It’s a deep and growing problem: lawyers signing off on affidavits or real estate documents without verifying who is actually behind the screen, Bob Aaron writes.
Dreamstime
In the post-COVID age of digital signatures and electronic meetings, the click of a mouse has often replaced the firm press of a pen.
Documents that required a personal meeting before COVID can now be signed from a kitchen table laptop or a smartphone — even from a parked car. Lawyers use many online tools such as eSign Connect, Docusign and Adobe Sign for this function.
But for lawyers and their real estate clients, that convenience can come at a serious cost — one that threatens not only professional reputations but also the integrity of the legal system itself.
At a Law Society seminar in November, complaints intake lawyer Gisella Moretti revealed that some lawyers are not witnessing the signing of documents or administering the required oath for sworn documents in person or virtually, as required by provincial law and Law Society rules.
It’s a deep and growing problem: lawyers signing off on affidavits or real estate documents without verifying who is actually behind the screen. The results can be serious — from title fraud to impersonation — even misdirection of client funds.
In an email exchange last week, Glenn Stuart, the Law Society’s director of professional regulation, wrote that “there are many instances we have encountered over the years where licensees (lawyers) have not met with their clients in person, including cases involving the commissioning of affidavits. … It should not happen but it does.”
He added that there have been Law Society Tribunal cases in which a lawyer has signed an affidavit without being present with the client, resulting in outcomes as serious as revocation of the lawyer’s licence.
If a lawyer presents online real estate documents to the client for signature without his or her online presence, the lawyer is breaching the rules of the Law Society and Ontario law. And the lawyer is not doing his or her job in explaining each and every document before they are signed.
When you hire a lawyer, you are putting your trust in a regulated professional bound by strict ethical and legal rules. One of those fundamental duties is to verify your identity and ensure that you truly understand and approve what you are signing.
New Law Society rules require copies of photo ID to be submitted by the client to a third party for electronic verification. This significantly reduces the possibility of identity fraud using forged documents.
If lawyers do not meet you — either in person or by secure video — they cannot properly confirm that you are who you say you are. That creates a risk that someone could impersonate you, using your identity to sign contracts, transfer property, or take out a mortgage in your name.
When your lawyer witnesses your signature — whether in person or by a verified video call — it’s not just a formality. It’s a legal safeguard.
An in-person or virtual meeting allows your lawyer to ensure you understand what you’re signing, and detect red flags of impersonation, money laundering or fraud.
Emailing an electronic signing link without any live verification is not enough. A lawyer must see the client, provide full explanations and advice, and make notes of the process to meet regulatory and ethical standards.
If your lawyer sends you documents to sign electronically without meeting you in person or by video, you should be concerned — and you should ask questions.