The best e-signature app for law firms: engagement letters, fee agreements and settlements

What a firm gets signed

• Engagement letters and fee agreements: scope, hourly rate or contingency percentage, and who pays costs, signed before work starts. Check your state's professional conduct rules for what a fee agreement must contain.
• Conflict waivers: the client's informed consent, confirmed in writing, when a conflict comes up mid-matter.
• Records authorizations: permission for a hospital or employer to release records for a personal injury, disability or employment claim.
• Settlement agreements and releases: several parties, each with a lawyer, usually signing in a set order.
• Documents with their own rules: wills, anything that needs a notary and court filings, which go through the court's own e-filing.

The shortlist at a glance

The five, compared honestly

Clio: signing inside the matter

Clio Manage includes e-signatures at no extra cost, powered by Dropbox Sign. You don't need a Dropbox Sign plan, but those signatures only work inside Clio Manage and Grow. Clio's help center sets the allowance by plan: three e-signatures per active user on Starter and 15 on Core, pooled across the firm, and unlimited on Signature and Elite. US plans start at $49 per user a month, and Clio also connects to DocuSign if you prefer it. For a firm already in Clio, the signed engagement letter landing in the matter is the main reason to stay put.

MyCase: intake to signature to payment

MyCase includes unlimited e-signatures and document generation on Pro, at $100 per user a month billed annually or $120 monthly, and on Advanced at $130 or $150. Basic, at $50, has no e-signatures. Pro also adds intake forms, the full client portal and Word-based templates that fill in case details, while LawPay payments come on every plan. A firm that wants the intake form, the engagement letter and the retainer payment in one flow gets it here.

PracticePanther: unlimited sends on Business

PracticePanther's Business plan includes native eSignature with unlimited sends and unlimited intake forms, at $89 per user a month billed annually or $99 monthly. Solo and Essential don't list e-signatures, though document templates, the client portal and PantherPayments come on every plan. If you'd move up only for signing, Business costs $40 per user a month more than Solo on annual billing.

DocuSign: what the other side often uses

Opposing counsel, insurers and corporate clients often send through DocuSign. Standard is $30 per user a month on an annual plan billed monthly, with 100 envelopes per user a year, shared templates and in-person signing. Business Pro at $45 adds bulk send, signer attachments and web forms. ID verification is an add-on from $2.40 an attempt, which matters when an email address isn't enough certainty about who signed a release.

SignMaster: signing without the practice suite

SignMaster has no matters, time entries, trust accounting or calendar. It fits a small firm whose case software lacks signing or charges for it per user, and documents that sit outside a matter. Settlements go to each party and their lawyer in a set order, and you can countersign after the client. Redaction rebuilds pages so nothing under a black box survives in the PDF you send. Access codes add a second check on the signer, and a custom role can keep an associate to their own envelopes. It doesn't run knowledge-based or ID checks.

Which one fits your firm

• You already run on Clio: use its built-in signing, and check your plan's allowance on Starter or Core.
• You want intake, signing and payment in one flow: MyCase Pro.
• You're on PracticePanther and need unlimited signing: move to Business.
• Your clients are companies and insurers that send through DocuSign: DocuSign.
• A solo or small firm without signing in its case software, or with lots of non-matter paperwork: SignMaster, at one price for a small team.