signatures solution that could comply with the European Union’s-Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) requirements to the full extent, to ensure the same legal validity as a  handwritten signature. Since the start of 2023, corresponding offers were suddenly on the market.

Docusign eSignature significantly reduces the effort involved in bulk processes

The introduction of the Docusign eSignature has also led to a significant easing of work for the commercial law firm KARIMI.legal: the digital filing of the documents has removed the need for scanning and the lengthy search for documents. Also, printing, sending and waiting times are reduced. Not least, the client response times are significantly reduced as they can sign the documents digitally. 

Moreover, the introduction of Docusign means improved customer service: “Although there will always be some clients who insist on documents being sent by post, most are happy that they can quickly and simply carry out their part of the process digitally. The possibility of checking documents at a glance and reducing them digitally ensures seamless collaboration and enhances the confidence in the commercial law firm”, explains Roosbeh Karimi.

Docusign Digital Signatures and Identify ensure secure and compliant identification

Docusign Identify also significantly reduces the expenditure for the commercial law firm: “The introduction of Docusign has significantly simplified the verification of our clients, in particular with regard to the requirements in terms of compliance of the Money Laundering Act. Through safe, digital identification, our clients can comfortably carry out the verification process at home, from the office or from any other location”, said the founder of the commercial law firm. 

Through Docusign’s Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) solutions,  clients can sign the required documents digitally via the Docusign platform and send a notification to the commercial law firm. The office can then file the document legally in their files so that they are prepared for any money laundering checks. Thanks to Docusign, KARIMI.legal can prove that the commercial law firm has performed all necessary steps correctly and thus meets the legal requirements.   

Hassle-free adoption and integration of Docusign solutions

Karimi is also very satisfied with the introduction of the solution: “The Docusign Customer Success Team has provided us with excellent support during the whole process. The implementation went quickly and smoothly and we were able to seamlessly integrate our existing systems”, said Roosbeh Karimi. In this way, the solution could be integrated into the CRM-Tool Pipe Drive, which is used by KARIMI.legal without any problems. 

The interface via the marketplace enables a simple individualisation of the signatures for the commercial law firm and its clients. “Both in terms of personnel and technically, everything was organised at best so that we were able to quickly get to grips with the Docusign solution. The menu navigation is clear and we were able to perform the desired setups without problems.”   

Greater efficiency and competitive edge thanks to Docusign

Even shortly after the introduction of Docusign, Roosbeh Karimi can be pleased with the advantages of the solution: “If thirty minutes can suddenly be saved per case due to the ID check, that might not amount to much for individual clients. But with a large number of clients and mass proceedings, these savings could amount to hundreds of hours, which leads to considerable savings in terms of time and costs.”

This increases not only the efficiency of the commercial law firm but also its competitive edge in a dynamic market environment. “And greater ease in our workloads naturally makes employees happier.”