TSVP Talk: "Can Legal Contracts be Smart or can Smart Contracts be Legal?" by Anna Katharina Suzuki-Klasen

Title: Can Legal Contracts be Smart or can Smart Contracts be Legal? On What Happens When Law Meets Technology

Abstract: Contracts are an every-day occurrence that we often do not consciously consider; but our accommodation and transportation – unless one walks –, as well as our food, clothes, and computers are all based on contracts of some kind. Information technology is likewise something that we often take for granted without thinking about the underlying basis. Technologies like blockchain allow smart contract programs to be used in a way that brushes the realm of law: contracts. I will explore this encounter by considering the legal validity of smart contracts and the technological feasibility of smart legal contracts.

Profile: Anna Katharina Suzuki-Klasen is a Postdoctoral Research Assistant in the Department of Japanese Law at the FernUniversität in Hagen (Germany). Her research combines the fields of comparative law and contract law. She is particularly interested in comparing English, German, European Union (EU), and Japanese law. Her recent work focusses on new technologies like smart contracts and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and their impact on contract methods and the law. She received her PhD in comparative contract law from the University of Hamburg in 2020 while working as a Research Associate at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg, Germany. Prior to that she completed her undergraduate LL.B. degree at the University of East Anglia (UEA), in Norwich, UK, and also has the degree of Master of Law and Business (M.L.B.) from the Bucerius Law School/WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management, Hamburg/Vallendar, Germany. Personal Website

Language: English

Target audience: General audience/everyone at OIST and beyond.
Freely accessible to all OIST members and guests without registration.

This talk will also be broadcast online via Zoom:

Meeting ID: 925 6251 7392
Passcode: 523058

※ Please note that this event may be recorded and the videos uploaded. In addition, photos may be taken during the event. These are intended for publication online (the OIST website, social media, etc.)※