Gowling WLG aims to demystify blockchain with free coffee app
Firm launches new incentives scheme to educate staff on blockchain basics with hot drink tokens
July 05, 2018 at 07:30 AM
3 minute read
Gowling WLG has launched a new incentives scheme designed to introduce staff to the basics of blockchain technology while also offering them tokens for free drinks.
The 'Gowling WLG Reward Token Scheme' scheme, launched this week, enables employees to exchange tokens on a blockchain platform, which can be cashed in for hot drinks at the firm's onsite restaurants in London and Birmingham.
All UK-based Gowling WLG employees have been invited to download an app onto their mobile phones, register with the firm's blockchain platform, and set up a digital 'wallet' in which the tokens are held.
Before employees can start trading tokens, they are required to watch a two-minute introductory video on blockchain technology, after which they will earn two tokens, which they can exchange for a drink or anonymously gift to colleagues.
The firm believes blockchain technology will play a key role in the UK's professional and commercial future and wants to ensure staff are up to speed with the basics of a subject that has attracted much attention but remains a mystery to many.
The scheme has been led by corporate partner David Brennan, the co-chair of Gowling WLG's tech group. Gowling WLG architecture and innovation head Jody Jansen added the scheme is about showing staff that, while the tech might seem difficult and inaccessible, "using it isn't".
Take-up of the scheme has been strong, with 200 employees across both the City and Midlands bases already registered – a trend that Jansen expects to continue.
"In addition to our existing reward schemes, we wanted an instant reward scheme, where rewards can be made not just up-to-down, but upwards too – a 360-degree reward scheme.
"On Monday, we held a lunch-learn session, and it's been a hit topic. People have been asking questions, and now it is all much more visual to them."
During the past couple of years, Gowling WLG has worked to step up its tech offering. Last year, the firm's head of innovation and digital, Derek Southall, left his post to head up the Hyperscale Group – a digital and innovation platform that the firm turns to when advising clients with more complex tech needs. The firm has also worked to increase its AI capabilities by building out its contract review tool.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
When Inadvertent Disclosures Happen at a Law Firm, Who Is Responsible?
Canadians Mourn the Loss of Two Esteemed Legal Professionals: Alan Young and Jason Moyse
4 minute read
Lawyers Should Only Use AI For Low-end Tasks, Regulators in Australia Say
3 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Just Ahead of Oral Argument, Fubo Settles Antitrust Case with Disney, Fox, Warner Bros.
- 2Best Practices for Adopting and Adapting to AI: Mitigating Risk in Light of Increasing Regulatory and Shareholder Scrutiny
- 3FOMO Run Amok? Resolve of Firms Chasing AI Dreams Tested by Sky-High Costs
- 4Sam Butler, Longtime Cravath Presiding Partner, Dies at 94
- 5French Rape Case Highlights Need for Vigilance, Education
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
