5 Use Cases for Blockchain in the Legal Industry

The legal industry is one of the oldest and most mature industries in the world. Centuries ago, the legal system used to be a simple case of right and wrong. However, the industry has since grown to accommodate our ever-changing society. When we look at today's world, we see that digitization has taken over. However, the legal industry is still a bit slow to move away from its dependency on paper workflows. That said, since the introduction of blockchain technology¹ to business, there has been a need for lawyers in the blockchain ecosystem. Top businesses like IBM, Facebook and PwC advertise positions for blockchain-based lawyers constantly. This is an indication that there are significant use cases for blockchain in the legal industry.

According to a research report² on legal firms, a total of 41% will integrate the blockchain in transactional legal services, while 21% will use it for business support and the remaining 31% for high-value legal services. These numbers are proof that there has been a shift from the paper-centric system. Blockchain technology is a transparent, immutable and secure distributed ledger that will enable lawyers to record and solve various types of legal matters. It could provide the legal system with multiple use cases including intellectual property rights, smart contracts, land registry, supply chain, chain of custody and litigation and settlements among others.