DotLAW can be name of the game

Backers of a new Internet domain for use worldwide by lawyers - rebuffed last year by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) - are confident it will be adopted later this year.

DotLAW is the brainchild of US accountant W Mackay Henderson and heart surgeon Jim Fonger.

They want ICANN to authorise a new Internet domain - .law - for the exclusive use of the international legal community.

Research indicates that, after Internet businesses, lawyers registered more domain names in the last three years than any other business group.Names registered in the domain would fall into the following general categories: law firms (for example HerbertSmith.law), lawyers, legal associations, legal support companies, community sites, which would give local information on lawyers, and keywords, such as 'trusts' and 'corporate', which would lead to sites containing information relating to the sector.

The domain would be regulated by an advisory board to include representatives from local bar associations and law societies, lawyers, and legal academics.

The board would direct the policy and restrict use of the domain.ICANN rejected the proposal from its recent intake of so-called 'high level domains' last November.

However, it made available a .pro domain name, which at the time law firms showed little interest in.

Chris Bull, chief executive of Bristol firm Osborne Clark, expressed a fear at the time that .pro could lead to the ghettoisation of professional firms.

Mr Henderson said he had asked ICANN to discuss the rejection with dotLAW.

He said the dotLAW venture hoped to 'shrink its weaknesses' before mounting a successful bid in the next wave of ICANN applications, expected later this year.

Mr Henderson said the venture would cost between $10-15 million to set up properly.

'We already have people very interested,' he said.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has funded development of the concept.

Mr Henderson said dotLAW will liaise with law societies and Bar associations worldwide over the next six months to gain international support for the venture.Jeremy Fleming