Domain suffix '.law' likely to launch in 2013

updated on 19 June 2012

Law firms may soon be changing their web addresses to take advantage of a new domain, '.law', which is likely to be authorised by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the body that coordinates internet addresses.

Legal Futures reports that ICANN is about to significantly increase the number of available generic top-level domains (gTLDs), current examples of which include '.com' and '.co.uk'. The body announced that it has received nearly 2,000 requests for around 1,400 different suffixes. There are currently just 22 gTLDS - a further 500 will go live in Spring next year.

Six businesses - including a Canadian law firm - have lodged an application for '.law', so it remains to be seen which of the six will ultimately control it. Watch this space…