Blockchain's increasing presence in financial technology is well-documented, but for the most part, attorneys have been watching rather than shaping the technology's development. At the 2017 ILTACON conference , a group of attorneys and legal organizations announced the formation of the Global Legal Blockchain Consortium, a group proposing to address technology standards and industry adoption within the legal industry.

The group aims to set standards around the interoperability and security of blockchain systems in the legal space. More specifically, the group hopes to establish universal blockchain-based identities for both users and matters using blockchain's trust infrastructure.

Baker & Hostetler chief information officer Robert Craig, part of the team spearheading the consortium effort, said the group came about as part of a trend among blockchain technologists to form similar industry-led collaborative groups. At ILTACON, Craig said such a consortium in the legal industry uniting law firms, clients and legal tech providers “could be a powerful way of exploring these technologies with some really bright minds.”