UK law firm becomes first to sell legal advice as NFT

Crypto art 🤝 billable hours

A UK law firm is auctioning off time with its lawyers in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in what is understood to be a first for the legal industry.

Bristol outfit Stephenson Law is embracing the weird and wonderful world of ‘crypto art’ with the creation of three unique NFT tokens that can be exchanged for legal advice.

An NFT is essentially a unique piece of data — be it art, a photo, or in this case a token for legal pointers — which relies on blockchain technology to establish verified ownership. You can read more about NFTs over on the Legal Cheek Journal.

The firm says the starting prices will be the cryptocurrency equivalent of between £250 and £300, “and will afford the buyer the right to redeem their NFT for one hour of legal advice on the subjects of financial services regulation, blockchain, and NFTs, along with the strategy, compliance, governance, and documentation necessary of such a new-fangled technology”.

Additionally, one of the NFTs will provide the buyer with “one-on-one access” with the firm’s founder, Alice Stephenson. The tech-savvy solicitor had spells with both Bevan Brittan and DAC Beachcroft before launching Stephenson Law in 2017.

The NFTs will be auctioned off on OpenSea, a marketplace for “rare digital items and crypto collectibles”, in two weeks’ time.

NFTs have been technically doing the rounds since 2015 but have only gained traction in the past year or so thanks to the rapid rise in popularity of cryptocurrencies. Recently this has led to a series of high-profile NFT acquisitions, with one such example, ‘Everydays — The First 5,000 Days’, a collage by Beeple, fetching a record-breaking £50 million at auction house Christie’s earlier this year.