#28 - Stephen Palley: Crypto regulation, building a team, and defining decentralization

Stephen D. Palley (@stephendpalley) is a Partner in the Washington, D.C office of Anderson Kill, where he chairs the Technology, Media & Distributed Systems practice group. Stephen has written extensively and been quoted widely on legal issues arising from the use of blockchain technology, with appearances in both print and television media. He is also an editor of the International Journal of Blockchain Law (IJBL), a law journal helping non-legal communities better understand blockchain applications and digital assets.

In this episode, Stephen discusses his path into the crypto space, gives insight into building a crypto-law dream team, and the truth behind his love for two spaces after each period.

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Episode highlights:

[1:10] The Car Game

[4:45] Choosing Law School over an English PhD

[9:00] How a legal career is different than what Stephen expected

[11:55} From Construction and Insurance Law to Crypto

[16:50] Impasse Breaker

[20:30] Advantages in a legal career from a programming background

[23:26] Software Development and Engineering: Licenses?

[28:56] Chair Gensler

[31:00] Regulatory oversight & what is "decentralization" legally

[36:40] Writing for The Block and cases covering decentralization

[38:00] Working with anonymous clients?

[40:45] The two words why Stephen joined Anderson Kill

[53:00] What do young lawyers spend too much time on

[56:00] Valuable habits Stephen has developed over the years

[58:00] Two spaces after a period, fonts, Google Docs, Twitter & Herring. Of course. 

Links: 

The Block - Stephen D. Palley