Ashurst is the latest law firm to join the Accord Project, the industry standard organisation developing open source smart legal contract standards.
The Accord Project was formed by US-based legal tech pioneer Clause last year and works in collaboration with world-leading standards bodies and technology organisations including the IEEE, International Association for Commercial and Contract Management, R3 and Hyperledger.
The aim of the project is to establish open source techno-legal standards to facilitate the widespread adoption of smart legal contracts, by bringing together leading professionals in areas such as supply chain, financial services, and intellectual property law to develop canonical standards for a new generation of contracting and transaction management.
Other law firm members – the list is already long – include Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, DLA Piper, Denton and Simmons & Simmons. For the full list click here: https://www.accordproject.org
Tae Royle (pictured), head of digital legal services at Ashurst, said: “Smart contracts are already being used to manage hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency and digital assets globally. But we lack common standards and frameworks for ensuring legal enforceability of smart contracts. The Accord Project seeks to bridge the divide between code and law. Ashurst is proud to be part of this important project shaping the new digital economy.”