Notes

What makes an electronic signature hold up, what a signed PDF actually contains, and what the subscription you are replacing was charging you for.

11 September 2026 · 2 min readWhat actually makes a document legally bindingNot the signature itself, and not the font size of the fine print. Here is what a court is actually checking for once a contract already exists.10 September 2026 · 2 min readDoes an electronic signature work outside your own country?Sending a contract abroad does not usually change whether the signature holds up - but there are real exceptions worth knowing before assuming it is fine.8 September 2026 · 2 min readDo you need a signing platform, or just a PDF and an email?Sometimes the honest answer is no. Here is how to tell which situation you are actually in.6 September 2026 · 3 min readWhat is actually in a sealed PDFA walk through the finished file: the stamped fields, the certificate page, the detached PKCS#7 signature, and how to verify it yourself with openssl.4 September 2026 · 1 min readAddendum or amendment: what's the differenceBoth change a contract after it has been signed. They are not interchangeable, and using the wrong one can create a document that contradicts itself.1 September 2026 · 2 min read15 kinds of contracts you'll actually run intoMost lists like this cover the contracts a law firm handles. Here are the ones an actual freelancer or small business sends.27 August 2026 · 2 min readWhat to put in a freelance contractThe clauses that actually prevent a dispute later, not a wall of boilerplate nobody reads.24 August 2026 · 2 min readAre electronic signatures admissible in court?Yes - and they usually hold up better than paper. But admissibility depends on the evidence behind the signature, not the signature itself.19 August 2026 · 2 min readThe six things a contract actually needsA contract is not defined by having a signature line at the bottom. It is defined by six things being true, and a document can fail every one of them while still looking exactly like a contract.14 August 2026 · 2 min readRadio button or checkbox: how to pick the right fieldOne is for choosing exactly one option. The other is for anything else. Getting it backwards on a contract quietly creates a document that can be filled in two contradictory ways.10 August 2026 · 3 min readWhat DocuSign actually costs, and why we stopped paying itWe worked out what it costs to send one document for signature. It is a fraction of a cent. Here is what we were paying instead.6 August 2026 · 2 min readDigital signature vs electronic signature: what's actually differentThe two terms get used as if they mean the same thing. They don't, and the gap between them is where a lot of vendors make their money.1 August 2026 · 3 min readIs an electronic signature legally binding?Short answer: almost always, and it has been for twenty years. The longer answer is about evidence, not about the signature itself.