Clifford Chance and Pinsent Masons are among several new law firms to sign up to the Accord Project, an industry-led initiative aiming to bring together a consortium of legal and technology partners to help promote open standards around smart contracts.

They join Linklaters, Allen & Overy, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May among others, who became members of the project earlier this year.

The Accord Project was founded by smart contract startup Clause, an alumni of Dentons-backed venture development platform Nextlaw Labs. Clause chief executive Peter Hunn previously told Legaltech news: "We have had enormous interest from global firms, which we see as indicative of the potential for smart legal contracts to change large-scale, cross-border commerce, and the immediate need for common standards if these efficiencies are to be realised."

Clifford Chance global head of innovation and business change Bas Boris Visser explained why the magic circle firm joined the project: "If we want to help our clients realise the great potential that technology like smart contracts bring, we need to collectively create a legal framework to make that happen. For us, the Accord Project is a great example of true collaboration and a fantastic opportunity for our lawyers to both contribute and learn. A clear win-win."

Pinsent Masons head of innovation platform SmartDelivery Orlando Conetta added: "Computational contracts offer many opportunities. They will fundamentally affect how we perceive and approach the challenge of contracting; blending engineering principles of requirements gathering, building and testing, with established practices of contract negotiation and drafting."

Perkins Coie, Steptoe & Johnson, Allens and Baker Donelson have also joined the initiative. Other firms already collaborating on the project include Dentons, K&L Gates, DLA Piper, Holland & Knight, and Baker Hostetler.