Musings of a futurist employment lawyer
I am a futurist enthusiast, which means that I am interested in all things artificial intelligence (AI), automation and “fourth industrial revolution” related. I suspect that my interest is due to growing up in the 80s where movies such as the Terminator and Back to the Future reigned supreme.
I am currently working my way through, “The Future of the Professions” and although I am only at chapter 2, I am more convinced that the legal profession needs to adapt before AI make us obsolete. Let’s just say we are living in exciting times!
With the above in mind, I am now on the look-out for areas of law which I feel need to be updated to be fit for this modern technologically-focused world. The first area up on my one-woman task of future-proofing law is the witnessing of documents.
As you may know, there are times when you will need someone to witness you signing a document (e.g. in relation to entering into a mortgage deed or signing a will) in order for the agreement to be valid. In the employment sphere, you may be required to have someone witness your signature when entering into an employment contract or settlement agreement which is a deed.
Recently a client, who was abroad, asked if I could witness him signing an agreement if we had a FaceTime video call. This question had me flummoxed and I felt compelled to check what the law on the execution of deeds actually says.
The law
1(3) of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 and section 44(2)(b) of the Companies Act 2006, state the person signing the deed must do so in the “presence” of the witness.
Having regard to the Oxford Dictionary definition of being “present” this refers to being in a particular place. Clearly, I was not in the same place as my client so I advised that he had to find someone else to assist.
However, is physical presence really necessary? The aim behind this is to have someone who can confirm (if necessary) to a court that the individual concerned signed the document. With video calling, document and screen sharing technology and encrypted signatures – surely it is now possible for a witness to provide such confirmation without having to be physically present. It leads me to wonder if there would ever be a situation in which some form of AI would be able to satisfy the witnessing requirements?
In my practice, most agreements are now finalised electronically and I seldom have regular face to face contact with clients. Therefore, requiring someone to be physically present to witness someone to sign an agreement feels so yesteryear.
What are your thoughts?