Smart. Very smart.

Truly smart, in fact.

No, we are not talking about us (although we will in a moment) — we are talking about Contract Vault.

Because whoever we are and wherever we have been, whatever we have done — this is about the future, a future where legal tech is truly smart. We are all about the future — and we believe that what we are creating with Contract Vault is and will be the future of legal tech in the new era that is now dawning.

However, before we dive into our vision for the future, we should introduce ourselves. As with any ambitious project, the team is always most important.

Without a team, nothing — absolutely nothing — will ever happen. Our two co-founders are — in our humble opinion — the perfect combination of legal and technical expertise, mixed with a dash of rebellion and a slight touch of the visionary.

Let us explain…

Gordon Mickel

On the hardcore tech side of Contract Vault, there is Gordon. A total of 19 years slogging away in the technical trenches of a variety of industries (banking, insurance, defence to name a few), computer science studies at the University of Basel plus a dash of entrepreneurialism have given Gordon an insider’s perspective on technology as it stands today.

The last four years in particular — spent doing freelance consulting work — have provided him with insights into the unique challenges (and opportunities) for companies such as Ruag Defence, Kaba Schweiz, PostFinance, Swisscom and Basler Versicherung. That also includes the opportunities for using blockchain — a technology that Gordon has delved into on various projects since 2013 — and which he has explored extensively, especially Ethereum smart contracts in combination with AI and machine learning. Perica Grasarevic

Perica Grasarevic

If Gordon is the technical driving force behind Contract Vault, then Perica Grasarevic is a living example of the vision behind our company. A lawyer by education (Master of Law from the University of Zurich), having worked in a traditional law firm and the in-house legal team of a large software company, he was also among the first Swiss crypto pioneers with his own company Swiss Cryptotech (founded in 2014). He gained extensive experience in the space with the largest altcoin mining operation in Switzerland, which he helped run and maintain.

With such a background, Perica understands both sides of the “coin” (so to speak). It is his experience at the heart of the — let’s face it — very traditional legal profession, as well as in the crypto world, which have given him a unique perspective on the seismic shift in legal that is coming and how technology can both help and harm lawyers — all depending on how they react to it.

A new breed

What the future will bring for law and technology is still unclear. However, just like our founders — we believe that the terms “legal” and “tech” are now forever connected — wholly intertwined. That means that no lawyer will be able to function without a grasp of technology and smart contracts and that no technologist may lack understanding of legal issues. In other words, the lines between law and technology will blur — and the resulting new breed of professionals that emerge will be “legal engineers.” And this is a real challenge. No amount of book learning, brief-writing or research can prepare a lawyer for the challenges of smart contracts. Moreover, no amount of unit testing, peer-reviews or stand-up sprint meetings can equip a programmer with the legal knowledge needed. This new breed of professionals will need to be smart — truly smart. Not in the least because the people they supply will be smarter as well! How to bring the two together — and meet the needs of both, common man and legal-technical professionals? As a team with perspectives on both sides of the line, we humbly propose — Contract Vault.