Dispelling the Myths and Identifying the Risks for the In-House Lawyer Confronted with Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence

Charlotte Stetzel, Regional Legal Counsel, DNV GL

The internet analyst firm Gartner has suggested that there will be 20.4 billion devices connected to the internet by 2020. Cisco Visual Networking Index has commented that “More than one billion new internet users are expected, growing from three billion in 2015 to 4.1bn by 2020.” There is rapid innovation in the technology sector with a huge push to digitalise and create data wherever possible. For the last three decades, the internet has driven much of this change promoting the flow of data within and among firms and people. However, now we are witnessing a new wave of innovation in technology that will directly impact the legal profession. The legal industry has a reputation as being conservative and adverse to technological change. However, in-house counsel, law firms and indeed the judiciary and arbitrators must now begin to engage with technological innovation to remain relevant. This article will focus upon the emergence of blockchains and Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) and how this new technology could potentially shape and change the way in which law firms and in-house legal counsel operate. It also explores the challenges for regulators to control and shape the development of this technology and prevent it being used to undercut existing laws and regulations which balance the human aspects of justice and ethics.