MSU Law joins Global Legal Blockchain Consortium

Michigan State University College of Law has signed on as a member of the Global Legal Blockchain Consortium (GLBC). The focus of the GLBC is to collaborate and partner with stakeholders in the legal industry on how to use blockchain technology “to enhance the security, privacy, productivity, and interoperability of the legal technology ecosystem.”

“Blockchain is rapidly emerging as an important force in the world of security and privacy,” said Lawrence Ponoroff, dean of MSU Law. “It’s exciting for our faculty to work alongside leading experts in this field as they explore this new regulatory environment.”

As a GLBC member institution, MSU Law will engage with more than 40 law firms, corporations, software companies, not-for-profits, and other universities to develop and promote standards for governing how blockchain technology is used in the legal industry.

MSU Law’s GLBC participation will be spearheaded by Carla Reyes, assistant professor of law and the new director of MSU Law’s Legal RnD program, who joined the faculty earlier this summer. She brings with her a profound knowledge and scholarship in the intersection of law and blockchain technology. Professor Reyes currently serves as a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, and has published extensively on topics related to technology regulation.

“Blockchain technology has already ignited change in a variety of business and legal sectors, including supply chains, corporate share registries, financial services, among many others,” said Reyes. “The legal industry needs to understand the technology for three reasons: (1) it will affect how clients do business, (2) it will affect how law is created and enforced, and (3) it offers new opportunities to re-think the way we practice law and make it more accessible to all.

“I am particularly delighted at the opportunity for Michigan State University College of Law to collaborate with the GLBC because it offers us the opportunity to contribute our expertise in legal services innovation to the combined efforts of leading law firms, technologists and other law schools in the blockchain community. Together, we have the potential to use the power of blockchain technology to improve legal services.”