A Legal Renaissance, Blockchain Style – CoinDesk

Maybe it makes sense that the old, siloed law firm models need to evolve, as well.

We are experiencing a technological tidal wave of new business models and novel legal questions, and regulators, market participants and lawyers all are trying to navigate the current.  The entire blockchain ecosystem arguably benefits when lawyers focus some of their energies outward, beyond their individual firms – advancing legal discussion and theory and grappling together to interpret and apply legal frameworks – rather than solely inward.

Source: A Legal Renaissance, Blockchain Style – CoinDesk, Joshua Ashley Klayman Kuzar, January 7, 2018

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Solo and Small Firms Face Many Challenges, Survey Shows, But Few Have Made Changes to Address Them | Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites

… when you combine the numbers for firms that have either implemented changes or that have plans in place, the numbers of firms that are addressing their challenges range from roughly half to two-thirds:

  • Challenges acquiring new client business, 63%.
  • Getting paid by clients, 65%.
  • Demonstrating the firm’s value to potential clients, 65%.
  • Keeping up with competition from other firms in your practice areas, 54%.
  • Lack of internal efficiency, 55%.
  • Spending too much time on administrative tasks, 47%.
  • Cost control and expense growth, 54%.
  • Managing staff, 68%.
  • Clients demanding more for less, 42%.
  • Increasing complexity of technology, 52%.
  • Retaining client business, 67%.
  • Increasing pace of legal and regulatory change, 46%.

Source: Solo and Small Firms Face Many Challenges, Survey Shows, But Few Have Made Changes to Address Them – Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites, November 30, 2017, Robert Ambrogi

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The Legal AI ‘Barbarians’ Have Already Taken the Gates |Artificial Lawyer

Strangely, it’s not the legal IT people in law firms who seem to have most grasped just how important AI and automation is, it’s the managing partners. This is because it’s their job to look at the bigger picture, the economic and strategic picture, not just how the machine functions day to day.

Great list of legal Artificial Intelligence providers. Looking forward to “AI and blockchain fusion initiatives.”

Source: The Legal AI ‘Barbarians’ Have Already Taken the Gates – Artificial Lawyer, December 01, 2017, Richard Tromans

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IBM + Integra Ledger Launch World NDA Project in Global First | Artificial Lawyer

The project will take NDAs and place key identifier information onto the Integra permissioned blockchain; for example, the names of the parties, companies involved and other information that may need to be shared according to the non-disclosure document. This will provide a secure, single version of truth for the NDA. IBM Watson’s AI technology will then be applied to deliver insight into that data, covering legal and business intelligence issues.

Source: IBM + Integra Ledger Launch World NDA Project in Global First, 27th November 2017

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Someone Figured Out How to Put Tomatoes on a Blockchain – Bloomberg

“It’s a tool, and you have to apply it to the right set of problems,” he said. “What it tends to be very good for is knowing who owns what and when,” Cascarilla added. “It’s not a magic bullet.”

“There’s a lot of fraud in food origins, especially now that it’s hot,” Myran said. “People say ‘this is local,’ or ‘this is organic,’ or ‘this is grown using certain practices.’ With this system, you can prove it.”

Source: Someone Figured Out How to Put Tomatoes on a Blockchain – Bloomberg, Annie Massa
November 9, 2017

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Deloitte Report: Over 26,000 Blockchain Projects Began in 2016 | CoinDesk

“The stark reality of open-source projects is that most are abandoned or do not achieve meaningful scale. Unfortunately, blockchain is not immune to this reality. Our analysis found that only 8 percent of projects are active, which we define as being updated at least once in the last six months.”

The authors add that organizations are a “positive differentiator” in the data, saying “while 7 percent of projects developed by users are active, 15 percent of projects developed by organizations are active.”

Source: Deloitte Report: Over 26,000 Blockchain Projects Began in 2016 – CoinDesk, Stan Higgins, November 8, 2017 at 13:30 UTC

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IBM wants Canada to blockchainify its weed industry | TNW

“Blockchain is rapidly becoming a world leading technology enabling the assured exchange of value in both digital and tangible assets, while protecting privacy and eliminating fraud,” the proposal reads. “Its relevance to regulating cannabis is similar to its many chain of custody applications in areas such as pharmaceutical distribution and food chains.”

Source: IBM wants Canada to blockchainify its weed industry, Mix, November 6, 2017

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Blockchain will disrupt the world of in-house counsel | Canadian Lawyer Mag

“I think this is the biggest innovation in computer science in a generation. For the first time in history, people everywhere can trust each other and transact peer-to-peer,” he said. “And trust is not achieved by counterparties and middlemen — trust is achieved by cryptography, by collaboration and by some very clever code.”

“Talk to your CTO, CFO and CIO and see if they are working on this”

Source: Blockchain will disrupt the world of in-house counsel | Canadian Lawyer Mag, Jennifer Brown, October 17, 2017

Thanks, Anna!

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Changing the Legal Game with Blockchain – Legal Talk Network

Blockchain has recently emerged as one of the technologies that will most change the way lawyers practice law and yet a lot of people still don’t fully understand what blockchain is. In this episode of Law Technology Now, host Bob Ambrogitalks to David Fisher, CEO of Integra Ledger, about what blockchain is and its application in the legal industry. They discuss the benefits to using blockchain including having data security, your own digital identity, and maintaining integrity in documents like contracts, signatures, and more.

David Fisher is the founder and CEO of Integra Ledger, a permissioned blockchain for the global legal industry that facilitates secure and efficient interoperability among law firms and their clients.

Source: Changing the Legal Game with Blockchain – Legal Talk Network, October 23, 2017

Thanks, Fred!

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