.lawyer

Overview

• .lawyer is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) introduced through ICANN's New gTLD Program.
• The string is associated with the legal/regulatory market and intended for use by legal professionals and related services.
• The successful applicant and current registry operator is Donuts (Atomic Station, LLC).

History

Application and Applicants

• .lawyer was applied for during ICANN's New gTLD Program.
• Donuts (Atomic Station, LLC) was the applicant that ultimately became the registry operator.
• Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd. (TLDH) was another applicant for the string and later lost contention with Donuts.
• Both Donuts and TLDH submitted Public Interest Commitments (PICs) as part of their applications.

Contention and Private Auction

• In October 2013 Donuts won the private auction for .lawyer, beating Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd.; the winning bid was not publicly disclosed.
• TLDH announced it had received $5 million as a result of losing private auctions for .lawyer and .website, though distribution details were not disclosed.
• TLDH had also announced a funding arrangement of up to $15 million intended to support auction participation for a single gTLD contest.

GAC Early Warning and Review

• The Donuts application received a GAC Early Warning from Australia (and GAC Chair Heather Dryden), noting the string refers to a regulated market and raising concerns that adequate consumer-protection measures had not been provided.

Contract and Delegation

• ICANN signed a Registry Agreement with Donuts for .lawyer on 20 March 2014.
• .lawyer was delegated to the DNS Root Zone on 31 May 2014, completing the transition to an active registry.

Registration Rules

• Applicants for .lawyer (Donuts and TLDH) submitted Public Interest Commitments as part of their applications.
• The GAC Early Warning flagged that the string refers to a regulated market and indicated concerns about measures to protect consumers, prompting attention to policy and safeguards during evaluation.

SEO and Brand Impact

• As a descriptive gTLD explicitly naming the legal profession, .lawyer can serve clear brand positioning for legal services and professionals.
• The GAC Early Warning highlights that governance and consumer-protection measures were a focus during evaluation, a factor stakeholders may consider when assessing trust and regulatory alignment for .lawyer domains.

Notable Cases or Examples

• Private auction (Oct 2013): Donuts won the contention for .lawyer over TLDH; the auction was managed by Innovative Auctions and the bid amount was not disclosed.
• Financial outcomes: TLDH disclosed receiving $5 million from losing private auctions related to .lawyer and .website; TLDH also announced a separate $15 million funding arrangement to support auction participation for a contested gTLD.
• Registry Agreement and delegation: ICANN signed a registry contract with Donuts on 20 March 2014, and .lawyer was delegated to the Root Zone on 31 May 2014.

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

domain:       LAWYER

organisation: Dog Beach, LLC
address:      c/o Identity Digital Limited
address:      10500 NE 8th Street, Suite 750
address:      Bellevue WA 98004
address:      United States of America (the)

contact:      administrative
name:         Vice President, Engineering
organisation: Identity Digital Limited
address:      10500 NE 8th Street, Suite 750
address:      Bellevue WA 98004
address:      United States of America (the)
phone:        +1.425.298.2200
fax-no:       +1.425.671.0020
e-mail:       tldadmin@identity.digital

contact:      technical
name:         Senior Director, DNS Infrastructure Group
organisation: Identity Digital Limited
address:      10500 NE 8th Street, Suite 750
address:      Bellevue WA 98004
address:      United States of America (the)
phone:        +1.425.298.2200
fax-no:       +1.425.671.0020
e-mail:       tldtech@identity.digital

nserver:      V0N0.NIC.LAWYER 2a01:8840:1a:0:0:0:0:14 65.22.24.14
nserver:      V0N1.NIC.LAWYER 2a01:8840:1b:0:0:0:0:14 65.22.25.14
nserver:      V0N2.NIC.LAWYER 2a01:8840:1c:0:0:0:0:14 65.22.26.14
nserver:      V0N3.NIC.LAWYER 161.232.12.14 2a01:8840:f6:0:0:0:0:14
nserver:      V2N0.NIC.LAWYER 2a01:8840:1d:0:0:0:0:14 65.22.27.14
nserver:      V2N1.NIC.LAWYER 161.232.13.14 2a01:8840:f7:0:0:0:0:14
ds-rdata:     24952 8 2 07f6239a01f7cab022db3f5773ea1f03bcf6780e4f87de8afd4f93883d19ebf8

whois:        whois.nic.lawyer

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: https://www.identity.digital/

created:      2014-05-22
changed:      2023-09-12
source:       IANA