Getting the other side to e-sign a settlement

How a law practice sends a settlement agreement for e-signature when one signer is the opposing party, and what the completion certificate shows.

By Achekam · 11 October 2026 · 4 min read · For Legal businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya

After months of correspondence, the parties agree terms on a Thursday afternoon. Your client wants it signed before anyone changes their mind; so, in fairness, does the other side. Printing, couriering and waiting for original signatures from a party in another city could take a week, and a week is long enough for a settlement to unravel.

Electronic signing can close that gap, but a settlement is not like a mandate. One of the signers is not your client: it is the person you were opposing yesterday, often represented by their own attorneys. This article explains how a law practice in South Africa, Nigeria or Kenya can send a settlement agreement for signature in Achekam with the other party as a signer, and where electronic signing should give way to paper.

The envelope must be linked before it can go

An envelope with a signer from outside the practice must be linked to a client or a CRM lead before it is sent. For a settlement, the natural link is your own client: the agreement settles their matter, and the signed copy belongs in their records. The other party then signs as an outside signer on that envelope.

Agree the process with the other side's attorneys first, if they are represented. Tell them the agreement will arrive by e-mail from your practice's signing system, who will receive it and in what order, and ask them to confirm the e-mail address their client will sign from. A signing request that arrives unannounced looks exactly like a phishing e-mail, and a cautious opponent may rightly refuse to click it.

Signers in order or all at once

Any document can be sent for electronic signature with signature and initials fields placed on it, and signers can sign in order or all at once. Staff can add signers, approvers and copied recipients, and each signer signs from an e-mailed link without needing an Achekam account. The signing console has no sidebar entry; it opens from the Sign button and the dashboard.

For a settlement, think about the order:

Signing all at once is faster, but signing in order means nobody signs a version the other party is still disputing. Place initials fields on every page if your practice usually initials each page of a settlement, so a substituted page is easy to spot.

Expiry dates and reminders when the other side delays

Envelopes carry an expiry and reminders. Signing links last 30 days by default, but a settlement rarely should. Set an expiry that matches the agreement's own deadlines: if the offer lapses on Friday, the envelope should too, so nobody can sign a lapsed offer the following month.

Reminders do the polite chasing. If the other party has not signed by the reminder, call their attorney rather than sending another e-mail; delay at this stage often signals a second thought that is better surfaced by a conversation.

What the completion certificate records about each signer

When everyone has signed, Achekam produces the signed PDF with a completion certificate. The certificate lists each signer's e-mail, the times they signed, their IP address and browser, and the document's fingerprint. The signed PDF and the certificate are filed back into Documents, in the client's signed documents folder.

The fingerprint matters most in a dispute about which version was signed: it ties the certificate to the exact document. Document Centre keeps versions, so a later amendment never overwrites the signed original. How the mandate itself is signed is covered in having the mandate signed electronically.

South Africa: a simple electronic signature, not an advanced one

Achekam's e-signatures are simple electronic signatures. The certificate cites section 13 of South Africa's Electronic Communications and Transactions Act and says they are not advanced electronic signatures. Do not describe them to the other side as anything more.

Acts Online publishes the text of section 13 of the ECT Act, which sets out when an electronic signature is valid and when the law requires an advanced electronic signature instead. Whether a simple electronic signature with this audit trail is enough for a particular settlement is the attorney's judgement, made before the envelope is sent rather than after it is signed.

Nigerian and Kenyan practices should note a current limit: the completion certificate always describes the signatures under South Africa's ECT Act, whatever the workspace's country. Explain that to the other side, and take your own view on how your country's law treats electronic signatures. How certificates read in each country is set out in e-signature certificates by country.

Agreements the practice should still have signed on paper

Electronic signing is not always the right tool. Consider paper, or a signature the law specifically recognises, when:

1. the law requires an advanced electronic signature or a handwritten signature for that kind of document;
2. the agreement will be made an order of court and the court's practice requires originals;
3. the agreement deals with land, succession or another area with its own formalities;
4. the other party is a large institution whose own policies require wet-ink signatures;
5. there is any doubt about the identity of the person who will receive the link.

When in doubt, sign on paper and file a scan. A settlement that is challenged later is worth far more than the few days electronic signing would have saved.

General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.