InsideLegal

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!

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 

LegalTech New York 2012: Day Three Recap & Our LTNY Photo Album

InsideLegal's LTNY 2012 Album

LegalTech New York 2012 ... day three ... less meetings, less sessions, less time on the exhibit floor but not any less activity and the same high caliber of networking as earlier in the week. Wednesday started a bit slower with a lot less traffic in the Bridges Bar (8/8:30ish) surely due to late night vendor parties.

We kicked things off with a brief catch-up with Law Technology News technology editor Sean Doherty who seemed genuinely excited to be honing his focus on product reviews and 'under the hood' sort of tech reviews. Sean and his handful of freelancers are targeting an average of 1.5 reviews per week beyond the 'Testdrive' column which appears 6 times per year as part of LTN. While the reviews are a mixed bag, Sean mentioned looking at the vast array of practice management solutions as a next focus area.

Adriana Linares, our longtime friend and the most dynamic legal trainer we've seen, has announced the launch of the LawTech Training Center in Winter Park, FL (outside of  Orlando). Adriana has been working with law firms for more than 14 years and has created the LawTech Training Center to bring her services to law firms - from solos to large - in the Central Florida area. Part of Adriana's mission is to make people comfortable enough with their technology to let it work for them. As she says, "Training is the #1 reason for successful software implementations and the lack of it is the #1 reason for failure." If you are in need of training for yourself or your staff, don't hesitate to contact Adriana (who also offers webinar training) who covers Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat, Email & Domain Management, as well as many legal software programs. Adriana also hosts both the Law Practice Management Job Board and the Legal Technology Job Board. 

Andy Adkins was attending LegalTech NY this year in a new role in...well, a long time. Last year, Andy joined Steptoe & Johnson, a law firm with over 200 attorneys, as CIO. We chated with Andy about his new role as 'purse string holder' for the firm's tech spend which lead to a conversation about relating IT 'pains' to staff and partners. Case in point, Andy who has been looking at new email archiving solutions, first had to relate the stroage 'problem' to his folks in terms they would understand: "When we were discussing the volume of space that email backup takes I used the following comparison- the entire printed collection of the U.S. Library of Congress is 10 terabytes, 1 Terabyte = 50,000 trees made into paper and printed, and our firm is currently at 2 terabytes and growing.

Prior to joining Steptoe, Andy's career spans more than two decades as a consultant, author and executive.  He was one of the first consultants in the country devoted solely to legal technology and specifically practice management solutions, helping law firms and governmental offices automate numerous processes. In 1997, Adkins established the Legal Technology Institute at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. 

Next, we met up with Ari Kaplan, legal speaker, author, and ghostwriter, who has spent the last year promoting this book, "Reinventing Professional Services: Building Your Business in the Digital Marketplace". Dubbed as the 'Tony Robbins' of legal, Kaplan excudes enthusiasm when discussing new business development for legal professionals, the relevance and use of social media as well as the value of personal interaction and follow-up. If you have not met Ari, check out his website or catch him at one of his many speaking gigs.

Coinciding with day 3 of LegalTech was the publication of KMWorld's February issue which included a feature on KM innovators in the legal field. We had a chance to chat with Bradford & Barthel's (B&B) Eric Hunter, one of three law firm leaders profiled, and past contributor to InsideLegal in the area of cloud computing, Google Apps deployment, and innovative KM via collaborative cloud deployments. We have been helping Eric and the firm publicize technology and change management innovations for the past few years and have seen interest in cloud and social media integration grow exponentially. What started as a legal 'interest' story has evolved into a business growth and client service story and caught the attention of non-legal publications such as KMWorld and others. This week, Eric was in New York to participate in ILTA's Advanced IT programming, co-presenting with several of his ILTA colleagues on 'Six Technologies You Should Know About'. 

Over lunch we met with Randi Mayes, Peggy Wechsler and TJ Johnson of ILTA. Their next event is ILTA INSIGHT UK that will take place in London, May 8-9. There is no registration cost for delegates from ILTA member law firms and law departments. This year's show is being expanded from one day to two and will be featuring a full exhibit hall being managed by LegalTech. Also, they are expanding their SharePoint Symposium, being held June 12-13, to have an exhibit hall as well (exhibit info here). This event will feature two days full of educational and networking opportunities for professionals working with SharePoint in their firms or law departments. 

We ended our afternoon once again roaming the vendor floor and chatting up several exhibitors. While the overall consensus was that traffic and technology interest was up this year, the inability to know precisely how many attendees make their way to LegalTech events has resulted in frustrated vendors and marketing executives. When exhibitors are paying a base price of $6,450 per booth - not to mention the thousands of dollars in event costs, travel and staffing - they have a right to know how many people are attending and most every other show discloses that information. This frustration beckons the question when (if ever) legal conference organizers will be held accountable for attendance numbers and other demographic statistics via a show audit.

Speaking of audits and accountability, InsideLegal has launched the 2012 Legal Vendor Marketing Survey aimed at providing legal marketing and spending benchmarks that are commonplace in other industries but that don't exist within the legal community. Knowing what vendors are spending on marketing and getting a better feel for what marketing strategies work and why is vital in developing a sound marketing effort. Our original survey (in 2008) received responses from 92 legal vendors and we'd love to exceed that this year. Everyone that completes the survey will receive the final results report as well as the results from the 2008 survey.

As we survive another Groundhog Day, we hope lots can be learned from the 31st LegalTech Conference. LegalTech NY 2013 will be held January 28-30. On to our event Ignite Law 2012 (now called LexThink.1) and ABA TECHSHOW 2012 ... 

Check out InsideLegal's other LegalTech NY 2012 posts:

LT NY preview (incl. exhibitor landscape)

LT NY Day 1 recap (incl. ILTA Advanced IT track coverage)

LT NY Day 2 recap (incl. ALM Blogger Brekafast 'blog role')

       

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.

COLPM Futures Conference Heading to Chicago

The College of Law Practice Management (COLPM) is hosting their annual Futures Conference next week (October 28-29) at the Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago. The Futures Conference includes an interactive program featuring thought-provoking leaders who present on or facilitate discussions on the future of the legal profession and the resulting challenges to law firm leadership and management. The 2011 Futures Conference is co-chaired by COLPM Fellows Ron Staudt and David Hambourger and themed "Challenging the Law Practice Management Model". The conference is specifically designed to offer ideas that are meaningful to firms of all sizes, across all legal disciplines - "best practices in law firm management can be both universal and scalable."

Although InsideLegal has been a sponsor of the COLPM's InnovAction Awards for a few years now, we first attended the Futures Conference last year (an incredible event). We were the most impressed with the attendee list consisting of the 'who's who' of legal exchanging ideas about the future of the business of law globally. This conference is for law firm leaders, managing partners, executive directors, chief marketing officers, directors of professional development and law school deans and is open to non-COLPM members to attend. [I believe they still have a couple of spots left if you are interested in attending you can register here with InsideLegal rate of $395.]

The 2011 Futures Conference sessions include:

What is the Future of Price: Defining Value in Value Billing: The future demands that law firms and their clients put a value on the services lawyers provide. The great recession and its law profession aftermath are driving more and more clients to demand fixed fee arrangements to ensure certainty and reduce legal costs. Law firms and their clients struggle to find solid principles that define that value. Hear how clients define value when hiring a law firm and how firms define value. Help identify universal concepts that can measure value across boundaries. Help invent the language of value for law practice. Expect an interesting, lively and spirited exchange. Moderator: Ronald Staudt, Chicago-Kent College of Law; Toby Brown, Vinson & Elkins; Paul Lippe, Legal OnRamp, and Ellen Rosenthal, Pfizer

Law Factories vs. “Bet the Farm” Firms: Will law firms of the future need to segment clients in new ways? Might some firms focus on “industrialized” practices: hyper-efficient work using automation and low cost resources? Might others focus on “bet the farm” cases using mainly top legal talent? If the market does segment, will it do so by practice, by firm, by matter type or along some other dimension? Many factors could either drive or support this. Join us as we explore alternative business structures in the UK and beyond. Moderator: Ron Friedmann, Integreon and Toby Brown, Vinson & Elkins

Disruptive Technologies/Innovative Thinking: Theorists like Clayton Christensen and Richard Susskind remind us that technologies themselves are rarely disruptive; it’s the business innovations they enable. Yet it’s clear that aspects of today’s transformations in the legal services delivery system are being driven by the dramatic economies of advanced new technologies. What’s going on? What should we expect? Moderator: Marc Lauritsen, Capstone Practice Systems; Richard S. Granat, SmartLegalForms, Inc., and DirectLaw, Inc.; Maura R. Grossman, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and Kingsley Martin, KIIAC LLC

Law Practice Without Borders: The American legal market is by far the largest in the world, about $260 billion annually. But the future legal marketplace will be truly multinational, following the lead of an increasingly globalized economy. Already, the most innovative and dynamic developments in the legal sphere are taking place outside U.S. borders. This session explores the latest trends in key legal markets worldwide, including the UK, India and China. Moderator: Jordan Furlong, Edge International; Simon Chester, Heenan Blaikie, LLP; BieBie Que, Leximetrics, LLC; and Pamela Woldow, Edge International

Future View: Do You See What I See?: Where should we focus our attention? What have we already missed? How can we best prepare for “what’s next?” This panel will offer provocative prognostications on the law practice management landscape from a number of perspectives and market segments. Moderator: Sally Fiona King, SNR Denton; Ross Fishman, Ross Fishman Marketing; Dave Hambourger, Seyfarth Shaw LLP; Chris Murray, Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc. and Chris Petrini-Poli, HBR Consulting

Innovation, With Velocity: The pace of change in the legal marketplace during the last several years has been unprecedented. This session explores what innovation is and is not. What are the barriers to innovation in law firms and how can we overcome them? Learn how your firm can install a sustainable, systemic innovation initiative. Session leaders: Tom Clay, Altman Weil, Inc. and Raymond Bayley, Novus Law

Serving the Profession Today and Tomorrow: The College has an action agenda to “…make a difference, and use the talent, skill and experience of the Fellows to improve the profession.” Since 2009, the College has partnered with the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) to participate in regular program performance visits designed to observe and improve the operations of legal aid organizations it funds. Over lunch Fellows who have volunteered their consulting expertise to this effort will describe their experiences. LSC executives will map out the state of the need and identify opportunities for College efforts to meet some of the need. All Fellows are encouraged to offer opinions and ideas on how the College could improve the future of the delivery of justice. 

As the Legal Tech World Turns...

One of my favorite things about the legal tech community is the people, and in particular, the consultants. This is a little different than what we usually cover, but recently a few long-time industry leaders have had some exciting news so we thought we'd pass it on...

Andy Adkins 

When I first started in the industry in 1999, one of the first consultants I heard about was Andy Adkins. After more than two decades as a dedicated legal technology consultant, Andy “retired” in June 2010 as the President of the Legal Technology Institute at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. Andy was going to continue to do a little consulting, but try not to stay too busy. We should have known that wouldn't last! A couple of weeks ago, Andy became the new CIO of Steptoe & Johnson PLLC, a firm with about 210 attorneys and 600+ users. On top of that, he and his wife Becky have bought a new house and moved from Gainesville, FL to Bridgeport, WV - as he says moving from two seasons in Florida (green and brown) to four seasons. 

Matt Homann

Matt Homann is a legal innovation consultant, the Founder of LexThink, my co-producer on the Ignite Law events, the award winning blogger of the [non]billable hour, and the most talented, creative meeting facilitator I know or have worked with. Within the last two weeks, he's also added Husband to that list and married Jessica Prince (now Homann). For the last week, they have been making their way around Alaska, Vancouver and Seattle on their honeymoon and now are heading back to St. Louis to move into a new home. I originally met Jessica when she accompanied Matt on a trip to meet with us in Atlanta when Matt and I were first planning Ignite Law 2010. After an hour, we could tell she was perfect for Matt. Congratulations to you both!

 

Ross Kodner

As I mentioned above, Andy was one of two consultants I first heard about and met when I started in legal in 1999 - the other was Ross Kodner. Ross is the President of MicroLaw, a legal technology consultancy, which is celebrating it's 26th anniversary this year, and presents on legal technology at conferences all over the world. In 2003, I began co-producing the Annual Consultants and Technologists Dinner with Ross. We produced the event, which became known as "The Dinner", each year in Chicago bringing together a group of legal industry leaders for networking and industry awards. Well, now Ross has announced another event - his engagement to his high school sweetheart, Lisa. Next they will be setting the date - congratulations!

2011 InnovAction Award Winners Announced

The College of Law Practice Management today announced the recipients of the 2011 InnovAction Awards. The global law firm of Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP joins two law schools, The University of Miami School of Law and the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, as recipients of the coveted 2011 InnovAction Awards.   

For the seventh straight year, the InnovAction Awards have recognized outstanding innovation in the delivery of legal services demonstrating to the legal community what can happen when passionate professionals, with big ideas and strong convictions, resolve to create effective change.

“The five InnovAction judges were greatly impressed by the groundbreaking ideas in the submissions from law firms, law schools and companies in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom,” said Jordan Furlong, Partner with Edge International and chair of the 2011 awards program. “The winning entries exemplify how bold ideas and innovation can be implemented and shared among various stakeholders including lawyers, their clients, academics, prospective law students and legal administrators.” 

Here are the 2011 InnovAction Award-winning entries:

• Berwin Leighton Paisner, LLP (BLP) was selected for their Lawyers On Demand (LOD) initiative which began in 2007 after BLP observed two important issues affecting the UK Legal market: (1) legal services clients are wanting to find a way to stretch their budgets further and (2) many lawyers are looking for greater flexibility and autonomy in their work. BLP created LOD to address these issues. LOD challenged the traditional models of legal service delivery and brought talented freelance lawyers to work directly with clients. LOD lawyers work at the client office or their home office but are nevertheless vetted and supported by BLP know-how and resources, making the LOD service unique in the market. LOD began as a pilot in 2007 with eight lawyers. Since then, it has increased ten-fold in size and gained a fantastic list of clients.

• The University of Toronto Faculty of Law was selected for its Internationally Trained Lawyers Program (ITLP). When immigrating to Canada, one of the biggest challenges internationally-trained lawyers (ITLs) face is the lack of access to opportunities to receive practical, hands-on experience in the Canadian legal environment, particularly during the lengthy accreditation and licensing process. In recognizing the limited opportunities for ITLs, the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law created a bridging program for ITLs who wish to practice law in Ontario. The ITLP is a comprehensive 10-month program to help participants obtain their license and secure full-time professional employment. The program includes intensive academic, cultural fluency and career development classroom sessions, designed to support international lawyers.

• The University of Miami School of Law in partnership with five other law schools received an InnovAction Award for their LawWithoutWalls initiative. LawWithoutWalls is a part-virtual, collaborative academic model that unites students, faculty, practitioners, and entrepreneurs from around the world to innovate legal education and practice. It’s designed to help those engaged in the education and practice of law to embrace the impact of our changing world.  LawWithoutWalls exemplifies what 21^st century education can be. Students are not educated on-line in the same old way. Instead, technology is utilized to create an entirely new educational experience, a platform for interdisciplinary interchange and community.

The awards will be presented on Friday, October 28, at a special session during the 2011 Futures Conference, held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the College of Law Practice Management in Chicago, IL.

Read the full press release here.

InsideLegal Likes... Tom Mighell's 'iPad 4 Lawyers'

Recently, legal technologist extraordinaireTom Mighell authored a book entitled "iPad in One Hour for Lawyers" (published by ABA) and an accompanying blog entitled iPad 4 Lawyers. Although I'm not an attorney, iPad 4 Lawyers has become one of my favorite sites to assist with selecting apps, helfpul tips and tricks and in general improving how I incorporate my iPad into my work day. The most recent posts on the blog cover options for hosting meetings from your iPad; handling zip files; encrypting your backups and managing files.

Attorney or not, the blog and the book are definitely recommended for anyone new to the iPad or anyone who wants to learn to use it more efficiently.

You can also follow Tom on twitter (@TomMighell) and subscribe to Tom's podcast with Dennis Kennedy - The Kennedy-Mighell Report.

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.