Even if you had never before heard of the metaverse, you could no longer ignore it after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in October that his company was changing its name to Meta, revealing his vision for the future of online interaction.

Ever since, as The Verge writer Casey Newton said, “The metaverse is having a moment.”

Well, if companies will now be flocking to the metaverse, it only makes sense that a personal injury firm should get there ahead of them, ready to pursue justice for that first avatar to slip and fall on a virtual banana peel.

Yesterday, the New Jersey law firm Grungo Colarulo laid claim to the title of first personal injury firm in the world to open an office in the metaverse, saying that it has opened a location in the virtual reality platform Decentraland.

To be clear, Grungo Colarulo is not the first law firm to open in the metaverse. It is at least 15 years late to claim that honor. In 2007, at least two law firms opened offices in Second Life, and perhaps others before them. That same year, I reported on the first-ever election of officers of the Second Life Bar Association.

What I do not know is whether any of these predecessors in the metaverse were personal injury firms. So I can neither confirm nor discredit Grungo Colarulo’s claim to be first.

(If you know otherwise, please let me know.)

Not only does it claim to be the first PI firm in the metaverse, it also says it is the metaverse’s first:

  • Wrongful death firm.
  • Catastrophic injury firm.
  • Nursing home abuse and neglect firm.
  • Employment discrimination firm.
  • Workers’ compensation firm.
  • Sexual abuse firm.

If nothing else, these claims are SEO gold.

The firm said its office will be a resource for people in the metaverse looking for educational information about their legal claims, and will provide potential clients with the opportunity to contract the firm outside the metaverse.

To build its metaverse office, the firm retained the services of the 11-year-old daughter of founding partner Richard Grungo Jr., who, the firm says, “has extensive experience building structures in online worlds, including Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox.

If you are in Decentraland and looking for a lawyer, you can find them at Parcel -36, 150.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.