There is no denying to the fact that law firms and the legal industry in general are burdened by immense amounts of paperwork. From keeping records of each case to the overall maintenance of legal documents is not just time-consuming but also extremely labor-intensive along with other challenges involved.
While there are many technologically advanced options available today that allow in protecting the documents, the efficiency of document transaction is also a big factor that needs to be considered. Securing document with QR code alone may not be sufficient, especially in the legal sector where the involvement of confidential and sensitive information is in abundance.
Instead, the requirement for tamper-proof and reliable technology is required that can not just offer security but also bring efficiency to the overall operations in this industry. Over the years, law firms, attorneys or even the justice system have been operating more or less in the same way.
But things are starting to change as some of the legal players are testing the new technological solutions that have much potential to improve the industry. Blockchain is one such technology that has been making an influence in different sectors and the legal industry is no exception.
Continue to read till the end to find out more about blockchain and its capacity to transform the legal sector.
Blockchain Technology
Blockchain is based upon decentralized consensus mechanism utilizing the networked servers that expedites the peer-to-peer transactions without having the need for a centralized authority for maintaining the information generated by the transactions.
Each of the transactions is verified and combined in a group of authenticated transactions that creates a new ‘block’ in the existing chain of transactions. Once a transaction is recorded to the chain, it can neither be changed nor removed. There has been a significant rise in blockchain tech and in blockchain-based applications that have resulted in generating smart contracts.
Smart contracts have the potential to improve many aspects of transactions and in the legal sector as well it can be used for document transactions. Keep reading till the end to learn in which ways blockchain can influence and transform the legal industry.
The Legal Industry Utilizing Blockchain
In a survey conducted by PwC, it was found that almost 70% of surveyed law firms agree to the utilization of smart contracts for carrying out transactional legal services. While 41% are on the positive side for using blockchain in transactional legal services, 31% for offering high-value legal services and 21% for business support.
Since blockchain is a continuously evolving technology, there are numerous researchers, developers and tech experts that are only discovering new and improved uses of this tech in the legal industry. At present, in notice of the secure and stable nature of this advancing tech, it is observed to be a useful way for legal companies to leverage this technology in solving an array of legal issues.
Blockchain technology has multiple use cases in the law systems including smart contracts, chain of custody, intellectual property rights, land registry, litigation and settlements, legal financial transactions, etc. Blockchain’s ability to integrate with other systems further amplifies its capacity. For instance, blockchain integrated document security QR code can do wonders for safeguarding the legal documents that need to be confidential and safely maintained.
In the foreseeable future, blockchain may alter and transform forever, a multitude of services that are conducted today. Some ways that blockchain can alter are –
Automatic Settlements of Security Transactions
Law firms are responsible to oversee and help in the processing of legal estate and ownership share transfer for businesses regularly. This service requires diligent attention to all compliance laws and information related to latest restrictions. Through the use of blockchain, automation can be brought into this service and enabled to handle ownership transactions via blockchain networks.
Smart Contracting Technology
Legal industry has remained the same when it comes to documentations as it is still time-consuming and static. But smart contracts can change the system for good as the traditional paper-based documents and current digital copies of contractual agreements will upgrade and become a thing of the past. Smart contracting will allow programmable components through blockchain networking. Its ability to bring automation in the application of terms and conditions in the agreements will revolutionize the overall system.
Rapid and High-accuracy Document Authentication
With all the paper-based documents it is pretty obvious to encounter challenges such as damaged or lost case files. Even with digital copies of documents, the security and verification of documents is not up to the mark. Blockchain with its integrated document authentication QR code can bring more security. Law firms and attorneys can verify the authenticity of documents with just a simple scan, therefore, bringing reliability, rapidness and all-round security.
Blockchain has got some great potential that can forever transform the legal sector for good.
