An unsigned retainer is almost never a refusal. At one employment law firm in Canada, in twelve months, 1,890 matters received a retainer, 1,296 signed, 679 agreements expired unsigned and not one was declined. The people who did not sign went quiet. Someone has to notice within hours, not weeks, because the median time to a signature at that firm is 17 hours, and a file that is still unsigned after three days is already unusual.
Signed
Why a sent retainer is not a signed one, and what changes when someone chases the signature.
You sent the retainer. The signature never came back. Questions about the agreement sit in an inbox. Reminders keep going after the person has signed, or never start at all.
Unsigned means the person said no.
Sent got treated as done, and nobody is chasing the signature.
The file sits in limbo, and nobody can say whether it is pending or lost.
We track every retainer you send, remind the client until it is signed, pass questions about the agreement back to you, and stop the reminders the moment the status changes. When a reminder sequence ends without a signature, we flag the file for your review instead of closing it.
Unsigned is not the same as lost, and a stopped reminder is not a non-engagement letter. Pending stays pending until you say otherwise, and any letter about engagement comes from you.
One employment law firm in Canada, 1 September 2025 to 30 September 2026. The firm is not named, with its agreement.
Every one of those agreements is tracked to signed, expired, withdrawn or not delivered, and a person owns the next step on each. Definitions and the six-year figures are on the results page. Who follows up after the consult.
At the firm above, about one in three in a twelve-month window, counting agreements still open at the cutoff. On a closed group of matters measured in August 2026 it was one in four.
Nobody at that firm declined in twelve months. Agreements expired. The usual reasons are a question nobody answered, a second consultation elsewhere, or a document still sitting in their inbox. Each one has a follow-up step.
No. You send it. We track it, remind the person until it is signed or the stop date closes it, route questions to your team, and flag an expired agreement for your review instead of closing it.
Bring a recent month of inquiries. We show you where this step breaks for you today.
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