What’s in a domain name?

New .law Internet domain names offer lawyers and firms a rare chance to create an online brand that conveys to consumers a prestigious, professional identity. Or, .law names might just confuse people.

Last month, the organization selected to register and sell .law domains began widely accepting applications for Web addresses available exclusively to eligible legal entities. But whether a .law address will be a boom, bust or in between is an open question.

“I think it will have value,” said Indianapolis attorney Richard Mann, who’s bullish on the new top-level domain. “If I could get mann.law, that would be great,” he said. But getting a name like that could be costly. Available .law domains begin at about $200 a year and increase in cost if the addresses are considered premium; some in high demand will be auctioned.

Mann

Mann preaches to lawyers the importance of an Internet presence and often is a presenter on the subject. He said .law presents an opportunity for attorneys to set themselves apart and establish a unique identity.

The beauty of the .law extension, Mann said, is it tells people at a glance who you are and what you do. That’s also likely to raise a firm’s position in Google searches, for instance. In time, people also may associate the new domain with a higher level of professional esteem than law firms using .com or a more generic Internet address.

Chapman

But Evansville attorney Neil Chapman isn’t so certain about such claims. He investigated securing chapmaninjury.law and decided the $300 registration fee and annual renewal price he was quoted probably wouldn’t be worth it. “I didn’t bite,” he said, opting to stay with chapmaninjurylaw.com as his firm’s Web address.

“It’s not shocking or anything, however, I think the value of having a .law domain is problematic or dubious,” Chapman said. “I’m not going to pay $300 a year to have a branded .law that to me is unproven to deliver any value.” He said securing multiple variations of a firm name as .law domains could easily cost thousands of dollars.

Carl Jaeckel, chief operating officer of Dot Law Inc., declined to share numbers of registrations to date or projections, but he said the company has been pleased with response. “People are eager to adopt the new technology and people in law firms understand the domain is specifically for the legal profession.”

Jaeckel said the company reserved .law domains for law schools and issued them free of charge. “It’s really about creating a trusting community, and a signal, or a beacon, if you will, that says to everybody, ‘This is a lawyer; this is someone providing a legal service.’ There’s credibility there.”

The .law domain also will permit a second chance for lawyers and firms who might have missed out on the perfect .com name. “They can have a URL that defines what they are, who they are, and how they practice,” Jaeckel said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to obtain a digital asset that’s focused on the profession.”

Representatives of some large Indiana law firms said they acquired .law addresses when early registration opened for trademark holders and others. But firms with established Internet presences aren’t likely to rebrand right away. In most cases, firms may sit on the .law domain or use it to redirect Web traffic to their established site.

Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP Chief Information Officer David Otte said the firm participated in the early adoption phase of .law registration, securing addresses including bgd.law. The firm’s current website is bgdlegal.com.

Otte said the firm expects to use bgd.law to shadow its current site. The firm registered several variations of .law addresses to protect its brand and secure the names as a hedge against potential cybersquatters.

“I think it’s one of those ‘everyone’s going to do it, so you’ve got to do it’ type of things,” Otte said. The value proposition doesn’t factor much into the firm’s calculations.

Otte

“It costs some money, but it does give you some flexibility in the long run” in case .law becomes a valuable extension, he said. “At least you have that in your back pocket.”

“Any opportunity to protect and enhance our brand is of interest to the firm,” said Aaron Reiter, director of strategic marketing at Faegre Baker Daniels LLP. “We view the .law domain as this type of opportunity and underwent the process of acquiring the domain names for Faegre Baker Daniels, as they immediately let those who are not familiar with our brand know that we are a law firm.”

Seth Wilson, a partner at Hume Smith Geddes Green & Simmons LLP in Indianapolis, said his firm is investigating .law domains and trying to determine how important those addresses might be in the future and whether the investment will pay off down the road.

Wilson

“That’s probably the decision point most firms are going to have to go through,” Wilson said.

The proliferation of websites has led to an expansion of domains beyond the ubiquitous .com. Wilson believes the potential professional cachet may be the most appealing aspect of a .law address. He said as more businesses and professionals crowd the Web, “You’re going to need these type of filters to really separate out folks in some specialized areas. … It could be a way to filter down to high-quality firms that have taken this seriously.”

Lawyers and firms thinking about securing a .law domain should take a long-term view, Wilson advised. If a firm buys and enables a .law address, its use could be tracked to help determine its value even if it’s only used to redirect traffic. Still, there’s little regarding value or possible return on investment to guide decisions.

“The legal profession is slow to change. They want to critically analyze and make sure this is a trend rather than a fad,” Wilson said. “It’s hard. There’s just not much data on it yet.” He believes .law will become a trend, but whether it’s worth the cost “is hard to know right off the gate.”

Chapman, though, thinks .law domains that are limited to lawyers is a solution to a non-existent problem. “I also think it kind of plays on the vanity of lawyers.”

He senses marketers “are trying to create a virtual gold rush” for premium .law addresses, and it’s unclear whether .law might cause confusion in the minds of consumers. “.com is going to be the gold standard for the foreseeable future.”

He believes more important for law firms going forward will be online sources of unbiased ratings and reviews such as Avvo and Yelp. He sees a trend away from the significance of Web extensions.

Mann said lawyers who haven’t developed a Web presence should consider the opportunity to obtain a distinctive address. “Lawyers are usually behind the curve on these kinds of things,” he said, noting too many attorneys still use sites like Hotmail and Yahoo for their professional email service.

“My first inclination is to think this person is not very business-savvy,” he said. “I think lawyers do need to think about branding.”•