When consumers need legal advice, they quickly find what they are looking for in the pedestrian zone of their hometown.

Companies also like to turn to legal advisors in their neighborhood.

The large law firms in the German economic centers are often within walking distance of the corporate headquarters.

However, the past two pandemic years have shown that many legal questions can also be clarified with the help of video conferences or automated chatbots.

The physical presence of law firm locations seems to be becoming less important as companies and consultants use digital channels for their communication.

Marcus Young

Editor in Business.

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Clients of the large German law firm Gleiss Lutz, known in Germany primarily for advising Daimler, Meta and currently prominently for the supervisory board of Volkswagen, no longer have to travel to visit the newest location.

The Internet browser on your computer is sufficient for this: Gleiss Lutz was the first major commercial law firm in this country to acquire ownership of the Metaverse and open a virtual presence there.

The partnership between well-known fashion and IT brands can be found on the 3D platform "Decentraland".

The Stuttgart partner Eric Wagner, who advises companies on legal issues relating to autonomous driving and Industry 4.0, is responsible for the presence.

Not just mere marketing

"The Metaverse fits seamlessly into our location strategy, we want to be close to our clients, today and in the future, especially in the changing business environment," explains Michael Arnold, co-managing partner of Gleiss Lutz.

For the law firm, which opened a (physical) office in London in early 2022, the recent investment in the Metaverse is obviously not just marketing.

The law firm has been advising companies on the legal aspects of a virtual presence for a long time, including the Meta Group (formerly Facebook) among its clients.

In addition, over the years Gleiss Lutz has built up a team of IT and legal operations specialists who need not shy away from international competition from other law firms and, in particular, the large auditing firms.

Analysts from North America see great potential in the Metaverse for lawyers, accountants and tax advisors.

Not only the uncomplicated way of being able to network with each other from anywhere in the world should play a role.

The possibility of acting in the digital parallel world via avatars, i.e. artificial shells, will primarily appeal to clients who do not like to act in public, i.e. strategic investors and family offices.

The business service Bloomberg expects sales of up to 800 billion dollars for the year 2024 from transactions carried out in the virtual world.

The pioneers among the virtual property owners were the US investment bank JP Morgan and the auditors from PwC.

In February 2022, Arent Fox Schiff, the first renowned US commercial law firm, followed with the step into the Metaverse.