Firstly - many thanks to @Immutablelawyer for driving this initiative - it is long overdue in the industry. As it would be an honour to stand as a candidate for one of the committee roles, here is my response to each of the candidacy criteria:
Name of Applicant: Paul Imseih
Email Address: adpc.hash006@8shield.net
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pimseih/
Primary languages spoken: English, some French
Disclosure of other time commitments: I am the Principal and Founder of Daimon Legal. The ADPC role can be incorporated into my current practice without issue.
Experience
I have been a contract and commercial lawyer for over 25 years. These roles have been predominantly in the technology sector working for Tier 1 suppliers including EDS, NetApp and NTT, negotiating complex technology transactions valued anywhere between USD$150 Million to over USD$1 Billion.
These deals applied industry best practice in structuring, negotiating, drafting and implementing supply and procurement contracts. The contracts covered the full spectrum of the technology stack including Outsourcing, SaaS, CaaS, Software, Hardware, Networks, Support and Maintenance, Consulting and Security. Many of these contracts included some form of SLAs so I have drafted and reviewed a wide range of service level agreements.
For 2 years as Principal Lawyer in the Department of Treasury for the Victorian Government, I handled the State’s public goods procurements with major suppliers like Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM. This role involved preparing and negotiating all legal documents associated with the tender including RFTs, RFQs, EOIs, Master Agreements and Panel Agreements. I was involved through the entire procurement process from advising on procurement strategy, reviewing tender responses, negotiating with suppliers (often in parallel), internal governance, and probity. This role also involved drafting and reviewing the Government’s procurement, intellectual property, data protection, and technology security policies.
More often than not, there was some level of internal governance and approval processes for procurements and tenders so I have a very good sense of industry best practice around legal and operational risk allocation.
Objectives & Motivation
As a highly experienced procurement and legal professional, I have decades of knowledge to share with the ADPC and will be able to make a significant contribution to Arbitrum’s procurement tasks.
Not only can I offer concrete policy advice, but I have the legal and drafting skills required to negotiate and draft agreements with suppliers and partners. For a concrete example of my contributions on the unique procurement issues for DAOs, please refer to my detailed post on the Sushiswap forum here.
Integrity
I have no history of any ethical breaches, fraud, manipulation, or other forms of serious misconduct. As a legal professional operating in a common law jurisdiction, I adhere to extremely high standards of ethics, particularly regarding confidentiality, conflicts of interest, and avoiding dishonest or disreputable conduct.
Failure to comply with these rules could result in serious consequences for my practice. For more on the standards applicable to my legal practice, please refer to the Conduct Rules & Code of Ethics here.
Skills and Experience
I have had a keen interest in Arbitrum since the earliest days and was attracted by the technology and traditional legal structures used to assist with governance and off-chain tasks. I might be one of the few who has fully reviewed and edited the Arbitrum Foundation deed and Arbitrum constitution – see post here and github repo here. This gives me unique insights into the Arbitrum governance model and structures which will be distinct advantage for the ADPC role.
My law firm, Daimon Legal, is a crypto-native firm supporting DeFi, GameFi, NFTs, and VC projects, founded in 2020. My involvement in the crypto sector however dates back to 2016. I have made numerous contributions in the legal sphere for crypto innovators, often pro bono, through Lex DAO and other public forums. As a strong believer in the open source model, feel free to browse some of my contributions to supported projects and initiatives on my Github page here. Better yet, send me a pull request if you find something that can be improved.
Expect to see more open-source work in the coming year, including through MakerDAO where I also sit on the board of the Dai Foundation.
Industry Knowledge
My career in crypto started in 2017, primarily through hosting weekly community events, running training sessions on legal issues specific to crypto, and providing ad-hoc advice to projects.
In 2020, I moved full-time into the crypto sector, transitioning my consulting practice into a crypto-native law firm. Since then, I have gained extensive knowledge of the industry, familiarising myself with key players including many of the major CEXs, market makers, auditors, law firms, and accountants. I also have connections with industry bodies and have contributed to policy initiatives in Australia and the US.
For insights into some of my work, including peer-reviewed articles on new forms of property rights in digital assets and legal issues around DAOs and Soulbound Tokens, see here and here. Both of these articles are useful primers if you are new to the topics.
My network also includes service providers in the Caymans and BVI, popular jurisdictions for DeFi, GameFi, and crypto projects. This is particularly relevant because both the Arbitrum Foundation and the Constitution rely on Cayman law, so understanding the common law and regulatory frameworks in these jurisdictions will be critical.
Financial Acumen (Service Costs)
Having worked extensively with top sales and proposal teams in the tech industry, I am familiar with most of the pricing and scope strategies employed in the sector.
My detail-oriented nature, combined with a strong understanding of the underlying technology, industry standards, and legal terms, has made me a formidable technology lawyer. I have often picked up anomalies in pricing and deal structure that others might miss, benefiting from my extensive experience in large, complex deals.
I also have a strong understanding of benchmarking methodologies as a procurement tool. In many larger tech deals, benchmarks by companies such as Gartner and Boston Consulting are often used to aid decision making. Even smaller deals can benefit from some basic benchmarking, using the same techniques as those applied by the big benchmarking firms (for example the use of a normalisation methodology to create “apples for apples” comparisons).
Negotiation
Since 1997, I have been negotiating technology contracts on behalf of suppliers and buyers. These negotiations cover the full spectrum of the tech and service industry as I described above. In the crypto industry, I’ve leveraged these skills to assist teams in deal negotiations, including capital raising for VCs and crypto projects, involving complex tokenomics, vesting schedules and legal issues that aren’t typically found in traditional capital raises or tech deals.
I have received formal training in the Harvard method of Principled Negotiation, which provides valuable tools for resolving impasses. Beyond technical skills, I have honed a keen sense for the politics and psychology of negotiation, including “reading the room” and adjusting language and tone as needed. There is always some level of theatre in every negotiation.
Project Management Abilities
As the lead lawyer for many large deals, I was required to manage the entire procurement process, from strategy development to execution. This often required coordinating multiple procurements simultaneously with strict deadlines and diverse teams, including external law firms, internal stakeholders, and service providers.
Running my own firm has elevated my project management skills, as I now manage client projects while supervising staff and managing the firm’s operations.
Technological Proficiency
Most of the procurement tools used these days are collaboration and database tools – I’ve used Asana and Notion quite a bit recently and am comfortable using both. In my current practice, I frequently use most of the popular software and collaboration tools required to get jobs done in crypto law.
As an industry professional and heavy user, I have a solid understanding the various cold and hot wallets in the market as well as wallet and password and wallet management and operational security.
Final Comments
I’d like thank the Arbitrum community for considering my interest in the role.
To @Immutablelawyer and the other candidates who have applied: all the best in this election cycle. This is a really exciting project so I hope we get a chance to work together soon!