Happy New Year, Modern Lawyer Podcast listeners. Today’s episode addresses one of the fastest moving, most fascinating areas in the law today: blockchain and cryptocurrency. We’re joined by Joon Kim, a former Kirkland & Ellis attorney and AGC at Goldman Sachs, who is now the general counsel at blockchain startup o1 Labs, based out of San Francisco.

This episode explores three key things: one: a basic primer on what attorneys need to know now regarding cryptocurrency, two: what technological developments in smart contracts and transactions could replace rote, low level, and inefficient legal work, and three, a survey of major recent breakthroughs in the cryptocurrency world, including DeFi or decentralized finance, and CBDCs or Central Bank Digital Currencies. This is some mind-blowing stuff, and some amazing technology, which may be less than a decade away from rapidly re-structuring how the legal industry operates.

As always, if you like our discussion, please rate us on Apple podcasts. We hope you enjoy the conversation.