18(a) Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD

Prototypical answer:

The mission of .law is to provide an exclusive and differentiated identity on the internet to entities within the legal industry.

The current set of generic top level domains (gTLDs like .com, .net, .org, .biz etc.) do not say much about the individual⁄organization that owns the name. Country code top level domains (ccTLD) could be an option, but again, all they signify is a geographical association. No top Level domain today is truly representative of the legal industry and thus the need for the .law gTLD.

Legal firms are expanding across the globe, collaborating with others across boundaries and further increasing the need for them to have an online presence that truly signifies what they do, and allows them to establish themselves in their respective space. A sneak peek reveals that the legal industry in the United States alone represents close to $230 billion in annual revenues (ZapData, Hoovers, D&B Division)(^1).

The current gTLD space within .com & .net presents very limited options. Today, close to 70% of all .com “check availability” lookups result in names not being available (Internal research). This highly restricts the names that the legal industry can use to represent themselves online, and forces them to choose sub-standard names.

The purpose of the .law TLD is thus to give the legal industry an exclusive space that they can use to establish themselves online and where they do not have to compete with other types of businesses that have no association with the same industry.

Considering the specific connotation of the word ‘law’ and the clear message that it sends out, we expect to see keen interest from the legal industry, giving them a space where they can build and brand their identity on the web as someone that is a part of the legal industry.

The legal industry has seen a change in the way that customers look for legal services & in the way that law firms approach customers. More and more businesses are going online and realizing the need for an online presence. Google keywords data shows that there are over 5 million monthly searches (As of January, 2012) performed for phrases that include the word lawyer such as “find a lawyer”, “real estate lawyer”, “immigration lawyer” etc. The searches for such phrases from the USA itself accounts for close to 3.3 million per month.

The American Lawyer (Am Law) is a leading monthly magazine for lawyers, which covers the business of the most successful law firms across the U.S. and around the world. They publish a ranking of law firms based on their financial strength. All of the Am Law 200 firms have a presence on LinkedIn while over 80 of the Am Law 100 firms are already using twitter. Online channels are becoming increasing popular for communication and information exchange in this industry.

With the progression of the legal industry towards the adoption of the internet, it is only natural to expect that the industry be provided with a TLD that truly represents them online.

Our policies will allow restricted registration access to entities within the legal industry only. We will back this policy with a well-defined Eligibility Restrictions Dispute Resolution Process (ERDRP) which allows us to rapidly take-down domain names that do not meet our eligibility criteria. It is our over-arching goal to develop .law as a clean, exclusive and high-quality name space where consumers can relate a .law website to a high-quality legal service provider.

Our mission, goals can be summarized as follows:

1.1 ENHANCE TRUST

To create a “trusted and secure” namespace for the legal industry, and the users that seek them out through this medium.

1.2 ENHANCE SEARCHABILITY AND RECOGNITION

.law benefits the Registrants as well as the end users. End users will be able to find the website of a legal service provider easily amongst the sea of countless others in unrestricted gTLDs posing or insinuating knowledge and capabilities in the legal profession without the training, knowledge and certifications inherent in legal licensing.

Entities within the legal industry will be able to easily distinguish themselves by running their web presence on a .law domain name.
The space will make them more visible, and more accessible.

1.3 ENHANCE REGISTRANT CHOICE

To create a namespace that provides legal entities greater choice to represent themselves online in a manner they please. Due to the saturation and unrestricted nature of the existing gTLD space many legal firms have to opt for a name that does not best reflect them .law will provide legitimate Registrants a higher probability of obtaining their desired name

1.4 CREATE A CLEANER INTERNET SPACE

To create a cleaner internet experience for end users by implementing pioneering registration policies, content and usage policies, and abuse mitigation processes.

1.5 CREATE A STABLE AND RESILIENT INTERNET SPACE

To deliver a stable and resilient internet experience to registrants and end-users by going above and beyond the ICANN mandated SLAs and delivering 100% resolution uptime

References:

* (^1) http:⁄⁄www.hoovers.com⁄industry⁄legal-services⁄1063-1.html

This completes our answer to Q18(a).

Similar gTLD applications: (225)