Gilbert + Tobin will today hold its inaugural full-day workshop teaching lawyers to code smart contracts. 

The workshop, which is being held at Gilbert + Tobin’s Sydney office is being run by Taylor Gerring, a co-founder and advisor to the Ethereum Foundation and renowned smart contract expert.

Taylor will teach participants a range of skills including how to deploy, interact with and prototype business logic in smart contracts. They will also explore the impact of decentralised platforms on clients and the law.

Throughout the week, Taylor is also meeting with some of the firm’s clients in the financial services sector to conduct workshops on the advanced use of blockchain and smart contracts.

The smart contracting training sessions follow a series of coding clinics the firm held last week teaching lawyers to use core coding languages to produce new applications.

Gilbert + Tobin’s Innovation Officer Simon Gilchrist says the workshops will enable the firm to better assist clients to fully exploit the vast potential of blockchain and smart contracts, as well as to examine how decentralisation can improve legal processes. “Blockchain technology has further accelerated the pace of digital disruption. These workshops put Gilbert + Tobin at the forefront in terms of capabilities, imagination and technical understanding of our legal team.

“At the conclusion of the workshop, our lawyers will have the capability to create smart contracts. They should have a detailed knowledge of the practical issues involved in blockchain and smart contract systems, enabling them to advise on advanced uses of decentralised systems and, ideally, develop smart contract based applications for a range of purposes,” Simon explains.