#7 - Becoming a Crypto Lawyer
Jake Chervinsky, Rebecca Rettig and Sarah Shtylman explain how to capitalize on your crypto-law interest.
Good morning. This newsletter updates you on all things crypto-law, including recent episodes of the Law of Code Podcast. Today’s episode features the best in the industry and answers the question: What should I do if I want to become a crypto lawyer?
While focused on crypto, the principles can be applied to any legal area. This was a fun episode to record as each guest offered incredible insights. Rebecca also signs off the episode with the best line ever.
Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) is Head of Policy at the Blockchain Association and Advisor for the Variant Fund, and former General Counsel for Compound Labs.
Rebecca Rettig (@RebeccaRettig1) is the General Counsel of the Aave Companies, a group of software development companies in Europe that build open source, blockchain-based software.
Sarah (Hody) Shtylman (@SHodyEsq) is a Partner at Perkins Coie, where she advises innovators in the fintech and blockchain industries, and her clients range from entrepreneurs and startups to big tech and regulated financial institutions.
Show highlights:
- How Rebecca built a practice in crypto [3:30]
- What helped Rebecca establish a crypto arbitration practice [7:45]
- Sarah’s introduction to crypto [9:00]
- Seeing the plumbing of financial services [11:00]
- Sarah’s work with the first gold-backed token [13:00]
- Being the second lawyer at Coinbase [14:00]
- Jake’s crypto law journey [16:00]
- What law students should get on their resume to get roles in crypto [21:00]
- How to determine which area of law to tie crypto into [34:00]
- Finding an area of law in which to specialize [37:00]
- Dealing with the pressure to specialize [41:00]
“Recognize when you hit diminishing returns in your job, and when it’s time to move on” - Jake
- Imposter syndrome in the legal industry [44:00]
- Do crypto lawyers need to learn to code? [49:00]
- One important piece of advice for professionals beginning their careers [63:00]
“Come join the revolution with us” - Rebecca
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the podcast, please share and leave a review.
You can follow me, Jacob Robinson, on Twitter @jacobrobinsonjd. For the latest updates from Law of Code - subscribe to our newsletter.
