InsideLegal

LexThink.1 (Ignite Law 2012) Videos are Live

The ‘future of client service’ was the theme for the third annual LexThink.1 (formerly Ignite Law) ‘future of law practice’ event that we at InsideLegal produce each year with Ignite Law brainchild Matt Homann of LexThink. The event now serves as the opening act of the ABA TECHSHOW, taking place the night before the conference kicks off, and is hosted by the ABA Law Practice Management Section. Each year, we invite anyone in the industry to submit a speaking topic, we then compile the submissions and have the industry vote on what interests them the most, to ultimately determine the agenda. Once choosen, the speakers (we had 11 this year) are charged with preparing a 6 minute, rapid fire presentation on their specific topic. Once again this year, we had a sold out audience of 250 solos/small firm attorneys, legal technologits and legal influencers attend the two hour event.

You can view the intro video by Matt here and below are the links to the videos of this year's presentations. Enjoy!

Mark Britton - Back to the Future

Richard Granat - Legal Industry Startups: An Overview

Roe Frazer - Being a Web 2.0 Lawyer in the "Thank You Economy"

Will Hornsby - Ignite This! Five Ethics Rules That Should Be Incinerated

Ruth Carter - Flash Mob Law

Jason E. Dyer - Where Canasta and Counsel Collide

Eric Hunter - Moving Towards 100% Web

Jay Shepherd - One Word That Will Reinvent How You Serve Clients

Matt Spiegel - Don't Just Communicate ...

James F. Ring - Ending Cheap Talk in Legal Bargaining

Steve Best - Passion

Matt Homann - Client Service Design

 

ABA TECHSHOW 2012: What Went Down - Trends & Photo Album

ABA TECHSHOW 2012  Click for Photo Album

ABA TECHSHOW is one of our favorite shows of the year, if not our favorite. We've been attending for 13 years and it keeps getting better. This year's TECHSHOW kicked off last Wednesday evening with Reid Trautz, 2012 ABA TECHSHOW Chair, welcoming hundreds of conference attendees gathered to partake in a couple of 'eve of' events. First, the ABA LPM section and marquee sponsor RocketLawyer hosted a 90-minute interactive session focused on entrepreneurship ... specifically how lawyers would go about starting a business, in this case, building and marketing a food truck. The idea was novel and the session format very unique -- RocketLawyer MCs asked the crowd to split up into break-out groups and design their own food trucks with the help of a professional artist who captured group ideas via colorful sketches. Based on fairly sparse crowd participation and post crowd feedback of 'what did this have to do with technology', the session may not have been a huge hit, but definitely 'A for effort' on RocketLawyer's part for trying to engage TECHSHOW goers in a new creative way. An unfortunate lesson that you can never compete with a bar in the same room! LexThink.1, our 3rd 'future of law practice in 6 minutes' event, followed to wrap up the evening's programs.

Content is King

A 'tale-of-the-tape' of the 2012 TECHSHOW conference education program revealed 60 highly qualified faculty speakers covering 13 separate tracks (ranging from advanced IT, cloud computing, Mac sessions, paperless, solo and small firm basics) and 72 sessions. Financial support was provided by 24 sponsors and 25 state bar associations were listed as event promoters. Based on feedback we received from some consultants, technologists and attendees, the new 'wars' sessions offered in the mobile/smartphone tracks were a huge hit and everything Mac was standing room only. One session that we missed that we really wish we had been in was the Plenary Session "The Future of Law Practice" led by legal tech guru, Jim Calloway. We heard it was one of the best sessions. Of course, one of the most popular sessions each year is the finale '60 Sites in 60 Minutes' session, which this year was hosted by Natalie Kelly, Dan Pinnington, Catherine Sanders Reach and Reid Trautz. We'll be posting some of the 'best of' from the session soon.

Exhibit Floor Impressions

We created a separate TECHSHOW Guide file with just the exhibitor listings. One of the many refreshing facts about TECHSHOW is that it remains a tradeshow focused on technology, not merely eDiscovery or litigation support. In fact, per the official show guide, only 14 of the 107 exhibiting vendors spanning an abundance of technologies and software touted eDiscovery or litigation support solutions. That's an exhibit representation of 13% of eDiscovery versus 45% eDiscovery at LegalTech NY 2012.

On the flip-side, the cloud and 'web-based' providers dominated the Hilton's show floor this week with approximately 40% of all vendors advertising cloud and web products and services (compared to 14% cloud representation at LegalTech NY). One product launch enjoying a 'home field' advantage was Law Bulletin Publishing's soft launch (generally available in a few months) of JuraLaw, their new web-based case, calendar & docket management product. Leading the show in terms of new news and super busy booths was the smattering of cloud-based practice management systems including Advologix, Clio, HoudiniESQ, MyCase, RocketMatter and Total Attorneys.

APIs In the House

The application program interface was all the rage in Chicago with all the major cloud-based practice management players announced the availability of APIs thus giving third party developers an open platform to integrate products and develop new ones within the technology framework of the existing systems. In fact, API mania was running so wild, that Law Technology News technology editor Sean Doherty joked he'd be doing API reviews during the week as opposed to his usual 'under the hood' product inspections.

A Little of This, a Little of That...

We were asked by quite a few people what the trend of the exhibit hall this year was and my very non-technical answer was "a little of this, a little of that." We've been attending and analyzing the industry and its events since 1999, but this how was a true example of participation by a lot of different technologies that would be useful in a law firm. We saw all types of technologies - electronic signature; cloud-enabled Wi-Fi, smart file trackers; collaboration tools; credit card processing systems; backup systems; web archivers; virtual receptionists; and email encryption services.

Calendaring/Court Rules

What we found interesting this year was the evident focus on calendaring and court rules/calculation services which often, despite their mission critical nature, are overlooked by firms looking for new technology. Case in point, long established online legal deadline calculation service Deadlines.com (owned by Aderant and based on CompuLaw's comprehensive court rule calculations), announced a simpler pricing model that will provide law firms with the ability to generate unlimited events for cases, a more cost effective pricing option. JuraLaw and HoudiniESQ touted calendar and court rule integrations and LawToolBox.com came out of virtually nowhere (never heard of them before) to offer cloud-based court-rule sets. How the calendaring/court rules landscape will shake out is anyone's guess, but as we noted while chatting with lawyer and legal thought leader Bob Ambrogi, not all court rules are created equal, and the true test will be in how comprehensive offered deadline calculations are and how many lawyers are actually dedicated internally to consistently update rules.

Wrapping up our product impressions, the 'welcome back to legal' award goes to Roe Frazer and his TECHSHOW debut of the Barrister App, a firm-branded app giving firms the ability to give clients direct access to their pertinent contact information, attorney bios, areas of expertise and messaging capabilities. Roe, former CEO and Founder of CaseLogistix, and now managing director at digital marketing and creative agency Digome, celebrated his re-entry into legal with the Barrister launch and his web 2.0-themed LexThink.1 talk on Wednesday night. 

Finally, the most non-traditional vendor nod goes to TLO and its TLOxp^® tool used by global corporations and law enforcement agencies to investigate and research people, locations, companies and their interrelationships for due diligence, risk assessment and identity authentication. An interesting side note -- One of TLO's founders is John Walsh, host of America's Most Wanted TV show and long-time proponent for new legislation to protect children from predatory crimes.

'Beer for Blawggers'

Thanks to Kevin O'Keefe of LexBlog and the ABA Journal for hosting the '5th Annual Beer for Blawggers' get together celebrating law blogging and law bloggers Friday evening. We enjoy this event every year as it is a great way for us to connect with every one before the end of TECHSHOW. Special thanks to Molly McDonough, deputy managing editor of the ABA Journal for coordinating the event.

As always, we had a tremendous time this week catching up with many of our consultant, vendor and technologists friends. Good luck to the future Chair of TECHSHOW 2013, Britt Lorish of Affinity Consulting Group and make plans to attend April 4-6, 2013. We'll see you there!

LexThink.1 Photo Album

We posted our coverage of LexThink.1 yesterday, but below is our photo album from the event. Videos of all the LexThink.1 presentations will be released when they are through the editing process (2-3 weeks). In the meantime...

InsideLegal's LexThink.1 Album

 

ABA TECHSHOW: LexThink.1 Kicks Off TECHSHOW 2012

Produced by InsideLegal.com

Last week we were in Chicago for LexThink.1 and the ABA TECHSHOW. This was our 3rd year producing LexThink.1 (aka Ignite Law) with Matt Homann and our 13th year attending TECHSHOW. The events kicked off Wednesday night with a reception hosted by ABA TECHSHOW and RocketLawyer (we'll cover in our TECHSHOW post) and then moved into the evening's main event - LexThink.1 - which again played to a sold-out audience of 250 legal professionals, thought leaders, innovators and commentators. This year we featured 11 speakers with 6 minutes each to share their vision of law practice futures, specifically the future of law firm client service. 2012 saw 9 new presenters, Jay Shepherd repeating his 2011 debut, and the ABA's Will Hornsby as the only 3-time presenter. If 2011 was the year of the JDs (9 presenters were lawyers), 2012 was the year of the CEOs with 5 of the 11 carrying the chief exec title. Three of this year's presenters were at TECHSHOW for the first time (it was nice to have some fresh perspectives also) and 5 of the 11 are currently authoring books. One thing never changes -- when asked the difficulty of the Ignite presentation on a scale of 1 to 10, the average was 8 out of 10. Within the month, we will have the videos ready for release, but in the meantime, let's look at the presentations...

 

Mark Britton

Avvo's CEO Mark Britton kicked-off LexThink .1 2012 with 'Back to the Future' - his vision of how lawyers can embrace the web and their web communities in a permanent way. He shared 8 'to dos': set objectives; identify your target audience; identify your target time; establish a core web presence; stand out; don't report, commentate; monitor and measure; and understand mobile. "We went from offline to online and now we are moving from online to mobile."

 

Richard Granat

Richard Granat focused on legal industry startups and clients' desire for transparency, convenience and better technology. He noted that startups eliminate friction and offer unbundled legal services in the form of legal advice startups; document automation startups; web advisor startups; and walled garden startups. "Clients want fixed pricing and they know technology is all around. They want you to use technology to reduce their costs." He warned that "LegalZoom is going to eat the business of solos and smart firms for lunch."

 

Roe Frazer

Web 2.0 and the 'thank you economy' was the focus of entrepreneur (and developer of the Barrister App) Roe Frazer's talk. He stressed the importance of a firm social media plan with the focus being the firm website. He encouraged to get involved in the conversation, whether that's via Twitter, Facebook or tumblr or seek out the likes of Quora.com for crowd sourced advice from legal professionals. "3/4 of worlds' internet users now use social media to find answer in addition to search engines." One key takeaway - "If you have a blog, put it on Tumbler. Google indexes it highly."

 

Will Hornsby

ABA ethics guru Will Hornsby shared a plethora of ridiculous state ethics rules that for one reason or another are still in effect to this day. One example, "Hawaii has a rule that attorneys can't use email to solicit clients. A conspiracy by Obama to save the USPS?" His appeal - "If you have a 21st century practice, you deserve 21st century policies. Get involved."   VOTED FAVORITE SPEAKER!

Ruth Carter

Young attorney and marketer Ruth Carter shared her passion for participating in and organizing flash mobs and touched on the many related legal gotchas to be aware of. For example: "If you invite people by Facebook, that can be solicitation." Ruth warns that ideally a Flash Mob involves an attorney from the beginning.

 

 

Jason Dyer

Eggplanter CEO Jason Dyer offered some reflection ... how can all of us, in this case with the use of technology, better serve our clients? "Is our technology really going to focus on our users or just give up?" He urged attorneys to pay attention to how you treat clients, "think about every single interaction and avoid turning our clients into commodities". His call-to-action: "Don't forget you can't replace skill with technology. Within the next week, formulate one sentence that captures how you can increase client interactions."

 

Eric Hunter

Eric Hunter, director of KM of Bradford & Barthel, focused on how integrating consumer driven social media, intranets, extranets and client portals into a 100% web approach can and will drive organizational & behavioral change. "All the innovators (Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, etc.) are working on ways that change the way people think." We have known Eric for a while and he puts his money where his mouth is - he has moved his 275 user California law firm to a 100% cloud and now Google+ firm.

 

Jay Shepherd

Jay Shepherd presents the one word that can change how you do business - Simplicity. "If complexity is the problem, simplicity is the solution". Focus on the result triangle -- clarify the goal, show you care and address the fear. It's fear that keeps people from doing what you want them to do. His example, Southwest simplifies everything (boarding, no bag fees, etc.) because it allows them to spend 30% more time in the air which is where airlines make money. 

 

Matt Spiegel

Matt Spiegel, MyCase CEO, made the case: "If the #1 complaint submitted to all bar associations is lack of communication, why don't we make more of an effort to improve it?" He argued how lawyers can to get away from traditional lines of communication and give clients the attention that they deserve through technology. "Whether we like it or not, consumers have grown to expect a high level of attention in all areas of life, including representation by a lawyer. Lawyers need to get with it and increase customer service via better more streamlined and consistent communication." 

 

James Ring

James Ring, CEO of Fair Outcomes, focused on ending cheap talk in legal bargaining and how game theories can take lawyers, who often get in the way, out of the process resulting in quicker more agreeable resolutions. Most cases don't settle until the eve of trial because they are about to lose the opportunity. "Trafficking in small talk is a dirty business."

 

Steve Best

Affinity Consulting Group's Steve Best found a lot of resonance with his Ignite presentation focused on passion. "Passion is the cornerstone of innovation. Innovation is the cornerstone of technology." Find what you are passionate about and embrace it. Once you've embraced it, share it. Once you've shared it, encourage others to find theirs. Often times your passion in other areas, like music or art, can spill over to a passion for serving your clients better. "Do we as lawyers show passion when we talk to our clients?" 

Note: All of the presenter pics remind us of Steve Best's example of drawing his inspiration from a symphony conductoer and how he, without words, leads and inspires an entire symphony.

I'd like to thank our co-Producer Matt Homann and everyone that helped make LexThink.1 happen - from Andrea (administrative assistance) to Jobst (handling media relations). We'd like to especially thank Reid Trautz (2012 ABA TECHSHOW Chair) and Cindy Galvan from the ABA TECHSHOW and Jack Newton from Platinum Sponsor Clio - who has sponsored Ignite all three years.

                       

ABA TECHSHOW: What You Need to Know

In less than a week, the industry will converge on Chicago to take part in both our Ignite event, now called LexThink.1, and the ABA TECHSHOW that will be underway at the Hilton on Michigan Avenue. This will be our 13th year attending TECHSHOW and it is by far one of our favorites, mostly due to the team of thought leaders that volunteer their time to make it happen each year. This year, the show is being led by Chair Reid Trautz, the director of the Practice & Professionalism Center for American Immigration Lawyers Association. To keep up with the event, follow us at @InsideLegal or #abatechshow.

Obviously two standouts of ABA TECHSHOW are the educational sessions and the Expo Hall. I can say that we've already received some releases on product launches and upgrades that will be worth hearing about. Stay tuned for more information. If you haven't already registered to attend ABA TECHSHOW, you can print this form to register onsite. In the meantime, here is a look at this year's festivities...

Ignite Law - now called LexThink.1

This will be the third year that we have produced, along with Matt Homann of LexThink, this unique event where industry thought leaders have 6 minutes and 20 slides to present on their topic submitted earlier this year. All speakers submitted a topic and we opened up for online voting from the industry to determine which presentations they wanted to hear. Thanks to our Platinum sponsor, Clio, the event is free to attend, but you must register here. As of now, we are sold out, but if you are interested in attending, register to get added to the waitlist as we are attempting to add seats now. You can review the agenda here.
The Skinny: Hilton Chicago, Continental Ballroom, Wednesday, March 28th, 7:30-10pm, Follow on Twitter - #IgniteLaw

ABA TECHSHOW/RocketLawyer Reception

Wednesday night festivities will begin with the ABA TECHSHOW/RocketLawyer reception directly before Ignite Law beginning at 6pm. In addition to some networking, RocketLawyer will be leading "an interactive event for entrepreneurial lawyers" as explained further on their Facebook page.
The Skinny: Hilton Chicago, Continental Ballroom, Wednesday, March 28th, 6-7:30pm 

ABA TECHSHOW App

Planning for ABA TECHSHOW can now be done entirely from your mobile device or tablet with the ABA TECHSHOW Conference App. It's available for download on an iPhone/iPad, Android or BlackBerry device, and allows you to carry all of ABA TECHSHOW conveniently. Full Conference attendees have been assigned unique codes to access a secure Attendee Schedule that enables you to bookmark sessions so you know where you want to be and when. During the session, view the Conference materials within the Conference App so you can follow along with the speakers as they share their knowledge of legal technology. Once you make your way into the EXPO Hall, use the complete listing of exhibitors to find your way around and decide who has the product/service your firm needs. 

Welcome Reception in Exhibit Hall

Another event back by popular demand is the Welcome Reception being held in the Expo Hall. Join your colleagues and friends to discuss the programming from day one of ABA TECHSHOW during the Welcome Reception on Thursday. Experience exceptional cuisine and tasty beverages at the Hilton Chicago and maybe you'll make a few new friends while you're there.
The Skinny: Hilton Chicago, Southeast Hall, Thursday, March 29th, 5:30-7pm 

5th Annual Beer for Bloggers

For the fifth year, the ABA Journal and Kevin O'Keefe with LexBlog are hosting their Beer (and wine) for Bloggers event this Friday evening. Everyone is invited, blogger or not, lawyer or not, attending TECHSHOW or not. It’s been a great event for those in the legal profession and those serving the profession to get together.
The Skinny: Hilton Chicago Lakeside Green Lounge in lobby, Friday, March 30th, 5:30-7pm 

Taste of ABA TECHSHOW Dinners

Don't miss out on these dinners. It's a great way to either meet with a group of pople to discuss a certain technology or meet a specific group of people. Here's how it works... Pick a technology; pick a Chicago restaurant; or pick a host. No matter what you pick, the choice is yours with the Taste of ABA TECHSHOW. Registrants have the opportunity to participate in this Dutch-treat event where we make dinner reservations throughout the city of Chicago and each dinner is based on a technology topic with a host in the field. Most of the Dinners are sold out, but there still are a couple open. 
The Skinny: Thursday and Friday night, Review & register here  

Ben Stein Keynote

It will be hard to top their keynote of last year - Harvard's Larry Lessig, but Ben Stein definitely one not to miss! Ben's career accomplishments include working at the Federal Trade Commission, lawyer and speech writer for Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, columnist for The Wall Street Journal, and now, ABA TECHSHOW Keynote Speaker. 
The Skinny: Friday, 12:45-1:45pm 

LexThink .1 Final Agenda Announced -- Steven J. Best Added to Speak

Here we are, one week pre-LexThink.1 and the excitement and anticipation continues to build. As of yesterday, we are sold out. We will be able to add some seats, so you can still sign up for tickets, and reserve your space on the waitlist. The agenda/speaking roster is listed below and we are very pleased to welcome Steven J. Best, a new addition, and final speaker on board.

Steve, the managing partner of Affinity Consulting Group's Atlanta office, was in 13th place with votes on our talk submission list, will replace Niki Black. This week, Niki joined MyCase, and therefore had to withdraw her speaking slot since our event rules limit one speaker per company (MyCase CEO Matt Spiegel is already speaking).

With an educational background in law, accounting and economics, Steve, an attorney turned technologist, consults with law firms throughout the United States on law office software as well as sophisticated practice management issues. At LexThink .1, he will be speaking about passion and how it can help firms of all sizes and complexities better sever clients. Here is his full talk submission:

"PASSION: Identifying and then nourishing your passion will make you a more content person, drive confidence and help you serve your clients better. Find your passions and then encourage others around you to follow theirs.  Passion also leads to innovation which is the cornerstone of technology.  Technology, in turn, when properly implemented and when enthusiastically embraced will help free your schedule to give you time to follow your passion."

Along with Steve, we are excited to welcome the other 10 speakers who have been working hard on their final presentations. For more details on the final event agenda including the schedule with speakers and and topics, click here. 

LexThink.1 Agenda & Speakers

• Mark Britton:  Back to the Future
• Richard Granat  Legal Industry Startups: An Overview
• Roe Frazer:  Being a Web 2.0 Lawyer in the “Thank You Economy”
• Will Hornsby:  Ignite This! Five Ethics Rules That Should Be Incinerated
• Ruth Carter:  Flash Mob Law
• Jason E. Dyer:  Where Canasta and Counsel Collide
• Eric Hunter:  Moving Towards 100% Web
• Jay Shepherd:  One Word That Will Reinvent How You Serve Clients
• Matt Spiegel:  Don’t Just Communicate …
• James F. Ring:  Ending Cheap Talk in Legal Bargaining
• Steve Best:  Passion

Ignite Law 2012 Announced!

For the past two years, we at InsideLegal have partnered with Matt Homann of LexThink to produce Ignite Law, an interactive and thought-provoking mind-sharing event focused on the future of law practice and technology. We are back for 2012, but with a new name "LexThink .1 Law" -  a name which reflects not only the way lawyers bill (in 1/10 hour increments), but also the six minutes each presenter is given to speak - and a new focus - "serving the client better" in the twenty first century. The event will be held on March 28th, the eve of the ABA TECHSHOW, in the Hilton Chicago. The ABA Law Practice Management section will return as a marquee sponsor.

As always, anyone interested in speaking at LexThink .1 can submit their ideas and topics for consideration. Speaking proposals must be submitted via the LexThink .1 Law site between January 30 and February 10 and voting on the topics by the legal community takes place February 13-24. Anyone interested in submissions, voting or other details regarding the 2012 event, should visit PointOneLaw.com or follow the associated twitter handle and hashtags ….@Point1Law #Point1Law #IgniteLaw.

We look forward to your submissions and to seeing you in Chicago!

Read the complete press release here.

Ignite Law 2011 Videos of Presentations by Industry Leaders

Below are the long-anticipated videos from the Ignite Law 2011 event that InsideLegal and LexThink produced as the official kick-off event for our host, the ABA TECHSHOW this year. This first video is from Matt Homann of LexThink introducing Ignite Law.

Matt Homann - "Introduction to Ignite Law 2011"

Eric Cooperstein - "(Lack of) Privacy 2.0: Law in the Age of Transparency"

Tom Mighell - "Preparing for the Post-PC Law Practice"

Dennis Kennedy - "The Freemium Practice of Law"

Carolyn Elefant - "Is Technology the Kryptonite of Client Confidentiality?"

Jay Shepherd - "Quantum Leap: How You Will Practice Law in 2019"

Daniel Schwartz - "The Elephant in the Room"

Marc Lauritsen - "Apps for Justice – Code to the Rescue"

Jim Calloway - "A Failure to Communicate"

Victor Medina - "Bespoke Legal Services in an Off-The-Rack Culture"

Will Hornsby - "And The Survey Says…"

Kevin O'Keefe - "Facebook: Can it be really be used by lawyers and law firms for professional and business development? How so?"

Kevin Chern - "Creating the Perfect Future: Strategic Planning for Your Law Firm and Your Life"

ABA TECHSHOW Turns 25: One more Reflection & Our "60 Tips" Favorites

> > > InsideLegal Photos of ABA TECHSHOW 2011 < < <

> > > InsideLegal Photos of Ignite Law < < <

> > > ABA TECHSHOW Official Photos < < <

Earlier this April, Jobst and I attended the 25th anniversary of the ABA LPM Section's ABA TECHSHOW. I have to say that over the years TECHSHOW, along with the Annual ILTA Conference, have become my favorites in our space. This year was my 12th year attending and as always, it was a pleasure to visit with the'family' of volunteers (also known as the 'who's who of legal technology) that sacrifice precious time throughout the year to put this event on.

TECHSHOW above all is about connections & networking... I reminisce about the first connected event, the "Consultants & Technologists Dinner" (THE DINNER) that Ross Kodner and I used to produce (2003-2006) and more recently, our co-produced events with Matt Homann of LexThink, including LexThink Lounge in 2006 and Ignite Law last year and this year (you can read our coverage of Ignite here and, yes, we'll have the videos up on the website soon!). Staging these 'socials' has not only allowed us to get to know the volunteers and speakers, but give the collective TECHSHOW family a chance to mingel and re-connect.

This year's TECHSHOW began for us with the ABA's Opening Reception. Up at the podium first was Andrea Hartley, Chair of the ABA Law Practice Management Section to welcome everyone to the event and introduce this year's TECHSHOW Chair, Paul Unger. We have worked with Paul Unger and his team quite a bit this year to bring Ignite Law to the TECHSHOW audience and it was nice to see all his work come to fruition.

The highlight of the event was the Silver Jubilee Reception MCed by Simon Chester, and hosted by Phil Shuey, Storm Evans, and Jim Calloway who reviewed the last 25 years of TECHSHOW and all the emerging technologies (from fax machines to social media for lawyers) that left their mark, year in and year out. A standout was the technology game changers (in InsideLegal's photo album above) - typewriter, IBM, fax machine, the blue screen of WordPerfect - and the technology museum including original floppy disks, the original BlackBerry, the Palm Pilot, Commodore 64, and the Apple IIGS (provided by proud owner Brett Burney).

Our favorite session at TECHSHOW each year is "60 Sites in 60 Minutes", this year featuring Jim Calloway, Eric Mazzone, Sharon Nelson and Paul Unger. Here are some of our favorite site tips from this year...

• Pamela for Skype - Recording Skype Calls and Videos
• AttorneyatWork - "One Really Good Idea Every Day"
• ge.tt - The best way to publish and share your files
• spamgourmet - Self-destructing disposable email addresses for when you want to give someone an email address they can use for you a few times
• 280 Slides - Create beautiful presentations, access them from anywhere, and share them with the world - no software to download and nothing to pay for.
• Topicmarks - Summarizes text documents electronically. Like Cliffs Notes for your own documents.
• FileGenuis - Web-based, expertly hosted, secure file transfer, exchange, and management application, exclusively for business use. 
• Chrome Web Store - Search for apps and extensions to 'pimp out' your Google Chrome browser.
• Greplin - "The search bar for your life." Greplin indexes the information you create on different websites (like Gmail, Twitter and Facebook) and provides fast search of all your information.
• YouSendIt - Makes sending and receiving large files easy and works with Outlook.
• KeepVid - Download online streaming videos to use offline. 

These are just a few of the great tips that were shared by the panel. You can also check out the list from "60 Apps in 60 Minutes" shared by iPhone J.D., Jeff Richardson, Reid Trautz and Josh Barrett and coverage of "60 Tips in 60 Minutes" paneled by Andy Adkins, Michael Morse and Nerino Petro here and here.

Industry Thought Leaders Convene to Discuss the Future of Law Practice - Ignite Law

By JoAnna Forshee, CEO, InsideLegal

About a year and a half ago, Matt Homann of LexThink and BlawgThink fame (an ‘un-conference’ InsideLegal produced for Matt and Dennis Kennedy in 2005) called me up starting the conversation with "JoAnna, I have an idea". Anyone who knows Matt, knows that he is full of them (ideas that is), especially ones that buck the trend and go against the grain when it comes to 'typical' lawyer events and conferences. Matt is the originator of the 'un-conference' and that is exactly the concept behind Ignite Law, a 2+ hour event featuring highly accomplished legal industry speakers and their ability (or inability) to deliver 'the future of law practice' within 6 minute (with slides auto-advancing every 18 seconds) presentations.

With this ‘highly flammable’ idea in mind, InsideLegal and LexThink produced Ignite Law 2010 last March coinciding with the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Annual TECHSHOW. Based on stellar feedback and overwhelming audience reaction and participation (all 150 available seats were quickly filled and we had a waitlist), we decided to launch Ignite Law 2.0 this year, again piggy-backing off ABA’s TECHSHOW, which was celebrating its 25^th year anniversary of providing legal technology education and innovation to law firms.

What a difference a year makes...Ignite Law 2.0  

As is customary with new product releases, introducing an updated version of anything assumes you have new 'stuff' (features, functions, benefits, content!) to offer. As evidenced last Sunday night at Ignite Law 2011 (2.0), the speakers and the 250+ audience members made sure our new product lived up to the hype of the original Ignite last March.

Below are some thoughts about what made 2011 so special:

ABA TECHSHOW support: As previously mentioned, 2011 marks the 25th year anniversary of TECHSHOW so it provided a perfect connection with this year's Ignite program. Not only did the ABA Law Practice Management (LPM) section provide the venue and all related meeting amenities (thanks Cindy Galvan), TECHSHOW's chair Paul Unger championed Ignite Law amongst conference attendees and was a willing participant in driving record attendance and pre-event buzz. Lending their financial support were Clio’s CEO Jack Newton, an Ignite 2010 speaker, and Rocket Lawyer’s Founder and Chairman, Charley Moore. The energy and flow of ideas and innovations shared during the 4,320 seconds of Ignite talks (not to mention ample networking pre and post), provided the ideal kick-off to the 3-day TECHSHOW technology agenda designed to educate and inspire attendees.

Speaker talent and talk/topic relevance: 25 topics were originally submitted for Ignite, with 12 being selected via online voting. 1,131 total votes were cast and the final agenda was announced. The 12 speakers represented a who's who of legal influencers including legal technology icon Dennis Kennedy, PMA-extraordinaire Jim Calloway, past TECHSHOW and incoming LPM chair Tom Mighell, small firm champion Carolyn Elefant, ‘Mac-loving Lawyer’ and founder of MILOfest, Victor Medina, law firm social media and blog exert, Kevin O’Keefe, and legal knowledge systems architect (and the smartest guy in the room most of the time!) Marc Lauritsen. The faculty, all multi-degreed JDs and seasoned speakers, combined for more than 245 presentations last year, so it was a bit of a surprise that many of them considered prepping for a 'mere’ 6 minute talk one of the toughest speaking challenges they had faced. Several other speakers were TECHSHOW first timers, but no strangers to the lime light including Jay Shepherd, a Boston-based small firm owner turned pricing consultant; Eric Cooperstein, a well respected ethics consultant and practitioner, and Daniel Schwartz, law firm litigation partner and legal blogger. Rounding out the speaker roster and returning to present from 2010, were legal vendor Kevin Chern and Will Hornsby, ABA’s guru of legal ethics and attorney marketing.

Ignite format: Giving speakers 6 minutes to share their vision of the future of law practice and technology can leave audiences wanting more or on the flip side jumping for joy since they only have to endure 6 minutes. Luckily, our speaker line-up and topic selection could not have been more appropriate and, as a result, all 12 speakers did a phenomenal job in delivering their talks. Not only were they driven by the trickiness of the 6 minute, 18 seconds per slide format, but the audience consisting of 250+ legal thought leaders, practitioners and media helped them step up their game. Speaking of the audience ...roughly 50% represented law firms, a majority of them solo/small firm attorneys; 20% included vendors, mostly senior management folks curious about this new program and format; 12% were consultants, respected technologists and law firm management consultants; and the remaining attendance included associations, media, and government legal. 

The main course...the future of law practice

The Ignite speakers (including MC Matt Homann's Ignite intro that set the bar very high) spent a lot of time and energy delivering what they considered germane to the future of law practice. While videos and Ignite pictures will be posted to InsideLegal and the Ignite Law site within the next few weeks, we opted to provide a twitter-inspired summary (in 140 characters or thereabouts) of some of the Ignite Law talks:

Matt Homann (@MattHomann): Measure your investments in technology via metrics that matter to your clients. Your ROI depends on your clients' satisfaction with you.

Carolyn Elefant (@carolynelefant): Client-Attorney privilege is the purple cow of the legal profession. "It's our unique value proposition so honor it, enforce it, and leverage it".

Dennis Kennedy (@denniskennedy): When it comes to innovation, reverse your assumptions ... to change the game, you need to change the frame ... these are all basics of a functioning freemium model.

Eric Cooperstein (@ethics_maven): Leverage social media and online transparency to build client relationships. Get back to the 'small town lawyering' mentality of knowing everything about your clients and vice versa.

Jay Shepherd (@jayshep): Legal's problem ... we sell activities when we should be selling knowledge. We are selling and measuring the wrong thing.

Will Hornsby (@willhornsby): And the ABA Survey says ...over 46% of respondents who need a lawyer for personal legal matters rely on their social networks (friends, family and colleagues), not social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter). Also, only 34% mentioned they would contact a lawyer they knew or had used before, suggesting that client service has been a low priority for the profession. 

Jim Calloway (@jimcalloway): "What would Grandma do" when it comes to modern communication etiquette. When in doubt, don't pick up the phone. When you do, remember you don’t automatically have a lawyer ‘cone of silence’ and people can hear you. Build systems to communicate with clients. Set expectations and apply common sense; go retro and occasionally include a hand-written thank you note.

Marc Lauritsen (@marclauritsen): The profession is endangered. Law schools are in trouble. New lawyers are unprepared for economic and technological reality. The solution ... help law students learn about code by learning to code - apps for justice that can help practitioners work smarter and empower self-helpers.

Tom Mighell (@tommighell): Imagine a post-PC law practice ... the iPad and other tablets are a lot like the microwave ... first we had no idea how to use it or why and now we can't live without it.

As of this writing, Ignite Law 2011 is a week behind us and ABA TECHSHOW, the 25th year edition, is also ‘in the books’. However, the energy, buzz and most importantly the ideas and inspiration ignited on Sunday will fuel our industry moving forward, at least we hope, until the next edition of Ignite.

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About JoAnna

JoAnna Forshee is the CEO of InsideLegal.com, an insider’s guide to doing business in legal technology, and has spent the last 12 years working with legal technologists, consultants, vendors and media - spanning roles as legal industry event producer, legal industry advisor, social media guru and PR/marketing agency founder (Envision Agency). She can be reached at jf@InsideLegal.com and on twitter at @InsideLegal.