What Blockchain Tech could Mean to the Legal Industry

Bitcoin as a cryptocurrency, which is based on the application of blockchain technology, it appears to be here to stay, is currently experiencing a resurgence in its value. With the emergence of sites and applications like Coin Cloud (https://www.coin.cloud/app), the prospects of this currency are gradually on the rise. There couldn’t have been a better way to introduce blockchain technology to the world at large rather than to apply it in the payments space, complete with the mining of value as a way to make its adoption appealing to the masses. It would appear that Bitcoin is here to stay when it comes to stock trading, as there are now sites and platforms, like era bitcoin, solely dedicated to helping people trade this cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are just specific applications of blockchain technology though, as suggested, with so many other applications. The legal industry is one area which could benefit greatly from adopting the blockchain, which leads us to the discussion of exactly what the blockchain is before we can explore exactly what it could mean to the legal industry.

What is blockchain technology?

Blockchain tech is simply a public ledger system that effectively stores transactional records in what is effectively a decentralized database. The data is effectively stored as records over a large network, as opposed to just in one central location, which makes those records publicly accessible to anyone who might need to make reference to them.

So in the case of cryptocurrencies, if you send a payment to somebody, a record of that payment is kept on a network whose power is derived from the fact that it’s comprised out of many different computers, but in addition to that specific payment, records of where that value that was stored prior to it coming into your possession is also stored. Hence the term “blockchain.” So, with legal firms that use online payment processing systems such as https://merchantalternatives.com/reviews/lawpay/, they need to be aware of what blockchain can provide for their firm and how it can be used to streamline operations.

Now, if we look beyond the world of cryptocurrencies then it becomes apparent that this is some very useful technology to have access to, because it can be applied in various different fields and industries that are heavily reliant on record-keeping. One such industry is the legal industry.

Blockchain tech in the legal industry

If for example you’re looking for a personal injury attorney Los Angeles legal firms have available, one application of the blockchain tech as far as that goes would be a decentralised database which shows the real-time availability of these legal professionals, along with all the other information you’d need, including their track-record in winning cases and their general performance. That’s probably just a surface-level application of the block chain in the legal industry though, because it can get much, much deeper than that.

Since blockchain tech is effectively a public ledger system, with the stored and updated records maintained by a decentralised computing network, this could go as far as making for a much more accurate means through which to apply the law. So you would effectively get competent legal counsel even if you can’t afford to fork out thousands of dollars for an expensive lawyer as a wealthy individual would do.

There would still be a need for the human element in qualified legal professionals though, but their role would be focussing on the aspects of the legal process such as making sure defendants or plaintiffs show up to the court, as well as case evaluation.

Andy