diff --git a/CONTRIBUTORS.md b/CONTRIBUTORS.md
index 3be2d6bd9e..a27727f797 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTORS.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTORS.md
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 # List of Contributors
 
-We'd like to thank the following people for contributing to Corda, either by 
-contributing to the design of Corda during the architecture review sessions of the 
-R3 Architecture Working Group and during design reviews since Corda has been 
-open-sourced, or by contributing code via pull requests. Some people have 
-moved to a different organisation since their contribution. Please forgive any 
-omissions, and create a pull request, or email <james@r3.com>, if you wish to 
+We'd like to thank the following people for contributing to Corda, either by
+contributing to the design of Corda during the architecture review sessions of the
+R3 Architecture Working Group and during design reviews since Corda has been
+open-sourced, or by contributing code via pull requests. Some people have
+moved to a different organisation since their contribution. Please forgive any
+omissions, and create a pull request, or email <james@r3.com>, if you wish to
 see changes to this list.
 
 * acetheultimate
@@ -164,6 +164,7 @@ see changes to this list.
 * Simon Taylor (Barclays)
 * Sofus Mortensen (Digital Asset Holdings)
 * stevenroose
+* Stanly Johnson (Servntire Global)
 * Szymon Sztuka (R3)
 * tb-pq
 * Thiago Rafael Ferreira (Scorpius IT Solutions)
@@ -175,7 +176,7 @@ see changes to this list.
 * tomconte
 * Tommy Lillehagen (R3)
 * tomtau
-* Tudor Malene (R3) 
+* Tudor Malene (R3)
 * Tushar Singh Bora
 * varunkm
 * verymahler
diff --git a/node-api/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/nodeapi/internal/network/NetworkBootstrapper.kt b/node-api/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/nodeapi/internal/network/NetworkBootstrapper.kt
index e508c78fd0..ea3919323e 100644
--- a/node-api/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/nodeapi/internal/network/NetworkBootstrapper.kt
+++ b/node-api/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/nodeapi/internal/network/NetworkBootstrapper.kt
@@ -37,6 +37,10 @@ import java.time.Instant
 import java.util.concurrent.Executors
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException
 import kotlin.streams.toList
+import kotlin.collections.HashSet
+import kotlin.collections.component1
+import kotlin.collections.component2
+import kotlin.collections.set
 
 /**
  * Class to bootstrap a local network of Corda nodes on the same filesystem.
@@ -74,6 +78,8 @@ class NetworkBootstrapper {
         try {
             println("Waiting for all nodes to generate their node-info files...")
             val nodeInfoFiles = gatherNodeInfoFiles(processes, nodeDirs)
+            println("Checking for duplicate nodes")
+            checkForDuplicateLegalNames(nodeInfoFiles)
             println("Distributing all node-info files to all nodes")
             distributeNodeInfos(nodeDirs, nodeInfoFiles)
             print("Loading existing network parameters... ")
@@ -160,6 +166,22 @@ class NetworkBootstrapper {
         }
     }
 
+    /*the function checks for duplicate myLegalName in the all the *_node.conf files
+    All the myLegalName values are added to a HashSet - this helps detect duplicate values.
+    If a duplicate name is found the process is aborted with an error message
+    */
+    private fun checkForDuplicateLegalNames(nodeInfoFiles: List<Path>) {
+      val legalNames = HashSet<String>()
+      for (nodeInfoFile in nodeInfoFiles) {
+        val nodeConfig = ConfigFactory.parseFile((nodeInfoFile.parent / "node.conf").toFile())
+        val legalName = nodeConfig.getString("myLegalName")
+        if(!legalNames.add(legalName)){
+          println("Duplicate Node Found - ensure every node has a unique legal name");
+          throw IllegalArgumentException("Duplicate Node Found - $legalName");
+        }
+      }
+    }
+
     private fun gatherNotaryInfos(nodeInfoFiles: List<Path>): List<NotaryInfo> {
         return nodeInfoFiles.mapNotNull { nodeInfoFile ->
             // The config contains the notary type