Bloomberg Law Panel Says US Lawyers See More Interest in Cryptocurrency Payments for Charges

The use of cryptocurrency has been integrated into many retail payment opportunities around the world, and the use of blockchain has been making its way into nearly every industry, little by little. However, based on the comments from participants at the recent 18th Annual Legal Malpractice & Risk Management (LMRM) Conference, it looks like more lawyers are seeking ways to use crypto in payments as well.

Bloomberg Law reported on the conference, which took place last week in Chicago. One of the big topics that kept coming up at the event is the importance of crypto payments for the legal industry, due to the growing demand from clients to have such options available.

By allowing cryptocurrency payments to be submitted in this sector, there are major challenges but also potential benefits. The use of the crypto assets would be varied as well, considering the differences in payments for bills versus retainers, which are contained within segregated funds for an unknown amount of time.

One of the lawyers on the LMRM panel, Matthew K. Roskoski of Latham & Watkins, does not believe that lawyers should accept crypto in matters of trust money, since it “does not fit with the model.” He spoke on the risks that law firms may come up against, bringing up the potential difficulty faced in initial coin offerings (ICOs) as well. While there’s “real money to be made” in an ICO, Roskoski says, getting involve in the ICO space could pose a threat that the legal industry has no history in handling.

The use of cryptocurrency as payment has continually been a gray area for the United States. With various differences in the way that each state handles the assets, along with the way that regulations continue to change, the use of tokens at all can be difficult for anyone who may want to invest.