.law

Overview

.law is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) created for the legal industry under ICANN's New gTLD Program. It is intended as an industry-focused, trusted namespace for legal professionals, law firms and related legal services worldwide.

History

• Proposed as part of ICANN's New gTLD Program.
• Multiple applicants competed for the string, including Minds + Machines (MMX), Radix, STRAAT Investments, Donuts (Corn Dynamite, LLC), Famous Four Media (Silver Registry Limited), and Merchant Law Group LLP.
• MMX won the rights to .law in a private auction held in September 2014.
• .law was delegated into the DNS root zone on 18 June 2015, completing the successful application for the string.
• Several applicants (including MMX, Donuts, and Famous Four Media) submitted Public Interest Commitments (PICs) as part of their applications.
• Background notes from the application rounds include a GAC Early Warning issued to Radix as a portfolio applicant.
• MMX was one of a large portfolio of applications (68 strings) it pursued and announced funding arrangements (reported as up to $15 million in one case) to support auction participation.

Usage and Audience

• Target audience: qualified lawyers, law firms and legal professionals worldwide.
• Typical uses: professional websites, firm branding, lawyer directories and other legal services aimed at communicating official, industry-specific identity online.
• The TLD is positioned to help legal practitioners increase online presence and rebrand using an industry-specific domain.

Registration Rules

• .law is a restricted top-level domain.
• Registrations are open only to qualified lawyers and law firms worldwide.
• Applications for .law domains require independent third-party verification of eligibility.

SEO and Brand Impact

• .law is presented as an industry-focused, trustworthy namespace intended to signal legal professionalism and official association with the legal sector.
• The TLD is positioned for brand differentiation and clearer industry identification for legal practices and services.

Notable Cases or Examples

• Minds + Machines (MMX) won a private auction in September 2014 for the .law string and other strings in the same auction period.
• Delegation to the DNS root zone occurred on 18 June 2015, marking operational status of the TLD.
• Other prominent applicants during the application round included Radix, STRAAT Investments, Donuts, Famous Four Media and Merchant Law Group LLP.

% IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       LAW

organisation: Registry Services, LLC
address:      100 S. Mill Ave, Suite 1600
address:      Tempe AZ 85281
address:      United States of America (the)

contact:      administrative
name:         IANA Contact
organisation: GoDaddy Registry
address:      100 S. Mill Ave, Suite 1600
address:      Tempe AZ 85281
address:      United States of America (the)
phone:        +1 480-505-8800
fax-no:       +1 480-624-2546
e-mail:       iana@registry.godaddy

contact:      technical
name:         IANA Contact
organisation: GoDaddy Registry
address:      100 S. Mill Ave, Suite 1600
address:      Tempe AZ 85281
address:      United States of America (the)
phone:        +1 480-505-8800
fax-no:       +1 480-624-2546
e-mail:       iana@registry.godaddy

nserver:      A.NIC.LAW 2001:dcd:1:0:0:0:0:10 37.209.192.10
nserver:      B.NIC.LAW 2001:dcd:2:0:0:0:0:10 37.209.194.10
nserver:      C.NIC.LAW 2001:dcd:3:0:0:0:0:10 37.209.196.10
nserver:      X.NIC.LAW 156.154.172.82 2610:a1:1074:0:0:0:1:82
nserver:      Y.NIC.LAW 156.154.173.82 2610:a1:1075:0:0:0:1:82
nserver:      Z.NIC.LAW 156.154.174.82 2610:a1:1076:0:0:0:1:82
ds-rdata:     42496 8 2 f6daab5f4fc2a7d48c9e97623c3f0d478586fa882732ba0f86c31b291ad2f3f6

whois:        whois.nic.law

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: http://nic.law/

created:      2015-06-18
changed:      2024-04-16
source:       IANA