American Lawyer: Rachel Nonaka on the Legal Market for NFT Talent

The American Lawyer tapped D.C. Managing Director Rachel Nonaka for insight into the sizzling market for NFT talent.

Here, an excerpt from the piece:

As the non-fungible token (NFT) market heats up, there has been a feeding frenzy at law firms to service spikes in demand. As a result, in-house teams, government agencies and law firms are all vying for a small pool of talent that can understand this increasingly important space…

“If you go to the SEC right now in this task force, you may be sending one of first subpoenas to NFT creators, you would be working hand-in-hand with the Treasury Department as they determine the illicit financing and money laundering aspects of the NFT,” Nonaka said.

“You are going to be at the forefront of that expertise. That will make you a valuable resource. No one thinks NFTs are going away. In just a few years, the demand for you in private practice will exponentially increase. Most technology lawyers—both government and in private practice—are energized by the opportunity to work on first of their kind matters.”

Law firms are indeed beefing up their NFT offerings, according to Nonaka, but they are not specifically asking for lawyers with NFT experience.

“It reminds me of the early days of fintech. Firms wanted to grow their fintech group. But the truth of the matter is no one is a fintech-only attorney,” said Nonaka. “There are attorneys who do regulatory work and can do that for fintech clients. There are attorneys who do M&A work for tech clients. In this case, the client is the NFT platform or sponsor, while the skill set in private practice is the type of law you’re doing.”

“I know firms who have said they have NFT clients and that they need to grow their IP practice accordingly,” she continued. ”But they’re looking for expertise within, for instance, copyright or trademark law.”

Read the article here: Widespread War for Talent Wages On in the Growing, Yet Complicated, NFT Space