![]() ![]() The Nebraska Ethics Advisory Opinion for Lawyers was one of the first by a US state ethics body to address bitcoin payments. US regulators have also urged caution because of concerns that volatility in cryptocurrencies could breach professional conduct rules that prohibit the country’s lawyers from charging unreasonable fees to clients. Bitcoin’s price dropped from above $67,000 in November 2021 to below $19,000 in September, for example. However, many mainstream law firms have steered clear of being paid in cryptocurrency because of swings in its value. The decision by law firms to accept thee digital assets means that smaller businesses that have raised start-up funding in a cryptocurrency, can now buy vital early-stagelegal advice that they otherwise would not have been able to pay for. Some clients do fundraisings and receive crypto and are very keen to do this.” ![]() Partner James Burnie says: “We have three or four clients a month paying in crypto. Gunnercooke became one of the first UK law firms to do the same when it said in February that it would accept payment in currencies including bitcoin and Ethereum. US firms such as Steptoe & Johnson, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, and Perkins Coie are now accepting currencies such as bitcoin in exchange for legal services. I met a Swiss lawyer in our metaverse office today and I felt I got to know them better than if we had spoken on a Zoom call They increasingly deal with clients that use blockchain and cryptocurrency, and some have started to accept cryptocurrency as payment for legal services. Opening an office in the metaverse is only one way in which law firms are embracing new technologies, though. “I might be giving a seminar in the metaverse and there will often be one or two people running around like crazy or doing something like creating a massive cartoon of a cat,” he says. There can be technological glitches and some visitors pay less attention than in real life. Clients can easily get lost when navigating virtual spaces without a host avatar to guide them. Innanen highlights some practical problems. Some more sceptical law firms point out that it is still expensive to “buy” office space in the metaverse, and there are also concerns about cyber security and protection for sensitive client data. German law firm Gleiss Lutz opened an office in the metaverse in July. Grungo Colarulo, a US law firm specialising in personal injury, entered the metaverse with an office in Decentraland last December, with help from the 11-year-old daughter of founding partner Richard Grungo Jr, who used her experience of online gaming worlds such as Minecraft. US law firms are increasingly active in the metaverse. Inviting students to the metaverse office is a fun way to present our way of working and our cases to the students,” says Innanen. But, unfortunately, our office in Helsinki is tiny. “We get a lot of requests from student organisations they would like to visit our offices. Dot staff based in Spain, Berlin and Helsinki can interact as avatars using the virtual office and there are no constraints on visitor numbers. It is a good way of connecting and, as we are all present in avatars, it gives you a feeling of being together.” “Teams and Zoom are very convenient but, sometimes, they lack a sense of connection . . . We have all our weekly meetings at our metaverse office. “On the other hand, the work that we do is very collaborative,” he explains. It will also be used to train lawyers and includes features such as a virtual blackboard - an online space dedicated to learning. Rodrigo González Ruiz, partner in digital law at Deloitte Legal in Madrid, says the firm is developing its own virtual office, which will enable team members based there and in Barcelona and London to meet clients. So lawyers are opening offices in virtual worlds as a way of connecting with technology clients and entrepreneurs who are increasingly doing business there. HSBC, for example, has purchased digital real estate in The Sandbox, which is expected to become a stadium to host virtual sporting events.Īnd where clients go, law firms typically follow. In recent months, big companies as well as smaller start-ups have rushed to stake a place in the metaverse. The legal industry is notoriously conservative, but some forward-thinking lawyers are testing out metaverses such as Decentraland or The Sandbox, which allow users to connect up, as well as run businesses, buy parcels of “land” to build virtual office space, host virtual meetings and buy and sell digital assets.
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