LATINLAWYER identified several established, online legal communities focused on the region. Argentina is the birthplace of two of the communities profiled here: ForoCompetencia, an antitrust community with more than 400 members, and habeasdata.org.

 

To succeed, an online community has to provide a service not available in any other form. ForoCompetencia has members from across Latin America, the US and Europe, from the public and private sectors, and includes economists and regulators, Julián Peña, an antitrust specialist at Allende & Brea in Argentina and creator of the forum, says: “It interests people because it is multijurisdictional and interdisciplinary”. Gathering contributions from this range of people would be impossible with more traditional networks.

 

Juan Rivière, a consumer liaison officer at the EU’s directorate-general of competition, and a regular user of ForoCompetencia, agrees. “The community sidesteps the problems of geography, time zones and over-loaded agendas to meet a basic need – that of communication”. He points to his own regular contribution, providing an EU perspective on particular Latin America issues and developments from his office in Brussels, as proof that it works.Basically, people take the time to contribute because it makes their working lives easier. “By simply sending an email you can get reliable and valuable information from every place in the region, or obtain a reference that allows you to deal with a case”, says Alfredo Bullard, partner of Bullard Abogados in Peru and another user of ForoCompetencia. But if they are to make members’ lives simpler, then online communities must be easy to use. Most work through existing online portals, such as Yahoo!, which are accessible and familiar. Members pose a question or raise an issue about a particular point of law, which is then emailed to all other members. This is key, according to Peña: “You have to go to the members, not wait for them to come to you, as most people are simply too busy to remember to check a website.”

 

Another issue is language. The communities featured here operate in Spanish or Portuguese, not only making it easier for users in Latin America but giving an important regional focus. “Having the forum in Spanish increases the sense of community”, says the EU’s Juan Rivière. Julián Peña says that merger control, the interplay of IP and competition and supermarkets have been the topics with most activity.There is also some difference between the moderators’ position on whether the forums should be used to disseminate news. Peña has set up a sister site, FC News, specifically for this function and will control any attempt to use the main group for anything other than debate. Peña, meanwhile, does restrict the discussion to questions of law, and takes steps to encourage (not enforce) serious debates. For example, he publishes “yearbooks” of threads, to motivate uses and educate them about the most successful kind of discussions. He points out, through, that the community is its own quality assurance mechanism. “The size and distinction of the audience raises the quality of the submissions” he says. “No one wants to look stupid in front of such a group.”

 

Peña also monitors access, although the only requirements are to be interested, to be able to read Spanish and to identify yourself. But he says that the community has such a life of its own now that his roles is minimal. “To create the community took a great deal of time – of the first 10 discussions, eight were generated by me. Now, there is no need”.

 

Juan Rivière, at the EU agrees that the moderator’s role is one of careful balance. “Sometimes discreet intervention is necessary, particularly when discussing legal issues”, he says. “But intervene too much, and you lose spontaneity”. The life of the community can even go beyond the virtual. Peña has, on occasion, brought ForoCompetencia into the real world. He now organizes a meeting every other year for members, called the Colloquium. “There is a real sense of community in the virtual network”, he says. “But the fact that people are willing to travel to extend that to networking in the real world is a strong indication of just how highly the members value the service the only community provides.”

 

This, of course, is the nub of online communities. Not only do they make lawyers lives easier, but in an industry in which personal recommendation –by clients or fellow layers is a possible source of lucrative work, they extend the range of personal contacts beyond existing networks and physical borders.

 

Such referrals could happen directly. “Of course I have referred work to contracts I have made through ForoCompetencia, and I have received important referrals for work also”, says Alfredo Bullard. “As a network of contacts it is very efficient and effective”.

 

That online communities can transcend the billable hour is for some their true appeal. “What I like about the community is that it is open and honest communication – lawyers provide knowledge in the simple pursuit of knowledge, with no question of charging”, says Juan Rivière.

 

“Antitrust does work especially well for a community like this,” says Julián Peña. “This mix of voices, from lawyers and economists, is hard to achieve in other areas, and it is a fascinating area of practice, even for non-antitrust lawyers.”