Gawthrop Presents: John Rafferty Instructs on Blockchains & Bitcoin at Nation’s First Law Library

Gawthrop Greenwood attorney John Rafferty presented on “Blockchains and Bitcoin: What Lawyers Can’t Afford to Ignore” for a Continuing Legal Education course at the nation’s first law library, Jenkins Law Library in Center City Philadelphia.

In describing the course, Rafferty says, “Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are unique from other currencies in that they exist on a continuously growing, immutable database, that when linked together with cryptography, form a blockchain. For the most part, cryptocurrencies are decentralized and are subject to competing regulations, which raises some interesting legal issues, especially with regard to the recovery of lost assets.”

“In 2018, individuals around the world are using hundreds of different cryptocurrencies to pay for coffee, new homes and even legal services. But blockchain-use cases are not limited just to cryptocurrency. Increasingly, blockchains are being used for supply-chain management, intellectual property, fraud detection, regulatory compliance, audits, data storage and even smart-contract creation.”

A complete video of the course was approved by the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education Board for 1.0 hour of CLE credit in substantive law, practice and procedure. The program was approved by the Board on Continuing Legal Education of the Supreme Court of New Jersey for 1.0 hour of total CLE credit.

Rafferty has also written on “Litigating Cryptocurrency” for Law.com and The Legal Intelligencer.

John Rafferty is a member of Gawthrop Greenwood’s Litigation and Criminal Defense departments. He can be reached at jrafferty@gawthrop.com or 610-696-8225.