The artist and publisher Richard Minsky is embroiled in trademark litigation with a journalist over the use of the word SLART in what is to be a test case in the United States. The unusual feature of this case is that the dispute has arisen in the virtual universe, Second Life (SL), and will test how much jurisdiction the courts have over the virtual world and its avatars – or virtual personalities.

Less salutary cases coming out of Second Life include a bitter divorce resulting from an adulterous relationship with an avatar, and a copyright case in the US (now settled) involving the theft of virtual sex scripts that were re-sold without permission.

SL is a fast-growing virtual universe in which residents are not bound by the normal laws of physics – avatars can fly as they please - and creativity can be unlimited.

Second Life is, for the most part, just fun. But for a small number, it is serious stuff: businesses are run within this virtual world (SL has its own currency – the Linden dollar), and it is possible to buy land, take a trip to shopping malls and trade with each other. While it has its cynics, serious devotees are enthusiastic about its capabilities, its financial rewards and its benefits, including law firms.

Field Fisher Waterhouse was the first UK firm to open an SL office. David Naylor (aka Solomon Cortes) says: “We set up in SL to gain first-hand experience of working in a virtual environment, to benefit from its communications and networking capabilities, and to assist our clients as they engage with virtual worlds.”

He explains: “SL is a huge, free-form and diverse environment. People can and do just have fun there. But they can also attend artistic and cultural events, participate in political, religious and other activities, and work and learn together. At the same time, though, as in the real world, there is the potential for conflict, disputes and even illegal and criminal behaviour. But the law doesn't and shouldn't just stop outside the computer screen.”

Naylor, with other lawyers in the firm, also conducts seminars worldwide. One attendee has included Babbalaya Yalin who says: “The really interesting part was the fact that all the participants were watching the same presentation slides from different corners of not just the nation, but probably the globe.”

Yalin is, in real life, Craig Jones of the Birmingham firm Simpson Millar, who set up his SL law firm last year to ensure the real-life firm is as “3D savvy as the best of them”.

Jones found the presentation "fascinating". He says: “Although I was watching a computer screen and pictures that were like animated cartoons, once the presentation got started something in my brain took over and I really felt that I was in a real presentation to which I had to devote my attention. I could see enormous value in running presentations and training sessions through such a medium. It would mean considerable savings in travel costs and time.”

The anonymity afforded by SL allows its residents to transcend the barriers that exist in the real world, and permits an easier flow and exchange of ideas. The benefits are not only apparent in training, where avatars can be freer in their participation, but there are also clear and unexpected benefits to potential clients that are not possible in the real world.

Jones explains: “While researching SL, I learned about a group of cerebral palsy sufferers in the US that used SL to find a new type of freedom. While in the real world they lived with impaired mobility, in SL they were as able to walk, run and indeed fly as was anyone else. If Second Life relieves severely injured people from any stigma they may feel in real life and makes them more comfortable communicating with us, that has to be a good thing.”

So what’s in it for the firms themselves? Naylor says: “We've recently been working with several virtual worlds and massively multi-player online games companies. A significant proportion of our client base is international and the potential to communicate with our colleagues and clients in-world at our virtual office is a great alternative to getting on a plane. It also contributes to reducing the firm’s carbon footprint.”

But is there really a future for law firms in a virtual world? Although, says Jones, the profession faces increasing commoditisation in legal services, this is heavily restricted by the prevailing regulatory framework. “That being so, as much as I would like the shelves of our SL office to be filled with bronze, silver and gold packages for conveyancing, employment law advice and other legal services, in reality, I currently do not have a regulatory framework that will facilitate that. Further, I’m not yet sure that there an appetite among consumers for it.”

In the meantime, law firms venturing into the brave new world of SL can rest in the knowledge that they are keeping up with the astronomical pace of information technology and will, predicts Jones, be prepared for a mesh of 3D worlds that will be brought together - allowing seamless access by all.

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