What is an Electronic Closing Binder?

A closing binder, also known as a closing book or record book, is an important product of most legal transactions. After closing a deal, an attorney will compile all related final documents into a closing binder to distribute to the parties involved. Should there ever be a dispute over the terms of the deal, the closing binder will be the first place lawyers go to look to see what was agreed on.

Closing binders used to be manually printed, scanned, and compiled, but nowadays the majority of firms create electronic closing binders. Not only does this save paper, but with the help of legal transaction management software (LTM), it also saves countless hours of tedious work. Unfortunately, until recently there hasn’t been any software to help compile these closing books – so it still takes a fair amount of time to put everything together.

LTM software gives lawyers the ability to create a unique and branded closing binder in a few clicks. It allows for customization in the look and formatting of the book. A lawyer can create many closing binders with different formats, including the traditional PDF index format with clickable links in the index for easy access to documents. Depending on the purpose of the binder, a lawyer can also choose to create the book in HTML format or even as single continuous PDFs. 

From an administrator’s perspective, the ability to enforce a consistent style for closing books across the whole firm is a huge win. The firm can be assured that its brand is properly represented to all its clients when electronic closing binders are distributed. A lot of work goes into closing a deal – it only makes sense that the final closing book sent out to clients should be polished and professional looking.

LTM software also provides a secure way to send the binder to all desired parties. Gone are the days of waiting months for completed closing binders and then paying high courier fees to send them out. With LTM you can create and electronically send your closing binder immediately after closing.

Interested in learning more about how LTM can help your legal practice? See what iManage Closing Folders can do for you.