According to notable crypto lawyer Brian Klein, the pandemic is a great time to become a lawyer as it is necessarily causing business models to disrupt and companies to mull over new strategies and legal disputes.
For outsiders like us, it may seem like the pandemic is the worst time to be a crypto lawyer, given the slowdown in the economy, reducing crime rates due to lockdown, and the resulting decrease in courtroom dramas. However, for one of the leading fintech attorneys in the US, the situation is quite the opposite.
If you are a crypto lawyer, suit up!
While addressing the Coindesk’s Consensus Distributed conference, renowned crypto lawyer and self-proclaimed high-stakes trial attorney, Brian Klein confirmed that he is getting more calls than ever before from companies who wish to go over their contracts and settle long-standing disputes.
In the cryptocurrency space, people have more time than before to think over their legal disagreements and renew their business strategies. Which means it’s an excellent time to lawyer up.
Brian Klein, who works with the Los Angeles-based boutique litigation firm and successfully represented the now-released Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith who was taken into custody last year for breaching international sanctions on North Korea, said a somewhat cynical fact that whenever human nature is involved, disputes are bound to happen.
However, with people forced to remain indoors to curb the virus spread, it is essentially bringing out their worst as they now have more time in their hands to think over things concerning their businesses, contracts, and pending legal hassles that might lead up to lawsuits, he explained.
The crypto lawyer Klein rose to fame because of his long list of noteworthy representations, including the early Bitcoin investors Shrem and Hutchins’ case against the Winklevoss Twins and Block.one’s $24 million settlement with the SEC. While he believes that things are looking good from the litigation side, he said that the plaintiffs would instead bide their time.
Plaintiffs will hold back
According to him, plaintiffs are less likely to double the stakes on a case that sees no future or when they are on a contingency, a legal model that’s gaining traction in the crypto space in recent years. It refers to an arrangement where the lawyer acquires a certain percentage from the plaintiff’s compensation only if he wins the case.
Since the courts are closed, Klein continued, there will be no settlement offers made, which implies that businesses now have more time to work on their case before it goes to the court.
Ending the interview with a piece of advice for businesses, the crypto lawyer urged them to go over their business contracts again and take time to understand the subtle nuances which might eventually make or break a legal conflict in the future. Review those contractual terms and check individually for arbitration provision and class-action waiver. Those are the first things any customer seeks when planning to bring a lawsuit, he concluded.
