Artificial Lawyer recently caught up with Charley Moore (pictured above), Founder and CEO of Rocket Lawyer, to ask about why the global legal services platform has embraced the smart contract tech of OpenLaw and what the goal is now for the partnership following the announcement of the release of its ‘Rocket Wallet‘ in September.

First, congrats on the partnership. Can you explain why you have done this, and why now?

Thank you. People all over the world use Rocket Lawyer to create, sign and share contracts that cover a wide range of everyday legal situations. We have been very pleased to see the early progress of ConsenSys and OpenLaw in the development of blockchain and, especially, smart contract tools.

So, at this stage, we are accelerating the development of mainstream applications that leverage those tools for our global customer base.

Do consumers and SMEs actually want smart contracts? Will people know what to do with them?

Our mission of democratizing access to justice has always involved bringing legal technologies that large organizations and the wealthy can afford to a wider audience of entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses and non-profit organizations.

Today, many large companies have been experimenting and investing in smart contracts, as they see the benefit (enhanced trust, data integrity, streamlined processes etc.). But, like many new technologies, a fork is emerging between centralized and decentralized platforms.

We think that there is a lot of promise in decentralized platforms like Ethereum. There’s a big community of independent developers emerging on the Ethereum platform, which we think is a very good thing.

Our goal is to create simple, easy to use experiences that integrate seamlessly with the Rocket Lawyer services millions of people already use, to add the enhanced features of smart contracts, like trust and performance elements, without adding complexity and confusion. That’s our goal.

Will this only use Ethereum as a blockchain platform?

Yes, we are partnering with ConsenSys and OpenLaw to initially build on the Ethereum blockchain.

Chainlink is certainly interesting, as one of a few companies enabling integration between existing, fiat-based systems, and cryptocurrencies.

We think that mainstream applications, including ours, can help drive better integration and transitions between fiat currencies and crypto tokens.

Do you think Rocket Lawyer will launch its own cryptocurrency/utility token?

We’re not announcing anything like that at this time. We’re working hard on bringing smart contract technology to our mainstream customer base.

LegalZoom now has also made a similar move. This is remarkably similar timing. Do you have any comment on this, given they are a rival?

We focus on our customers and delivering new solutions that serve their needs. It’s not surprising to see a competitor following on our heels.

And last of all, in terms of uptake among Rocket Lawyer’s clients, what kind of numbers are we looking at globally that will use this tech – at least based on your projections?

We have over 20 million account holders, and we only green light projects that we think will benefit a significant number of them as well as drive meaningful growth.

So, we think we’re in a unique position to bring millions of businesses and individuals and a commensurate number of transactions onto our selected blockchain.

Thanks! And good luck with the initiative!