Dentons is proud to be the first Canadian law firm to join the Global Legal Blockchain Consortium (GLBC), developing a global network of high-impact initiatives, driven by key stakeholders of the legal industry.

The mission of the GLBC is to organize and align the stakeholders in the global legal industry with regard to the use of blockchain technology to enhance the security, privacy, productivity and interoperability of the legal technology ecosystem.

“As the founding Canadian member of the consortium, we are continuing to demonstrate that Dentons is a leader in innovation in the legal industry,” said Beth Wilson, Dentons Canada Chief Executive Officer. “We strive to develop the best solutions for our clients and our industry colleagues, and joining this network of organizations is another great step towards that goal.”

A key function of the GLBC will be to adopt policies that promote a universal, blockchain-based technology infrastructure for law. In addition, it will govern how a permissioned blockchain functions and establish the policies relating to its operations, such as technology standards; criteria for permissioning; operation of nodes; requirements for writing to the blockchain and reading items on the blockchain; the development of apps; and open source requirements.

“We are excited to work with GLBC and Integra Ledger, which has been selected by GLBC as the first blockchain for law. This gives Dentons the infrastructure to develop unique technology and legal offerings, working in tandem with our clients,” said Andrea Johnson, partner at Dentons. “We see applications for distributed ledger applications across many legal domains and industries in which our clients are active.”

Membership in GLBC will be drawn from major law firms, major corporations who do not serve the legal industry, not-for-profit organizations and educational institutions; and service providers to the legal industry; and will be governed by the Board of Directors, who will serve on committees that are responsible for developing the operating policies. GLBC will be organized around the principles of a good standard setting organization: openness; transparency; due process, including appeal rights; consensus driven decision-making; a management structure that balances competing interests; a conflicts of interest policy, code of conduct and an antitrust compliance program.

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