The future of Greedy Associates – the infamous, but highly influential online messageboard frequented by young US lawyers – is in doubt following a move by the site's owner to clamp down on the board's irreverent content.

The move, by legal information company Findlaw in February to withdraw the monitoring powers of Greedy Associates' custodians on the infirmation.com website has already led to a mass exodus from the site.

Instead, the company, which is owned by legal publisher West, will now police and censor the Greedys boards with its own in-house staff in a bid to clamp down on the board's content.

A spokesman for Findlaw, Kyle Christensen, told Legal Week Global: "This is not the introduction of a new code of ethics – it is the enforcement of the existing terms.

"Findlaw has always been concerned about potential liabilities from slander or harassment of lawyers on the boards."

When commenting on the change in attitude towards the Greedys, who pioneered candid legal information exchange in a US market dominated by a deferential domestic media, Christensen added that: "People are looking for the internet to grow up."

The site, which rose to prominence during the late 1990s corporate boom, attracted its most famous leak in October last year when a poster used the site to disclose a memo drawn up by US associates with UK giant Clifford Chance, who lambasted the firm's internal culture and billing practices.

The move has already led to claims that the shift in policy is the result of pressure from the major US law firms that have often been on the receiving end
of Greedys' candid barbs and deliberate leaks.