This is still pretty surface-level analysis.

Second Life itself may or may not end up at the top of the pile (many of us believe it won't) but virtual worlds are really nothing more than the 3D internet, and as processing power increases and the user base grows you are going to see more and more businesses finding value in these virtual spaces. Some will be play-spaces, some will be social spaces, and some will be spaces where business is done.

It is definitely true that marketing a law firm directly in a current virtual world isn't going to generate instant returns, but you've got to take the long view here. Attorneys, particularly those with high-tech clients, need to be familar with these spaces, and can do so for a minimal investment of time and resources. It strikes me as terrible advice to tell an attorney to turn his her her back on this space right now, when it is just beginning to reach the point where it is attractive to mainstream business clients.

The problem is that the vast majority of lawyers haven't even mastered RSS feeds, the use of a newsreader, blogging , and other basic online networking tools. Then when media coverage of Second Life hits, law firm marketing folks start thinking they need to get on top of SL when there are more important items that merit their attention.

Sure, for the right lawyer, SL may merit some tinkering around. But not for most.

Growth is pretty flat and lot of unclear issues at hand atm. We run the largest public area in SL now and took a look at recent SL data here: http://rezzable.com/blog/rightasrain-rimbaud/looking-linden-sl-data-and-trying-be-excited-about-sl5b

We still think there is an opportunity for using SL to reach global early adopters at cost-effective prices (like our promotion for L'oreal). There is also a lot of exciting stuff to support and get involved with--but immediate returns hard to see for legal firms.