Benjamin Duranske Joins Pillsbury’s New Virtual Worlds and Video Games Practice
December 2nd, 2008 by Benjamin Duranske
I am pleased to announce that I have accepted a position with Pillsbury, a global law firm with San Francisco roots and a high-tech history dating all the way back to cutting-edge 1880s telegraph cases. I’ll be helping establish and build Pillsbury’s new virtual worlds and video games practice. It’s a great fit. I am working with Pillsbury remotely now, and I will be joining the Silicon Valley office as an associate with the Intellectual Property practice section in early January.
- Benjamin Duranske’s Profile at Pillsbury
- Pillsbury’s Virtual Worlds and Video Games Team
- Pillsbury’s Intellectual Property Practice
- Pillsbury’s Silicon Valley Office
It’s been an interesting journey to this point. Early last year, I took a break from practice to focus on writing and to develop a deeper understanding of 3D internet technology and associated legal issues. The field didn’t even have a name then, but the emergence of “virtual law” as a specialty seemed inevitable. Besides, I’m an avid gamer, a sci-fi fan, and an unapologetic technology optimist. The chance to merge my interest in the 3D internet, my passion for writing, and my career as an attorney was really appealing.
Since then, interest in virtual law has exploded. Virtually Blind was getting ten or twenty hits a day when I launched the site two years ago, now it gets thousands, mostly from searches. News sometimes has come so quickly that I’ve struggled to keep up. Over the last two years, I’ve written almost 350 posts at Virtually Blind, as well as many articles in mainstream and industry periodicals. I also wrote the first book on this emerging field, Virtual Law: Navigating the Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds (ABA Publishing, 2008).
Being a full-time commentator at a time like this has been fantastic — a once in a lifetime experience — but I have really missed working with clients. I could not be more excited about now taking a more hands-on approach to legal issues arising from the 3D internet, virtual worlds and online games.
Final Post at Virtually Blind; Launching Virtual Law
Returning to practice with a large law firm means that I’ll be somewhat less free to comment on virtual law issues than I was while self-employed. As such, this is the final post at Virtually Blind. The site will remain online as a research resource, but there will be no new content. I will, however, continue writing articles on issues in virtual law; some will be available via Pillsbury’s publications directory, and others will appear in mainstream and industry publications.
I am also working on a new site, Virtual Law, which will be an online companion to my book. Although the site will not be a blog and I will not post any commentary there, there will be virtual law discussion forums, a virtual law wiki, a frequently-updated virtual law news feed, and extensive links to other virtual law resources. I will also provide information on my speaking schedule, writing, and other related projects.
Thank You
I cannot overstate my appreciation for Virtually Blind’s readers, commenters, and talented contributing writers. Your regular visits over the last two years kept me posting, and your witty, insightful comments added immeasurably to the site. I will genuinely miss interacting with all of you here. I hope you’ll visit Virtual Law often, and that we will stay in touch. My current contact addresses will all work indefinitely, and you can also reach me at Pillsbury.
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25 Responses to “Benjamin Duranske Joins Pillsbury’s New Virtual Worlds and Video Games Practice”
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Congrats Benjamin. Sounds very exciting!
–matt
Grats Ben,
Sad to hear that you won’t be able to post as often though.
Thanks. Posting with as much frequency as I have to date would be impossible from a time perspective even if there weren’t so many potential conflicts with a firm as large as Pillsbury.
I’ll work up a good list of alternate virtual law resources to post at Virtual Law for readers suffering commentary withdrawal, once the new site goes up.
Freaking awesome Ben! Looks like a primo position too. One of those ‘exactly what you wanna be doing’ type of jobs.
Can’t wait to hear about your zany exploits
How marvelous. Congratulations!
Congratulations Ben!
Benjamin,
Congrats! Sounds like a great gig and a good location, as well. I’ll miss the news updates.
If your firm needs a consultant on some of the… uh… less than common techniques used in analyzing games, it’s not far to Phoenix. ;)
That’s great news. Back in San Francisco!
Congratulations Ben. Thanks for the wonderful reading at Virtually Blind.
Congratulations, Ben!
You sound genuinely eager and enthusiastic, and I wish you all the best in your new position!
I understand the time pressures you’ll be facing, but - *please* don’t abandon general-audience writing. You have a rare gift for clear, engaging, informative prose, and I think it deserves an audience beyond your firm’s clients.
Best wishes for a terrific new year!
The adventure continues!!!
Wow! Congratulations!
Well done Ben, good show that man!
Congratulations on your appointment; very sorry to see this place go, though. Very best wishes for your practice!
Ben, ever since I first found your site earlier this year, I have come to rely on it as an amazing resource in this area. I will sorely miss your timely and informative posts. I’ve worked with Pillsbury folks before and you are joining a great legal team. Perhaps we’ll cross paths in professional arena. Best of luck.
Congratulations.
Sorry to see you go; this site held a unique place.
Wish you could establish a “dream team” to occupy the space - nothing comes close to this Website.
Thanks for the content. Unless you’ve done a regular blog - the readers don’t understand the amount of love and time you’ve put into this.
Jay Moffitt
Good on you, Ben, Good on you!!!! All best wishes in your new and very exciting endeavors!
Congratulations!
… and when I saw the headline in my RSS feed, I thought for a few moments that you’d be rolling in [refrigerated] dough, but this is even better.
When you have time, I too am looking forward to a list of other virtual-worlds legal issue blogs to check out.
Good fortune in your new role!
Ben-
We’ll miss you in the blogosphere, but you’ll be back soon! Hope all is well and good luck at your new position!
Joe
Congratulations Ben!
Congrats! Well deserved.
Onward, upward, away. Good for you, Ben.
Thanks a lot for the Virtually Blind website. I also enjoyed reading the Virtual Law book, which my office library obtained at my request. Benjamin, would you be open to exploring ways that a small group of regular contributors might be able to feed new content into the site, if it is staying open? I am certainly happy to discuss that with you and to contribute my assistance. I imagine that any such solution would continue to require your involvement or advice at least to a small degree, to begin with especially, but I also think that the response from your readers (in previous comments in this thread) also indicates how well regarded the site is, and how valuable it has been as a resource. It is a pity that the website won’t be updated any more. If your new firm could become the sponsor of the site, and donate your time spent in editorial supervision, then that would work out for you (in terms of meeting your budget) and would gain some PR kudos for the firm, although I acknowledge your comment that you want to go back to working with clients. Speaking for myself, I can certainly say that the web site has been a fantastic introduction to the law applicable to virtual worlds, and that I was confident that every time I opened it, the website would teach me something new. You can’t say that about every web site out here in cyberspace. Best wishes for the future.
Congratulation, I enjoyed reading your blog. Hope you’ll have time to share us some of your reflexion.
Congratulations from GamesLaw! I’m a 2L who has ambitions to practice in the game industry, and I wanted you to know that your site has helped me a lot. Hopefully I’ll see you in court–as co-counsel or an amicus curiae and not an opponent lol.