U.K. law firm, Gunnercooke, claims to be one of the first major law firms in the country to accept crypto payments.

Crypto Asset Payments

A United Kingdom-based commercial law firm, Gunnercooke, has become the latest practice to accept cryptocurrency as payment for services, a report has said. The firm also claims to be one of the first major U.K.-based law firms to give its clients the payment choice.

We’re delighted to announce that we are now the first major UK law firm to officially accept payment in cryptoassets. We’ve partnered with @coinpassglobal to make the exchanges and have now accepted our first payment from client @AttestantIO. https://t.co/3rIK4ZfS9d #CryptoNews pic.twitter.com/enH10N8O13

— gunnercooke (@gunnercooke) February 21, 2022

As explained in a Law Society Gazette report, Gunnercooke will now route any such payments via Coinpass, a registered cryptocurrency exchange platform. The report also names, Attestant, a cryptocurrency transactions verification service, as one of the law firm’s clients that are paying for services using cryptocurrency.

In his comments after the law’s firm formal confirmation that it will accept cryptocurrencies, Naseer Patel, finance director at Gunnercooke, explained the reasons that prompted the law firm to make this move. The report quotes Patel who said:

Up to now, only a few U.S. law firms allow for crypto asset payments, so we are proud to be at the forefront of innovation in the U.K. — We will now be able to work with a wider variety of clients across different jurisdictions, plus offer our partners the flexibility to be paid securely in the way they choose.

The Highly Volatile Cryptocurrencies

Meanwhile, the report suggested that several other niche practices including Quinn Legal had also previously signaled their plan to accept crypto payments. However, the report also said some law firms were reluctant to accept highly volatile cryptocurrencies as payment.

On the other hand, an unnamed spokesperson of the Solicitors Regulation Authority is reported to have stated that “how firms get paid is not something within our remit, as long as it’s legal.”

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Terence Zimwara

Terence Zimwara is a Zimbabwe award-winning journalist, author and writer. He has written extensively about the economic troubles of some African countries as well as how digital currencies can provide Africans with an escape route.