Do we need SL lawyers?

Judging from some of the issues that are cropping up between residents and the inability of the Lindens to timely respond to all of them, is it time to introduce a in world judicial system?

No.

I don't want fellow residents arbitrarily dictating what I can do.

No. We need to use precidents from the East to sue them in RL court! Lawyers on the new digital frontier, like cowboys and $opponents.
While we're at it, let's get some janitors, convenience store workers, used car salesmen, and regional comptrollers to go with the prostitutes, extortionists, wannabe law enforcement officers, scam artists, club owners, and real estate monopoly players.

definately - I think everyone will get a good laugh at the words that tumble out of my mouth when they do their 'lawyerin' on me

RL lawyers are hired to resolve disputes when issues arise on email, the web, and so forth. I'm sure there will be lawsuits (there's already kind of one, but its from a joke of an attorney) regarding Second Life as well. On the current topic, I laugh every time I see residents threaten lawsuits over minor issues. I've seen people on these forums state they'll demand action, through legal recourse, if premium stipends are cut because they paid their $72 in advance. That's very different, however, than pursuing copyright or making a DMCA claim, which doesn't necessarily require an attorney, just a brain and persistance.

Any lawyer worth hiring is going to run at least $200.00 per hour. That's why I get such a good laugh about the potential lawsuits; we once got a threat in Live Help that the caller would "sue LL if they didn't immediately return the L$200 he lost at the casino". It was really hard to answer that one with a straight face.

There is simply not enough money changing hands on a per-transaction basis amongst the residents of SL right now to expect any kind of major lawsuit, with one or two notable exceptions (IE: imagine if Anshe would be banned by LL; it would be ugly for everyone involved). Once more and more money and RL business gets involved in SL, this will definitely change. Notice, one of the biggest projects has seen, the Wells-Fargo Stagecoach Island project, didn't try to recover any of the money they had sunk into SL; they just moved on.

Regards,

-Flip

My faves are the ones for 'libelous slander!'

Hell you'd think EVERYONE on the internet was a lawyer.

In the near future I should make a blog for 'intarweb legal threats' and post all correspondance between myself and the 'sueing' parties.

Would be good for a laugh And yes - I'll name the names if I do it

zOMG that would be good for a larf.

Well thats the way kids in America are raised now. Not sure about other countries they could be the same way or totally different. Kids in America are bombarded with ridiculous lawsuits everywhere they look, the news, newspapers. It seems as though Americans will sue over anything. Stub your toe on the nightstand, you need to sue the manufacturer of the nightstand for making it close to the ground where your feet are.

Certainly there are those out there that have serious grievances worth sueing for, but the frivilous lawsuits far outweight those.

So its no surprise that lawsuits are threatened around every corner in SL.

I think RL lawyers would do just fine.

Siggy, it's real, it's out there... the lawyers are waiting to empty your bank account. Libel lawyers descend on Usenet. And this is a much older and more 'notorious' example: Demon libel loss could cripple Internet free speech. You can also while away your time doing a google search on the name 'Laurence Godfrey'.

Yes, we need lawyers in SL. The waterways are suprisingly short of avatars with concrete shoes.
Lawyers could fill this role admirably.

I would like SL superheros instead of lawyers.


But since we can all already fly and teleport, they'd probably feel pretty useless.

We have a Green Lantern Corps. And Genderman

Yes, hire me for $600/hr and I'll solve all your problems. With a bat.

Impartial facilitators or dispute resolution experts might work better.

I thought the OP was asking about an inworld judicial system? The compensation of professionals an amount which is equivalent to their RL wages for services rendered in SL is not the norm. I wouldn't be surprised if some lawyers would be interested in applying their skills within the game. Unless it is only graphic artists and programmers who are willing to provide their services for a pittance.

The NBSC is a judicial body available to citizens for resolving disputes. We're looking at the ability of it to mediate disputes of non-citizens for a nominal fee. Typically, as in RL, the loser of the case pays court costs.

The standard problem with mediation is that it's non-binding in SL. We can solve that problem by asking for $L or mainland escrow prior to resolution.

Another point to make is that both parties would need to agree to mediation. No one wants to force this on anyone. Another problem arises when one party is aggrieved and the other doesn't want mediation. The solution to that is to draw up an agreement specifying conflict resolution at the NBSC, notarize it with Nota Bene and leave an escrow with a 3rd party (like Eldrich Financial of Neualtenburg). This should happen prior to a big transaction. Then if either party has a grievance it can be resolved. This contract would not be required if the transaction happened on NB land between 2 NB citizens, in such a case a citizens land or company escrow could be forfeited.

The SC has resolved a few disputes in its time. So it can be done, and that's how it can be done. I'm open to any suggestions on how it can be done better given the current toolset. Thanks!

No rule of law=no justice system. Despite all efforts of various types of mediations, arbitrations and sitting around singing kumbiyah until the answer pops out of heaven, there will be no dispute resolution-real or alternate.

Its all nicey-nice to talk about how you want to work out disputes amenably, but I have seen, more often than not, when the time to compromise comes, people want to litigate. Everyone is reasonable until the arbitration award is against them.

All of which is neither here nor there, because there is no way to enforce any agreement in SL. LL will not do it, and yet they make us use ficticious last names so hat we cannot easily turn to the RL courts. Without rule of law, we have no ultimate authority to enforce the decisions of what ever dispute resolution system the residents want.

For this reason, SL remains a game, and not a business platform.

Rule of law = gun to head.

In other words, you'd need the virtual equivalent of gun-to-the-head enforcement before you could have the basis for an effective legal system - and the advantage that most people find in SL is that nobody can point a gun to your head.

By definition, SL cannot have an effective legal system.

No, morality, ethics, and sense are not the basis of law, although they are relevant to judgement and punishment.

you owe me 20 cent! gimme gimme bgimme or I'll sic me laywers on ya! yup.. the idea IS THAT RIDICULAS.. Im sure more serios cases like texture theft will be dealt with outside SL in due time.

Oooh the PA group will be lawyers if anyone needs us. We already have frilly collars and all the phoenix wright soundclips you could ever need... in japanese!

aaah flip do not give us false hope!!!!

We can dream, can't we?

I hope this isn't about prim babies. Don't even go there.