Blockchain and the law

• Blockchain technology, or shared-ledger technology, is increasingly seen as an infrastructure-level technology that can be employed in non-financial applications, such as programmable smart contracts that self-execute, digital notary services, and platforms that track and transfer digital media assets. • Emergent non-financial applications of blockchain technology will broaden the impact of the blockchain beyond banks and other financial institutions to other forms of asset ownership transfer, such as developers who may purchase land from a blockchain land title registry; trade mark and patent holders who may exercise their intellectual property rights over the blockchain; and clients who may be a party to a smart contract. • Knowledge-sharing opportunities need to be in place to ensure that developers and lawyers understand each other's perspectives. • Lawyers should be aware of the potential of blockchain technology to augment their capabilities as well as disrupt their clients. • As smart contracts are increasingly used, lawyers may need to gain a basic proficiency in coding to allow them to check that clauses and contractual mechanisms have been appropriately translated to the relevant programming language. This could be met by training as part of continuing professional development obligations or the legal industry could partner with blockchain stakeholders to produce guides and programmable standard smart contracts that could be tailored to a client's needs.