Law firms and notary practices
Professional secrecy can’t be outsourced.
A brief, a draft deed, or a bundle of exhibits contains what a client entrusted to you in confidence. Uploading it to an online PDF suite means handing it to one more third party — a third party that was never part of that confidence.
The problem
Today, to redact an exhibit, merge a bundle, or get a deed signed, most firms turn to a free online converter. The PDF then leaves the workstation, passes through a provider’s servers — often located outside Switzerland — and comes back processed. No one really checks where it went in the meantime.
Yet that trip constitutes data processing by a third party, within the meaning of data protection law. It presupposes, in principle, a contract with that provider, a review of its safeguards, and one more line in the firm’s record of processing activities. For a simple redaction, the formality is wildly disproportionate to the service rendered — and yet it exists, provider after provider.
What VellumPDF changes
Every VellumPDF tool runs entirely in the browser: redacting, merging, signing, or comparing two contracts all happen on your own machine, using your machine’s processor. The PDF never goes anywhere — so there’s no third party to qualify, and no data-processing agreement to negotiate for that task.
The proof, in ten seconds
You don’t have to take our word for it. Any team member, even without technical skills, can verify it themselves.
- 1Open your browser’s developer tools (press F12).
- 2Click the Networktab.
- 3Redact an exhibit or sign a deed with VellumPDF.
- 4Noticethat not a single request goes out with the file — the list stays silent throughout the process.
Day to day
Everyday tasks
Redact an exhibit before disclosure
Permanently hide a confidential passage in an exhibit before sending it to opposing counsel — the text is destroyed from the file, not just covered with a black bar.
Redact PDF →Compare two versions of a contract
Spot exactly what changed, word for word, between the draft you sent and the version the other party returned, without reading line by line.
Compare two PDFs →Sign a deed
Draw your signature and place it precisely on the page — no printing, signing in ink, and rescanning.
Sign PDF →Merge a bundle of exhibits
Assemble a case file’s exhibits in bundle order, into a single document ready to file.
Merge PDF →Number the exhibits
Add clean numbering to a set of exhibits, with the position and format you choose.
Number the pages →Password-protect a document before sending
Encrypt a file in AES-256 before emailing it to a colleague or a client.
Protect PDF →What VellumPDF doesn’t do
VellumPDF is not legal advice and issues no certification or accreditation. It doesn’t replace your record of processing activities, nor the analysis your firm must carry out on its own professional secrecy obligations. What VellumPDF offers is more modest and more verifiable: the elimination of third-party data processing for routine operations on your PDFs, which simplifies your record accordingly.
VellumPDF Cabinet, built for professional secrecy
The Cabinet license, billed annually per firm, adds a written attestation of local processing for your record, an installable version for the firm’s internal network, and your own branding on the tool. The tools themselves stay free for everyone.
VellumPDF in detail: see our privacy page, or explore the case of accounting firms and trustees.