The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), an industry-supported initiative to evolve Ethereum into an enterprise-grade technology, has announced the launch of Legal Industry Working Group with 14 leading law firms and academic institutions to explore building enterprise-grade applications on Ethereum.

The EEA believes that the Legal Working Group will prove foundational to the success of various efforts taking place within the organization. The leading global law firms, corporations, law schools, and academic institutions will collaborate and explore blockchain technology and smart contracts.

According to the official release, the new members joining the EEA and Legal Industry Working Group include Cooley, Debevoise & Plimpton, Goodwin, Hogan Lovells, Holland & Knight, Jones Day, Latham & Watkins, Morrison & Foerster, Perkins Coie, Shearman & Sterling, Cardozo Law School, Duke Center on Law & Technology, and the Department of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Existing EEA members joining the EEA Legal Industry Working Group include BNY Mellon, ConsenSys, ING, and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

“We are thrilled to see robust interest in blockchain technology by forward-looking law firms and institutions,” said Aaron Wright, Chair of the EEA Legal Industry Working Group, Associate Clinical Professor and Co-Director of the Cardozo Law School’s Blockchain Project, and co-founder of the smart contract project OpenLaw, “Lawyers are poised to serve as the catalysts for blockchain technology, and the Legal Working Group will serve as a neutral space to explore blockchain-based legal technology, develop standards for “smart” legal agreements, support emerging enterprise use cases, and tackle important policy issues raised by this new impactful technology.”

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