Specialized in Tax Law and M&A, Pascal Jardin passed the Paris Bar in 1992. After working as a partner for several years in leading law firms (Fidal, Salans, Deloitte), he decided in 2012 to set up his own practice.
As an early user of Closd, he agreed to tell us about the benefits of Closd for his practice, especially for the organization of closings and remote electronic signature sessions.
Closd: Can you please introduce yourself?
Pascal Jardin: I work on my own after being a partner in the firms you mentioned.
My clients are mainly small and medium-sized businesses. I exclusively practice M&A and tax law (mainly corporate).
What were the main issues before adopting Closd? Why did you choose the platform?
I think I was one of Closd’s first clients; my first closing organized with the Closd platform took place in 2018. I was already following a lot of legaltech news and found out about Closd in a news article. I was interested in the product and called Closd for a presentation. I then discovered a tool that corresponded to what I was looking for.
The platform facilitates considerably the closing of M&A transactions. After having done many closings on paper, it was a real plus to use Closd! The time of photocopies and notarial bindings was finally over as well as the time of endless sessions dedicated to initial and sign piles of documents. One can also imagine the satisfaction of the customer…
Thanks to the platform, these tedious tasks no longer exist, or almost! However, there is still a lot of preparation work to be done, which requires a great deal of organization, the ability to combine PDFs, etc.
Finally, the platform makes it possible to respect the chronology of transactions (document sequences, signing order) and to generate closing bibles when everything is signed. It is easy very user-friendly.
With the emergence of electronic signatures, we were missing a tool to integrate them into our operations. Closd met this need. For example, during the first lockdown, I was able to organize a signing and then a closing session for a major acquisition that involved about 20 people (buyer, sellers, banks and counsels). Thanks to Closd, we were able to organize all operations and sign documents remotely, while document exchanges and transmissions were carried out without difficulty via the platform. Customers were obviously very appreciative of this tool, as they had doubts about being able to finalize the operation in the middle of a lockdown period.
Surprisingly, I have the impression that, more than my colleagues, my clients are the ones who have adopted the tool, especially in the early days!
How do you use Closd?
I use it as a management tool for M&A transactions, including to organize data rooms. I have also extended its use to signing contracts, hosting and sharing documents etc.
Are your customers satisfied with the use of the platform? What is your assessment?
Yes, clearly, customers are very satisfied with Closd and often surprised by its speed of execution and its very practical aspects (such as scheduling the signing session)! They love the fact that they can sign a set of documents in a few clicks (even in one!).
It’s a very simple tool to use, which simply requires knowing how to use Adobe Pro to merge documents.
Finally, our consulting business is going to evolve considerably in the near future, and it has already started… Closd is part of the solutions that will help us adapt.
Thanks to Mr Jardin for his precious testimony.
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