Will City law firms join the Metaverse?

Where clients go, lawyers will surely follow…

From Google to Microsoft, a host a big names have already embraced the weird and wonderful world of the Metaverse. But what exactly is it?

Rather simplistically, it’s a digital platform which enables users from across the world to socialise, work and play with each other through virtual headsets. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, has gone so far as hailing the Metaverse as the “successor to the mobile internet”.

Other more surprising names to enter the virtual world include McDonalds and PwC. The fast food giant has filed trademarks for a virtual restaurant that will deliver food online and in person, while the accountancy powerhouse’s Hong Kong arm recently snapped up real estate on blockchain-based virtual world The Sandbox.

So will law firms follow? Well one US outfit already has. Step forward Arent Fox, a Washington-based law firm which last week announced it had joined the Metaverse by acquiring a land site in Decentraland, a platform similar to The Sandbox where users can purchase virtual plots as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

“We understand that serving as go-to advisors on blockchain and digital asset business issues means playing a part in shaping this new frontier,” the firm’s chair Anthony V. Lupo said. “[We are] opening an office in the Metaverse because that’s where our clients are going.” And he’s not wrong. Arent Fox advised PwC in the acquisition of its own virtual plots.

But will City law firms join the Metaverse? Well, it’s probably safe to say: where clients go, their lawyers will surely follow…