Civic is a leading identity verification solution for decentralized finance, public blockchains, and NFT markets. J&O has been an extension of Civic’s team since 2018.

IN THIS CASE STUDY, WE’LL DIVE INTO:

  • Why Civic’s work has historically required guidance from numerous legal teams

  • How J&O’s embedded and unified general counsel model solved this pain point

  • The material results of this partnership — and why the Civic team is excited to continue evolving with J&O’s legal guidance in the decentralized finance ecosystem

“It has been a pleasure working with the J&O team in this new model. Having the opportunity to build a relationship with a core legal team who is invested in staying up to speed on our industry and business model evolutions has proven to be exactly the right approach we needed.”

- Chris Hart,CEO of Civic

THE PROBLEM: TOO MANY LAYERS

Civic has required guidance from various legal teams to support their complex offerings, including:

  • Global identity verification support

  • KYC and age verification

  • Bot prevention through liveliness verification

  • ​​Watchlist screening and ongoing monitoring (OFAC, sanctions lists, Politically Exposed Person (PEP) checks etc.)

  • IP-based location checks including VPN detection

  • Email and phone verification

But they aren’t content with stopping there. Civic is also helping establish entirely new industry standards through Civic Pass, their flagship technical tooling that grants or denies access to DeFi markets, gaming and other blockchain-based technology by verifying qualified users’ digital identities on the blockchain. The tool is currently available for use on the Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, and Casper networks, with functionality on additional networks to be added soon.

At the highest level, Civic is enabling low-risk access to multiple activities on the blockchain for parties including liquidity providers, decentralized app developers, NFT merchants and buyers, and institutional participants — through compliance tooling like:

  • Watchlist screening and ongoing monitoring

  • Ongoing IP-based location checks

  • Liveness verification/bot detection

  • Flexible identity verification

Like many startups in highly regulated verticals, Civic engaged several lawyers to each work on a specialized piece of the pie and it needed a way to organize all of these disparate law firms into a cohesive force.

THE SOLUTION: A SINGLE SOURCE OF INSTITUTIONAL KNOWLEDGE

In J&O’s embedded outside general counsel model, a devoted team:

  • Understands how Civic internally functions on product and business fronts

  • Communicates that knowledge and facilitates workflows with third-party counsel

  • Proactively identifies and resolves issues cohesively, and supports to avoid them in the first place

  • Provides one trustworthy knowledge base

LOOKING FORWARD: ONBOARDING & SUSTAINABLE BENEFITS

Civic sought a single team that could demonstrate reliable continuity in high-value work, as well as the willingness and ability to keep up-to-date on the company and its broader industry. After the onboarding of our embedded outside general counsel model, the Civic team described the process in one word: “effortless.”

Leveraging our industry networks, J&O works with Civic by:

  • Consistently performing detailed, prompt analyses of commercial contracts

  • Connecting Civic with consultants regarding regulatory licensing needs

  • Pulling in an emergency response team for pressing legal needs, “without any delay”

  • Sourcing expert answers related to allowable use of CVC tokens, which power Civic’s identity verification protocol

The Civic and J&O teams keep a standing weekly meeting, as well as maintain open channels and touchpoints for sharing data and day-to-day questions and communications.

The J&O team does its best work when we are a true extension of a company’s team, which allows us to have the full context of a company’s goals, vision, and product. That requires regular check-ins between J&O and the client team to keep us updated on the latest fundraising plans, product roadmap, personnel changes, etc. With this context, we are much better able to anticipate challenges and address them proactively, rather than reactively. The result is a more efficient legal team, fewer legal roadblocks, and a more rewarding experience on both sides of the attorney-client relationship.

“As we grow, our legal needs grow. So the J&O team will only continue becoming more integral to how we run Civic. We’re looking forward to ongoing valuable growth and relationship building with them through this embedded model.”