CoSign Digital Signatures and the Norfolk Circuit Court are Making Justice Swifter in Virginia

San Francisco, California October 2, 2008

ARX (Algorithmic Research), a leading global provider of digital signatures (standard electronic signatures) and information assurance solutions, has implemented a CoSign digital-signature solution at the Norfolk Circuit Court (NCC), the trial court with the broadest powers in the state of Virginia.

The NCC handles approximately 18,000 cases with 400,000 paper filings each year. Previous to the CoSign digital signature implementation, official documents were either mailed or hand-delivered by external parties, or created internally, then printed and signed. Signed documents were either scanned and electronically archived, or stored in physical archives that dated back to the 1800's. In addition to the high costs the NCC incurred maintaining their paper-based system, the process was slow and inefficient.

"Previous to the CoSign implementation, the NCC struggled to efficiently work with the legal system's demands for signed documentation. CoSign digital signatures enabled us to transform to a true paperless environment, internally and with 3rd parties, while adhering to all legal requirements. We look forward to setting up an example to other courts throughout the nation," said Thomas Larson, Chief Deputy Clerk of the Norfolk Circuit Court.

The CoSign digital signature solution serves approximately 500 individuals throughout the NCC legal system, including judges, judicial staff and employees at the NCC, as well as at the State Attorney's Office, the City Attorney's Office, the Public Defender's Office, and private law firms. By utilizing a digital signature solution across its judicial and administrative processes, the NCC has implemented a streamlined process that is non-reliant on time-consuming hand-delivery, printing, scanning, or physical archiving. On the contrary, CoSign allows an online process in which all Microsoft® Word and Adobe® PDF files that the NCC uses can be digitally and graphically signed, resulting in globally verifiable and legally-binding records.

Mike Milton, VP of Sales, Americas, ARX explained, "The utilization of CoSign provided the NCC with a digital signature solution that alleviated their need to print hundreds of thousands of documents for signing each year."

The circuit court is the trial court with the broadest powers in Virginia. The circuit court handles all civil cases with claims of more than $15,000. It shares authority with the general district court to hear matters involving between $4,500 and $15,000. The circuit court has the authority to hear serious criminal cases called felonies.

For more information, please visit www.courts.state.va.us/courts/circuit/Norfolk/home.html.