Smart Contracts refers here to technology that allows a lawyer to create a contract with self executing elements, i.e. coded aspects, that in most cases will sit alongside natural language legal text, sometimes in relatively complex legal documents. This section seeks to show the companies working primarily in the legal sector and is not focused on the types of cryptocurrency trading agreements that also go by the name of ‘smart contracts’.

It is important to note, not all ‘smart contracts’ need to operate via a blockchain. There are also several neologisms related to this area, such as ‘intelligent contracts’, though mostly they all connect to the same core use case: self-executing contractual elements that are written in computable code. This tech can also be used in conjunction with IoT devices and become part of broader workflow and contract creation systems.

For now, a small number of blockchain platforms and applications, in addition to smart contracts, will also be listed here, as and when they arrive.

The companies listed here include:

• Clause (partial listing provided by the AL 100)
• Legaler
• LegalThings
• Monax
• OpenLaw

Clause (partial listing)

Core Product(s): Self-executing legal contracts

Main Technology: Smart contract software, see GitHub for examples of open source elements of its software.

Key Use Cases: Self-executing contracts, (on-chain, or off-chain), integrations with IoT devices and external data streams.

HQ: New York, US.

Other Offices: London, UK.

Total Staff (approx.): NA

Year of Founding: 2016

Development Stage:  NA

CEO (or equiv): Peter Hunn

CTO (or equiv): Dan Selman

Main external investors, if any: NA

Target Market: Legal.

Main Legal Jurisdictions in which you currently operate: NA

Reference Clients: NA

Pricing Model(s): NA

Software Configuration: NA

Security Standards: NA

Company Description:

Clause is a revolutionary new platform that enables commercial contracts to ‘come alive’ and autonomously manage themselves. Our proprietary, patent-pending infrastructure seamlessly integrates legally enforceable contracts with real-time data from the ‘internet of things’, web services, and business and accounting systems.

Clause leaves behind the world of static, paper-based contracts and unleashes the massive potential of dynamic contracts. Prices, warranties, delivery requirements, and other terms update in response to data after the parties form their initial agreement.

Clause brings an unprecedented level of speed, integration, and automation to the business world. We currently have several partnerships with industry and technology leaders in progress. We invented the infrastructure for “intelligent” or “self-managing” legal contracts.

Our proprietary technology leverages cryptography, NLP, RESTful API integrations, and distributed ledgers. [N.B. text from Clause’s public profile.]

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Core Product(s):  Blockchain Infrastructure for the Future of Legal Services, secure meeting tool

Main Technology: Blockchain

Key Use Cases: Smart contracts, decentralised applications for legal services, lawyer-client collaboration

HQ: Sydney, Australia

Other Offices:

Total Staff (approx.): 9

Year of Founding: 2015

Development Stage (e.g. Beta, fully operational): Fully operational

CEO (or equiv): Stevie Ghiassi

CTO (or equiv): Mike Hosseini

Target Market: sole practitioners, small to medium law firms, developers

Main Legal Jurisdictions in which you currently operate: Global, 80+ countries

Pricing Model(s): Freemium SaaS, $19 p/m for paid plans

Software Configuration (e.g. cloud; on-site installation): Cloud

Company Description:

Designed for the $1 trillion global legal industry, the Legaler blockchain and developer tools provide the infrastructure to easily build secure and scalable decentralised applications for legal services without the need for intermediaries.

Proving the technology’s power is Legaler Aid, a first-of-its-kind platform that matches disadvantaged clients with pro bono legal advice, fuelled by a tokenised incentive system and a platform for transparent crowdfunding for social justice cases through tax-deductible donations.

Legaler entered the market in April 2017 by launching a secure online meeting tool for the legal industry that is now used by over 1,000 firms across 80 countries. With end-to-end encryption for video calls inside your browser, messaging, file sharing and screen sharing, Legaler lets you schedule, host and archive your meetings all in one place.

What is your core product’s key selling point?

Legaler makes it easy for developers and businesses to build blockchain-powered applications for the global legal industry without the need for traditional intermediaries. The Legaler open-source protocols define functionality standards for self-sovereign identity, payments, transaction stages, communication and dispute resolution.

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Core Product(s): LegalThings One

Main Technology: Blockchain platform

Key Use Cases: Decentralized workflows on blockchain

HQ: Amsterdam

Other Offices: NA

Total Staff (approx.): 30

Year of Founding: 2014

Development Stage (e.g. Beta, fully operational):  fully operational

CEO (or equiv): Rick Schmitz

CTO (or equiv): Sven Stam

Main external investors, if any: N/A

Target Market: all-sectors

Main Legal Jurisdictions in which you currently operate: EU

Reference Clients: Merin, DEKRA, Government of the Netherlands

Pricing Model(s): SaaS, PaaS, license fees, node systems

Software Configuration (e.g. cloud; on-site installation): cloud

Security Standards (e.g. ISO Cert, or other):

ISO 27001:2013

Company Description:

The story of LegalThings starts in 2014. Our document engine MVP progressed into a workflow engine. As time progressed our clients got bigger and the processes more important. Manipulating data we stored could potentially influence lives. As facilitators, we became the trusted third party. We realized that we shouldn’t rely on trust alone. Adding layers of bureaucracy certainly might help, but it would kill productivity. Clearly, we should do better. By employing blockchain technology we could and would. This is how the LegalThings One platform came into existence. LegalThings One allows enterprises and governments to orchestrate interorganizational workflows in a decentralized way, maintaining full GDPR compliance and data privacy.

What is your core product’s key selling point?

Decentralized workflows on Blockchain, maintaining full GDPR compliance and data privacy.

Twitter (or other social media): @legalthingsone

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Monax

Core Product(s): Small business focused self-serviced contract lifecycle management web application.

Main Technology: Blockchain, smart contracts, workflow automation (BPMN), integration provider.

Key Use Cases: Contract workflow automation (post-transaction closing)

HQ: Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Other Offices: London, United Kingdom; New York City, USA

Total Staff (approx.): 14

Year of Founding: 2014

Development Stage (e.g. Beta, fully operational): Beta

CEO (or equiv): Casey Kuhlman

CTO (or equiv): Silas Davis

CPO: Jan Scheufen

CCO: Nina Kilbride

Main external investors, if any: Anthemis, Partech

Target Market: SMEs withough inhouse counsel.

Main Legal Jurisdictions in which you currently operate: UK, US

Reference Clients: n/a (currently pre-product)

Pricing Model(s): Per contract instantiation (we provide a marketplace and integration services on top of the Agreements Network, c.f., the AN submission)

Software Configuration (e.g. cloud; on-site installation): Cloud, with web application delivery.

Security Standards (e.g. ISO Cert, or other):

Company Description: Monax enables active agreements for growing businesses. By leveraging the Monax platform, startups and content creators can automate their contracting needs and bring their contracts to life. This increases customer’s ability to get paid by integrating their contracts as first class citizens of their digital enterprise.

What is your core product’s key selling point? Monax offers SMEs the ability to consume digital legal products and to integrate those into their established back office systems for faster and easier management of their deal flow.

Twitter (or other social media): @monaxHQ

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Core Product(s):  openlaw.io

Main Technology: Blockchain-based protocol

Key Use Cases: Legal services

HQ: Global

Other Offices: Brooklyn, NY, USA

Total Staff (approx.): 15

Year of Founding: 2017

Development Stage (e.g. Beta, fully operational): Beta

CEO (or equiv): Aaron Wright

CTO (or equiv): David Roon

Main external investors, if any: NA

Target Market: OpenLaw has broad applica-tion across various markets.

Main Legal Jurisdictions in which you currently operate: Global

Reference Clients: NA

Pricing Model(s): Free

Software Configuration (e.g. cloud; on-site installation): Cloud-based

Security Standards (e.g. ISO Cert, or other): Industry standards for cryptography

Company Description:

OpenLaw is a blockchain-based protocol for the creation and execution of legal agreements. Using OpenLaw, users can more efficiently engage in transactional work and digitally sign and store legal agreements in a highly secure manner, all while leveraging next generation blockchain-based smart contracts. OpenLaw is the first project to comprehensively stitch together traditional legal agreements with blockchain-based smart contracts in a user-friendly and legally compliant manner.

What is your core product’s key selling point?

OpenLaw enables parties to automate the creation and management of legal agreements and transfer blockchain-based assets in a legally enforceable way, driving down the cost and time needed to develop blockchain-based applications, while increasing access to legal services across the world

Twitter (or other social media): @OpenLawOfficial

[ Further companies will be added to this category. ]