Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

Execution definition

What does Execution mean? Execution describes how a party gives legal effect to a document—typically a contract or deed—by signing it (and, for some bodies, sealing it) and, for deeds, ensuring any required attestation and delivery/formalities are met. It is a practical term; the governing rules are set by legislation and case law in each jurisdiction. England & Wales and Northern Ireland: simple contracts are usually executed by signature, including by electronic signature if the signer intends to authenticate and has authority. Deeds require signature by an individual in the physical presence of a witness who attests the signature; companies execute under Companies...

From chute to portal: systematic allocation of legal work, restoring ownership of risk to the business and deploying external support

Published by a LexisNexis In-house Advisor expert

Practice notes

Practice Note

This Practice Note is aimed at in-house counsel. It sets out a concise overview of work allocation. The core idea is that deploying resources must be intentional and methodical, and that legal functions should resist the belief that they must personally shoulder every legal risk; with appropriate frameworks and support, others within the business can handle risk just as well. In the end, no legal department will ever be staffed with enough lawyers to operate solely as executors. Two models for resourcing legal work are the ‘chute’ and the ‘portal’. Under the chute model, all items with a legal element across the organisation are channelled straight to lawyers, who wait for the flow to arrive. Over time this becomes unsustainable, because the volume demands an ever-growing number of lawyers to keep pace with the workload, as the illustration below suggests. Relying on lawyers purely for Execution is neither realistic nor a scalable design...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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