|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The
Lowdown
Welcome to the
The Lowdown from
DN Journal - your source for notable news and information from all
corners of the global domain name industry!
The Lowdown is
compiled by DN Journal Editor & Publisher
Ron Jackson.
|
|
|
Subscribe
to our
RSS Feed
|
|
|
|
|
Pioneering
Attorney Paul Keating - One of the World's First
Lawyers to Specialize in Domain Related Issues - Has
Passed |
|
It's a
dreary, rainy day in Florida today, one that
turned even more somber and gray upon hearing that
we've lost another one of the key players in
domain industry history - legendary attorney Paul
Keating. The sad news came from one of Paul's
long-time friends, Freddy Schiwek, who let
me know that Paul had passed after a battle with
cancer that he has been fighting for several years
now. I
first met Paul in 2005 at the 2nd ever TRAFFIC
domain conference in Florida and, like everyone
else (who wasn't on the opposite side of a legal
case against him) took an immediate liking to him.
He always seemed calm, cool and collected in a Robert
Redford kind of way and easily made friends
wherever he went - and he went everywhere! I wound
up writing a DNJournal Cover
Story about him in 2013 titled Have
Gavel Will Travel: How Globe-Trotting Domain
Defender Paul Keating Became One of the Industry's
Top Attorneys. |
Paul
Keating speaking at the
2006 TRAFFIC Silicon Valley conference.
|
|
In
that story Paul told me how he ended up being one
of the first attorneys in the world to
specialize in domain related cases. It all
started in 2003 when we was actually
considering getting out of law all
together. "That's when an old client, who
also happened to have extensive domain
interests, called and asked me to hang out a new
shingle and represent him in domain
matters," Paul said. "I told him I
would not start a law firm for one client.
His response was "well, how many clients
do you need?" I told him 20.
Within 60 days he
had 20 domainers call
me for work! He then proudly called and asked
if I had enough for a law firm now and here
I am!," Paul laughed. Countless
domain investors would likely have been much
poorer on both financial and personal levels
if Keating had gone in a different
direction. |
Keating
speaking at the 2013
Domaining Spain conference in Valencia |
|
Paul
in 2006 - just 3 years into his
domain law career but he had already
been an attorney for 23 years. |
Paul's
change of a heart was not really surprising
though because getting into law was never in
his plans in the first place. "I was a
competitive swimmer and spent six hours a day
in the pool between the ages of 16 and
21," Paul said. "I swam with the
likes of Olympian Rick
Dumont but my goals were
shut down by Jimmy
Carter’s Olympic
boycott."
The only thing
Paul seemed to like as much as swimming was arguing
with teachers. "I was having constant
debates with a social science teacher and he
got so exasperated from those arguments that
he told me I should go to law school, so I
did!" Keating enrolled at the University
of San Francisco where
he graduated in 1980, then stayed over to
attend USF's law school, where he earned
his law degree in 1983. |
Paul
traveled the world throughout the legal and
entrepreneurial career that followed. The same year
he became a domain attorney, 2003, he moved to Spain
where his wife Victoria, also an attorney,
was from. They had met five years earlier when she
came to San Francisco to study English and the U.S.
legal system. While he was an American living
in Europe (as well as London for a few years),
Paul's client list quickly stretched beyond both
continents, located as far away as Africa,
Australia, the Philippines and Turkey.
With
so many friends around the world, the news of Paul's
passing will be reaching people at different times
as they wake up across the various time zones.
However, the reaction will be the same - sad to hear
another one of the great ones is gone but thankful
to have been among the lucky few that crossed paths
with Paul Keating while he was here. Rest in
Peace old friend.
|
|
(Posted
July 30, 2026)
*****
|
|
|
|
See
all of our recent posts in the full
Lowdown section.
If you've been out of the loop longer, catch up in the Lowdown
Archive! |
|
|
We
need your help to keep giving domainers The
Lowdown, so please email [email protected]
with any interesting information you might have. If
possible, include the source of your information so we can
check it out (for example a URL if you read it in a forum
or on a site elsewhere).
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
