Blockchain technology for Legal sector
Blockchain technology is fairly often accused of being used for anonymous illegal transactions, money laundering, hiding crypto-income or even storing terrorists data!
It is not obvious how such a bad reputation technology can be used for the opposite purpose - as legal services. Let’s try to put most of technology features on examples where blockchain may help lawyers and their clients.
Improve confidentiality
In contrast to a criminal world where hidden information is investigated by police authorities, information received, created and maintained by lawyers (e.g. corporate legal information, client private data and attorney secrets) are subjects for hackers fraud and blackmailers. To protect such sensitive data it can be decentralized via blockchain, what will eliminate unauthorized access or changes.
Smart-contracts
Replacing traditional contracts (digital or paper-based documents) with smart-contracts, and using automated contract management instead of the manual contract drafting process, reduces preparation time for documents. Blockchain technology contracts have no room for misinterpretation. As well average person can understand the transactions and the smart contracts purpose.
Reducing time and costs
It is clear that all costs are finally taken by a customer. By agency research 48% of lawyers time is spent on administration tasks such as information exchange and digitizing. These costs are paid by clients, what increases lawyers hourly fees to significant rates. By pre-drafted smart-contracts, lawyers can perform administration tasks and preparational steps without extra costs for clients final bill.
By using smart-contracts, constantly arising legal expenses can be automatically tied up to a digital wallet funds release for the compensation of legal fees.
Time and costs spent on documents signing can be also reduced. Electronic signatures ensure efficient and fast document verification. When signing a document by using blockchain technology instead of electronic signature platforms (e.g. DocuSign) lawyers can cut down 1 signature cost just to a few cents. When parties are signing any smart-contract, they simultaneously agree conditions and terms of this agreement. Blockchain based electronic signatures exist separately from the document, that allows independent authentication without granting full access to the document content.
Supporting procedures
For numerous legal related procedures it will be also helpful to use blockchain. Documents notarization, public records (especially land and property registers), corporate filings could be successfully protected using the technology, as well as blockchain-based intellectual property enforcement system appears very promising by using non-fungible tokens.
“But all listed improvements to legal sector are only possible to adopt, after governments, public notaries and clients will move their activities to blockchain eco-system.”
