Exclusive: Completion certificates issued as NFTs
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has embraced the metaverse as part of new digital law course for aspiring lawyers, Legal Cheek can reveal.
The global law firm has launched a series of free workshops exploring how lawyers help clients navigate novel legal and regulatory issues relating to techy-topics including the metaverse, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), robotics and artificial intelligence (AI).
HSF says one of the sessions will be streamed live from the metaverse (a virtual 3D world in which individuals can interact with one another) in a bid to bring these topical issues to life. If that wasn’t enough, course completion certificates will be transferred to participants as NFTs after they have been shown how to “mint” them (the process of converting a digital file into a digital asset stored on the blockchain).
“Digital technologies bring about real-world opportunities and challenges for businesses,” says Alex Cravero, digital law lead for the UK, US and EMEA at HSF. “As the impact of technology and data on our personal and professional lives grows, so does our clients’ need for lawyers who truly understand these technologies and the strategic role they play.”
Students completing any of sessions will also be in line to win two-days work experience with the firm’s digital lawyers, seeing first-hand how they advise clients on the challenges described during the course.
Cravero continued:
“Getting hands on with complex emerging technologies is vital if we want to demystify them. Their ever-increasing use is ushering in a new era of law and regulation, and the most successful lawyers of tomorrow will be those who understand and embrace this change. This course is an exciting and engaging step for students and graduates on their way to becoming a future digital lawyer.”
Applications are open to students and graduates in the UK, US, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, while a separate course will be run by the firm in early 2023 for students and graduates in Asia Pacific.
