Smart Contracts – Not so Smart Legal Professionals?
Smart contracts are becoming all smarter and increasingly available. Yet there seems to be a reluctance in mainstream industry to actually use them. It seems hard to convince general counsel, law firms, and purchasers of legal services to implement smart systems. This is a challenge for the providers of smart technology. The technology is not the problem – successful implementation is. The aim of this paper is to explore the resistance and gatekeepers within the legal industry, potentially resulting in a better understanding of how to overcome the barriers and use available smart technology.
Table of contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Theoretical frames: barriers and enablers of implementation
- 3. An illustration of barriers and gatekeepers – the case of the Swedish legal industry
- 3.1. Current hindering organizational structures and gatekeeping partners with veto power
- 3.2. Only few assert smart contracting as a business opportunity
- 4. Innovation in contracts and lawyers’ work products remains rare – but is long overdue
- 5. Overcoming the barriers and convincing gatekeepers to change
- 6. Where do we go from here?
- 7. References
