Workflow
Workflow. It’s not a concept they teach in law school. Workflow is a process lawyers tend to keep hidden, in part for good reason: if we are going to solve confidential problems, we need to work in privacy. In law Read More …
blockchain
Predictions can wait: digesting consensus
We are starting to get 2017 predictions in the blockchain space, but 2016 raised as many questions as it answered. 2016 showed that blockchain smart contract technology is fit for purpose as improved legal/financial infrastructure, but it also showed that Read More …
Legal engineering gains momentum
The summer of 2016 saw the rise of the legal engineer in software ecosystems. From my own work at Monax Industries on distributed ecosystems solutions using blockchain smart contracts to the continued calls for innovation in law practice through technology, Read More …
Coding for Spaceship Humanity
I’m often asked what drove a mid-career lawyer to make the switch from litigation to legal engineering blockchain-based systems. I’ve usually given the commerce-driven story: I studied the thriving businesses around me for what they had in common and found Read More …
Ethereum’s Killer App: Freedom of Contract
In recent weeks, governance issues are a primary concern for the Ethereum community as it deals with how to build smart contracts that are useful as well as innovative. I am convinced of the viability of the Ethereum concept, if Read More …
Cicadas
It’s cicada season in the neighborhood forests of fair Raleigh. I’ve always been fascinated by cicadas, their shrill song, the creepy exoskeletons left on trees and curbs. I used to collect those little split-back beetle shells for chasing the squeamish. Read More …
A week of Chaos
I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog in the past couple weeks, mostly because smart contracts are heating up! I got into smart contracts because I see in the technology a way to change the world for the better. Read More …
Smart contract leases #2 – a fact pattern
Lawyers like to use fact patterns to explore a legal question because application of legal logic to facts is more useful than a discussion of law in the abstract. For smart contract leases, I’ve started with a finite business application Read More …
Smart contract blockchain leases: vital and tricky
Smart contract leases are an important use case for distributed ledger, blockchain and internet-of-things business. It’s important that companies considering leases in blockchain commerce understand the legal context of their use cases so that in the event of a smart Read More …
Smart Contracts: Blockchain Value Generators
Virtual currency is a high-profile iteration of blockchain technology, but the strength of the technology lies in the data and relationships created in blockchain systems. The reason it is possible to integrate cryptography and decentralization into a currency is because Read More …