Law School as Second Life

Gordon Smith over at Conglomerate is blogging about a deal between IBM and the makers of Second Life:

IBM and Linden Lab, creator of Second Life, have entered into an alliance "to create an enterprise-class version of Second Life behind a corporate firewall." According to the IBM website: "IBM is helping clients and partners to conduct business inside virtual worlds and to connect the virtual world with the real world through a richer, more immersive Web environment."

And Linden Lab is encouraging other organizations to get their own "grid."

Second Life Grid is a platform that enables your organization to create a public
or secure private space using the leading 3D online virtual world technology.
Discover how your organization can create its own space for communication,
collaboration and community engagement. Use the Second Life Grid to hold virtual
meetings, construct product simulations, provide employee training and lots
more.

Already some law professors are thinking of ways to use Second Life in roleplaying exercises. This could be a great tool for those who teach interviewing, counseling, ADR, and transactional skills courses, just to name the obvious.

Maybe it's time to start working on your avatar.