Can blockchain smart contracts affect the legal profession?

Businesses and organizations throughout the world are eager to utilize technology blockchain. In the legal industry, in particular, that is true.

Blockchain was established in 2008 to operate as the Bitcoin virtual ledger, but technology has progressed in ways that could not be conceived when launched. The production of a public information leaflet that is immutable and transparent makes it ideal for any organization which needs sensitive data. Blockchain looks destined to be a huge driver for change in several industries, and there is no exception to the law profession.

Smart contracts

Legal contacts still exist today, as they always were — written in paper copy with physical signatures of all parties required to conclude a legally enforceable transaction. This makes the process of generating a contract exceedingly time-consuming and costly with piles of supporting administrative work (think the endless paper bunches and a steady buzz of scanners and photocopiers).

Blockchain offers the possibility of fully digitizing and interrupting this process by “intelligent contracts” where agreements are created by code and responsibilities are fully automatically activated and performed. With minimum interference from legal third parties, contracts can be signed and auto-executed directly between the parties concerned. As we know, payment disputes may be a thing of the past. Smart contracts automatically trigger payments from contractual terms specified at the beginning or impose fines or cessation services if this is not the case. Enroll in smart contract blockchain course and learn the know-how of smart contacts

Intellectual property

Intellectual property (IP) issues have arisen in the digital age, notably with the protection of individual rights. Millions of internet users believe that everything in their interests should be free and that the law has struggled to find a solution.

Pictures, music and video files, symbols, and other internet copyright materials are commonly downloaded, unlawfully streamed, or otherwise used with no authorization of the creator, often without royalty payment. Blockchain Technology offers a path out of the mud and a public copyright record. It can also track whether the information has been viewed or downloaded.

Custody Chain

What happens in criminal cases is important for cases to succeed or fail. Cases can be lost if the custody chain is not waterproof. Sadly, it is not unusual to compromise cases when evidence is lost or accidentally deleted. As attested by law companies, keeping the custody chain on physical evidence is challenging enough, but digital proof located on hard drives or on mobile devices is far harder to cope with.

Property rights

Property rights can constitute a minefield and controversy is typical. Most records are kept in hard-copy format and often go back decades with reams of ledgers, actions, and similar material. Even if the data is kept in digital format, it usually includes scans of the original hard copies, filed in whatever database that the organization in question considers most reasonable for their needs. In practice, that means poor transparency, misplaced or deleted data, contradictory records, and time spent on locating what you need.

Wrapping up

Time will tell how much the blockchain revolution will impact the legal business, but in its future, it appears inevitable that it will play a big part. Long processes will change (or end) and many companies will most likely end up running more smoothly. But as old doors close, other opportunities will open up an entire universe.