Author: Cristina Martínez Laburta – Chief Legal Officer at ALASTRIA and Blockchain in Legal lecturer at IMMUNE Technology Institute
We're starting the fourth quarter of the year after months of endless emotional ups and downs. These have been complex times in which we've had to sharpen our wit and creativity, and in which we've realised that individual action has become essential, as it is up to all of us to lead the change.
COVID-19 has accelerated the digitisation processes from companies and law firms. The legal certainty and transparency that they bring blockchain technology result in being essential in this environment of change and evolution towards the digital in which we find ourselves immersed. This disruptive technology allows non-manipulable transactions recorded in blocks that are chained to the network, depending on its governance model. The information is thus replicated across different nodes simultaneously, so that the larger the network, the greater its resilience.
Thus, with the aim of fostering generalisation and use blockchain technology compliance, the development of the “European Blockchain Services Infrastructure” (EBSI) network, conceived with the aim of supporting the provision of cross-border digital public services with the highest standards of security and privacy, continues to move forward smoothly. The objective is to create a blockchain network a publicly authorised system that is reliable and accessible, designed to underpin the digital services deployed by public sector organisations and, in the medium term, by private sector organisations as well. EBSI is also working on the development of a self-managed Digital Identity through the “European Self-Sovereign Identity Framework” (ESSIF).
There are also numerous European regulatory initiatives aimed at creating a world-leading digital market. New proposals for regulating the provision of digital services, the administration of justice, digital identity and digital assets are currently under consideration by policymakers.
From Spain, the T-Network, promoted by Alastria ecosystem partners, has been key in the generation of EBSI and ESSIF. The work of Alastria's Legal Committee has also been crucial, with its mission to provide legal comfort for the use of blockchain technology. In a way, Alastria and its working groups are the model that Europe looks to for building that public-permissioned network that will allow it to lead this change in the digital market. Alastria has already come a long way in building the future, and its capacity to influence the construction of this digital Europe is proving to be key.
The Network T already hosts important use cases for legal content applications. This is the case for Councilbox or Boardchain, which enable the entire process of adopting agreements by corporate governing bodies to be carried out comprehensively, facilitating the adoption of fully valid agreements that can be registered with the Mercantile Registry. Or ClarkeModet, a law firm specialising in industrial and intellectual property, which has also developed an application that allows information to be registered confidentially and proven not to have been modified. Asentify is another clear example of the use of blockchain in the legal sector by enabling the management of consent and the traceability of the use of personal data or any other data within an organisational perimeter.
In short, in this changing environment, the concept, role and responsibilities of the lawyer must also evolve, because innovation is a people issue. As part of this evolution, we must move away from viewing the lawyer as a cost centre and start truly believing that we are strategic and essential to business decision-making. I would say that the fundamental role of today’s lawyer is to find a way to make things happen. Building on that, we lawyers must embrace knowledge and the use of technology, and take a broad-based approach to the concept of legaltech and of course, to lose the fear of being creative and trying new things. We must get used to understanding different languages and environments, to joining mixed or hybrid work groups, and to being part of this future's construction, because otherwise we will be left behind.
I encourage you all to be part of this change. Much can be added by blockchain technology in terms of processes, transparency and security. And as always, I'll sign off by remembering Howard Gardner and his maxim: a bad person never becomes a good professional.
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