On Tuesday, lawyers at Sydney firm Gilbert + Tobin took part in one-day workshop with Ethereum Foundation co-founder and smart contract expert Taylor Gerring designed to teach lawyers how to deploy, interact with and prototype the business logic in smart contracts. The workshop followed a series of smaller coding clinics held throughout the firm last week, which developed lawyers’ knowledge of how to use core coding languages to produce new applications. ‘These workshops put Gilbert + Tobin at the forefront in terms of capabilities, imagination, and technical understanding of our legal team,’ commented the firm’s innovation officer, Simon Gilchrist. After attending the workshop series, lawyers should be able to create smart contracts and apply detailed knowledge of the practical issues involved in blockchain systems in order to advise clients on advanced uses of decentralized systems, he added.

Blockchain technology and ‘smart contracts’

In addition to training Gilbert + Tobin’s lawyers, Mr Gerring also met with around 120 of the firm’s clients in the financial services sector to conduct workshops on the advanced use of blockchain technology and ‘smart contracts’. According to Petra Stirling, Gilbert + Tobin manager of organisation development, helping lawyers and their clients to understand both the mechanics and the potential of these technologies is crucial to ensuring that clients receive the most finessed, cutting-edge advice. ‘[Applications] might include drafting smart contracts for our clients, interpreting them, exploring commercial applications of blockchain technology in a number of different industries and providing really nuanced advice,’ Ms Stirling reported to The Australasian Lawyer.