One of the highlights of the American Association of Managing General Agents' University Weekend, held last August in Scottsdale, Ariz., was a mock trial and panel discussion addressing the use and enforceability of electronic signatures. Many conference participants rose early Sunday morning to attend the lively presentation, entitled “Electronic Signatures–Are They Legally Binding?” Brian T. Casey and Patrick J. Hatfield, partners from the corporate insurance practice roup at the Atlanta office of law firm Lord, Bissell & Brook LLP, gave an overview of electronic signatures and the federal Electronic Signature in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN), then served, respectively, as moderator and panelist during an industry roundtable discussion. Rounding out the panel were Tom Gonser, one of the founders of DocuSign, an electronic-signature service; Christopher W. Heidrick, CPCU, CFP, CLU, ChFC, former senior vice president and national product manager for Marsh's Consumer and Small Commercial Practice, current vice president, personal lines marketing for Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. and speaker on the topics of multichannel and Internet distribution; Scott Anderson, CPCU, CIC, CIW, executive vice president of Concorde General Agency Inc.; and Hon. Michael A. Yarnell, a recently retired judge and member of the American Arbitration Association commercial and construction panels.

Following is an edited transcript of the panel discussion:

Brian Casey: Increasingly, the Internet is being used for business communications and transactions, including insurance sales and services. Insurance companies, agents and consumers now have the option of conducting transactions electronically rather than face-to-face. Yet some people may question the validity and legal viability of electronic signatures, especially in online financial transactions. They may wonder if such transactions are safe and if electronically signed contracts are legally binding. Our goal today is to address the issues we think are most likely to be encountered when dealing with an electronically signed document.