Hogan Lovells Drives Blockchain Commercial Transactions

The UK-based global law firm, Hogan Lovells announced the launch of 'DriveChain', which enhances transaction efficiencies for clients across all industries, through its blockchain-powered document and contract management software.

DriveChain solves a longstanding obstacle to transaction automation, being the lack of interoperability of document and contract management software. This innovative solution which utilises Integra Ledger's blockchain technology, turns PDFs and Microsoft Word documents into 'smart documents' in seconds. As this technology automates and processes data with 100% accuracy and security with its peer-to-peer platform, it optimises the process of generating summaries and reports. By transferring important information into any document, contract or asset management software applications, this increases transactional efficiencies for clients across any industry.

“In the life of a conventional document its contents will be read and re-read time and time again. The reader is looking for information they need to enter into enterprise software systems; generate reports; manage contracts and any type of asset; conduct due diligence and more. We wanted to remove that repetitive and time-consuming process, to enable any software to retrieve the information the reader needs at the click of a button,” said Nicholas Roberts, a partner in Hogan Lovells’ London office who has been instrumental in the design of DriveChain.

DriveChain has been designed in response to the 2020 CREtech Reimagining Real Estate Challenge, by partners Roberts and Dan Norris, and senior knowledge manager, Sarah Houghton. 

“In designing DriveChain we listened to our clients and re-imagined the way that documents and contracts move between the law firm, the client, and the client’s clients. What’s particularly unique is that every stakeholder in the client value chain stands to benefit. Furthermore, because it is accomplished using existing software, clients and their clients can achieve almost immediate benefit from the document and contract automation and security. Although it was designed in response to a real estate client's needs, we've made it discipline agnostic – it doesn't matter what industry sector the client is in, they can still get the benefit of being able to extract and export data from documents in moments with a certainty of accuracy and authenticity”, said Dan Norris, partner and global head of Hogan Lovells’ real estate team.

BNP Paribas Real Estate is a huge contributor and a champion of the project, recognising the potential in the early stages and partnering with Hogan Lovells for its deployment becoming Hogan Lovells’ first client to adopt DriveChain.

Emma Orford, Director of Property Management said, “Automation and the accuracy of data are fundamental to the future of Real Estate. DriveChain is an excellent example of how companies with a shared passion for innovation and client service can collaborate to deliver a solution that results in efficiency and risk reduction for all those involved in real estate transactions. This is just the beginning, the practical implications could be endless”.

CEO and founder of Integra Ledger, David Fisher commented, “The Hogan Lovells team took a unique and holistic approach to client value, with the objective to increase ROI for all stakeholders, including the clients’ clients. Today’s launch of DriveChain is the culmination of over two years of work, leveraging the insights gained from secure, peer-to-peer value transfer. The addition of an authentication layer to the PDFs and Microsoft Word documents that clients already use enables ecosystem-wide automation. Integra Ledger is an enterprise blockchain, which is based on Hyperledger Fabric, and therefore is not nearly as resource intensive as proof-of-work blockchains. Integra can actually reduce technology complexity, overhead, and energy use through client value chains."

Source: Hogan Lovells

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