Digital signatures will satisfy statutory requirements for documents to be in writing and signed by hand, the Law Society has said in a practice note. A joint working party of the company law committees of the Law Society and the City of London Law Society developed the practice note, Execution of a document using an electronic signature, which sets out the law on e-signatures in commercial contracts. The working party drew on common law as well as an EU regulation on electronic ID and trust services, which came into force on 1 July.