Virtually Blind met with ‘Solomon Cortes’ (avatar of Field Fisher Waterhouse partner David Naylor) in Second Life this morning to discuss his firm’s decision to become the first major, international law firm to open an office in a virtual world. Naylor is the FFW partner behind the project.

We discussed concerns the firm had before moving into this space, staffing, and the design of their new offices.

Virtually Blind: First off, why now? I know several major firms have considered this move, but everyone seems to be waiting. What motivated Field Fisher Waterhouse to move into this space now?

David Naylor: Well, we have a substantial new Media, Technology and IP practice, so we’re probably better positioned than many firms to launch right now, just because of our interest in the area and our client-base. Also, we have a tradition of innovating when we spot an interesting opportunity, and the firm was very supportive when I proposed establishing an office in Second Life. And we see scope right now to use the Second Life environment for some interesting collaborations and involvement with the Second Life community – it’s not like we took the view that we’d only get involved if we could see how to start billing immediately. We see this just as much as a fantastic opportunity to explore and learn about what’s possible in Second Life.

VB: Who designed the office, and what went into the process?

Naylor: The offices were built and developed by Depo Consulting, and we worked closely together on the internal fit out. They have been absolutely brilliant. Very helpful, very committed. They own this whole business park area. We’re also working with them on some other interesting initiatives that we hope to be able to tell you about in due course!

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I’ll try to be open minded here, but it’s going to be hard. I set up an account at “There” today for the first time to check out the new State of Play Academy, and I was kind of shocked at what I found.

Early impressions? Well, you hear people complain about the graphics in Second Life from time to time, but There looks just awful. As Simon says, “I don’t mean to be rude, but…” the world of There looks a like the designers of MarioKart are holding a garage sale on a tiki beach. Screen after screen of blocky, pixelated, repetitive scenery, and all the avatars, no matter what they’re wearing, look basically the same. Honestly, I’m amazed that anybody considers this platform a competitor to Second Life.

I’ve also got a list of about twenty seemingly crippling interface deficiencies, but I’m attributing at least some of them to me not knowing what I’m doing.

So here’s my idea: readers, if any of you use There with any regularity, can you show me around? My avatar there is BenjaminNoble (spaces aren’t allowed) and I’d like to see this from the perspective of someone who understands what we’re looking at.

And by the way, can somebody “There” hook me up with a shirt, a pair of pants, and some actual shoes? Though I’m allowed to change my face for free, I appear to be stuck with an orange Hawaiian shirt, tan board shorts, and a pair of hideous mandals until I give the folks that run this flea circus some money. Which seems, frankly, like extortion of the vilest sort.

Of course, I haven’t tried dune buggy racing or hoverboarding yet. Maybe that’ll change everything. Dude.

Virtually Blind periodically runs “quicklinks” — items that are not long enough for a full story, but are worth a click. Here’s today’s batch:

• There’s a new paper entitled “The Magic Circle” on the intersection of law and virtual worlds by Indiana University School of Law Associate Professor Joshua Fairfield (first linked on Terra Nova). “Magic Circle” is a game-design term that is used to describe the “line” that protects games from intersecting with the real world so much that the real world distracts from the experience, and Professor Fairfield says that line is getting mighty blurry in the context of virtual worlds. The paper won’t be particularly controversial (the most intriguing conclusion is that community standards from virtual worlds might influence courts applying traditional law in these spaces) but does presents a surprisingly accessible overview for an academic paper, and is worth your click.

• Wired is running a short piece on the global gaming “crackdown,” focusing on the Chinese plan to limit gaming time and the relative ineffectiveness of in-world protests. It may be a bit old-hat to VB readers, but there’s a few interesting items there, including this interesting (albeit unsupported) claim: “In the near future, the IRS could require game developers to keep records of all the transactions that take place in virtual economies and tax players on their gains before any game currency is converted into dollars.”

• The Guardian is reporting on “virtual drugs” in Second Life as if it’s a new phenomenon (it isn’t), and predicts that “the introduction of illicit virtual drugs will no doubt bring calls for tough new regulations and aggressive law enforcement” (maybe, but they’ve got their hands full with casinos and pedophiles at the moment). As is typical when mainstream media covers virtual worlds, the article gets it about 80% wrong and covers the lack of knowledge with a thin coating of “wit.” That said, the idea of avatars taking drugs is pretty idiotic.

• Finally, the little virtual world that could, “There,” just got its very own legal center. The “State of Play Academy” claims it is “the first law and technology academy built in a virtual world.” Now, I’m reading the The State of Play essay collection right now, and I’m happy to see them establishing a presence in There (in fact, I’ll probably, finally, set up a There avatar just to see it), but I have a feeling there are some folks from Harvard’s Berkman Center and Nova Southeastern’s Shepard Broad Law Center who are going to dispute their claim about being the first.

Are you a young practitioner interested in using internet tools to create trusted and trusting online communities? InternetBar.org (IBO) is sponsoring a contest to describe such a system, with the winner being sent, all expenses paid, to the 6th International Forum on Online Dispute Resolution to be held in Hong Kong this December as the organization’s recorder.

To participate, you need to read the contest rules, register at IBO’s contest website, consistently participate in discussions on the site through the end of July, and then, if selected as one of 15 finalists, prepare a paper on the topic. The papers will be judged on several factors — with particular attention to whether they are publishable — and all 15 will be circulated at the International Forum on Online Dispute Resolution. The rules state that all 15 finalists will receive prizes, but do not identify any prizes (other than the grand prize) specifically.

The contest is targeted at students and relatively recent graduates. To participate, you have to “prove either (a) enrollment in an undergraduate/graduate program in Law, Dispute Resolution, Conflict Resolution, Peace Studies, Political Studies, Economics or Business, or (b) a degree from any such program, earned no earlier than 2002).”

Registration is open until either May 1 or May 10 (the rules currently say the 1st, while the sidebar on the site says the 10th — shoot for the 1st to be safe unless they clear it up). According to IBO, more than 50 contest participants have already signed up.