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Just as the predictions that robot lawyers will replace humans are starting to subside, a new and more menacing technology that threatens to crush the legal profession rears its inorganic head. As with artificial intelligence and many other technologies before, distributed ledger – or blockchain – technology has hit the scene with all of the same hype and prognostications of doom for lawyers.

Once again, though, we need to take a breath, and ask ourselves what this technology really means and how it will affect our work. Is blockchain poised to make lawyers obsolete? Or, is it instead about to usher inventive lawyers into a brave new world of legal practice?

Lexpert “Change Agent” columnist Kate Broer reports at http://www.lexpert.ca.

Follow @Lexpert on Twitter.

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