Online gaming worlds as a way to train in-house counsel about management

Any day now, expect the grand opening of “Second Life: The Law Department,” the massively multi-player online role playing game (MMORPG) where anyone can be a general counsel and fire the CEO’s favorite law firm, where law firm partners can compete and win to provide legal services for the King’s daughter, where long-suffering associates can sign on to a startup’s fledgling law department and ride the IPO rocket to riches!

But that’s fantasy.

Any day now, expect to learn how to negotiate alternative billing arrangements by practicing online in a simulated setting! Step into the excitement of competitive bill reviews against other reviewers, to see who can find the most flim-flammery. Practice your interviewing skills on a polished applicant who is silicon based! Compete against others to restructure your law department in best alignment with clients! Recruit, build, improve and routine a crack team of e-discovery mavens, while circling vendors and consults try to lure them away!

If you think that’s fantasy also, read the article in Bus. Law Today, Vol. 17, Nov./Dec. 2007 at 19, that explores the potential legal issues that arise in virtual worlds. Real training in a virtual world is just around the corner (See my post of Sept. 22, 2006 about entrepreneurial ideas on this blog.).