InsideLegal

ABA TECHSHOW 2016: 10 Pre Tip-Off Highlights

The ABA TECHSHOW, edition #30, is taking place at the Hilton Chicago this week (March 16-19). The 2016 ABA TECHSHOW Planning Board is chaired by law practice management expert and Affinity Consulting partner Steven Best and features 18 educational tracks including 73 sessions, panels, plenaries and keynotes over multiple days. As past TECHSHOW attendees know, there are far too many sessions, events and conference extras to take-in, so here's our contribution of 10 to keep (or put) on your radar:

1. Meet the Chair:  The Digital Edge podcast hosts Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway recently interviewed TECHSHOW 2016 Chair Steve Best to learn more about this year's conference, session highlights and hot issues affecting legal professionals. Check it out ... it's 20 minutes well spent. (And subscribe while you're there!)
2. Session Mania:  With so many sessions and so little time, here's a 'short' list of some of our faves:
   1. The Automatic Law Firm  (Thursday, 9:00-10:00am)
   2. Lawyers as Entrepreneurs: It's Not Just About Doing Business panel  (Thursday, 1:45-2:45pm)
   3. How to Hire Robot - Or Using Experts Systems in Today's Law Firm  (Thursday, 1:45-2:45pm)
   4. The Deep Dark Web  (Friday, 9:00-10:00am)
   5. TECHSHOW 2016 Keynote Cindy Kohn  (Friday, 12:45-1:45pm)
   6. Data is the New Oil - Lessons from Standard Oil, Smart Diapers, and Uber for Law Firms  (Friday, 3:45-4:45pm)
   7. 60 Tips, Tricks, Gizmos, Gadgets and Sites in 60 Minutes  (Saturday, 11:30-12:30pm)
3. Podcast Love Fest:  The Legal Talk Network (LTN) crew is going 'bigger and better' in 2016 with a variety of TECHSHOW exclusives: 'Special Reports' is a series of podcasts recorded, produced and distributed directly from the expo floor, and 'Live from #TECHSHOW" streaming live interviews hosted by LTN podcasters Dennis Kennedy and Adriana Linares. The good folks at Legal Talk Network (booth 722) will also be live blogging and posting photos. Make sure to check out their TECHSHOW event page for details on podcast times, live streams and previous session podcasts.
4. Special Events and 'Extra-curriculars' have always been a hallmark of TECHSHOW and 2016 is no different. In addition to a 30th anniversary celebration on Thursday night and a new opening reception in the exhibit hall Wednesday night, there are four special events planned during TECHSHOW week. These include a 'Tech for Justice Hackathon' and a Legal technology Innovators Showcase on the 15th.
5. Meet the TECHSHOW Faculty:  Whether it's getting a snapshot view of all 72 speakers and their 2016 sessions or finding their social media channels, this handy, online Faculty Directory has it all. Detailed faculty bios can be accessed here.
6. ABA TECHSHOW Blog ... Walking Down Memory Lane:  The conference blog has really kicked into high gear this year including the notable post series 'XX TECHSHOW's Ago' which features conference chairs' reflections from year 1-30. Start with Don Hagans' '30 TECHSHOWs Ago' post from 1986 and work your way forward.
7. Taste of TECHSHOW:  The Taste of TECHSHOW Dinners have evolved into a definite conference value add over the years. When do you have the chance to dine with session speakers and conference attendees who share the same tech obsessions and interests as you? 20 separate dinners will be held Friday night and span an array of technology topics and application areas.
8. Conference Mobility:  The ABA TECHSHOW Conference App is available on multiple platforms and will help you map out your TECHSHOW plan. Download it now.
9. Social Media:  "Don't knock it till you try it." Follow #ABATECHSHOW or @ABATECHSHOW for the latest and greatest Twitter activity as well as our coverage at @InsideLegal. Also be on the lookout for loads of informative blog posts and live blogging throughout the week. 
10. 'A cloud is worth a 1,000 words':  This year we decided to emulate our annual LegalTech NY exercise of creating the first conference agenda word cloud for TECHSHOW in order to provide visual clues of what topics are hot and which ones are not.

For everything attorney tech education-related, ABA Law Practice Division's TECHSHOW won't disappoint. Check out the 12 page conference brochure before you enter the Hilton Chicago.

ABA TECHSHOW 2016 Agenda Word Cloud

Steve Best - Chair
ABA TECHSHOW 2016

The 30th Anniversary of the ABA TECHSHOW is just around the corner, taking place at the Chicago Hilton, March 17-19 - coinciding with the St. Patrick’s Day festivities in Chicago. The 2016 conference is chaired by law practice management expert and Affinity Consulting partner Steven Best and features 18 educational tracks including 73 sessions, panels, plenaries and keynotes over multiple days. We first attended TECHSHOW 16 years ago and to this day, it remains a favorite show of ours to attend each year.

This year we decided to emulate our annual LegalTech NY exercise of creating a conference agenda word cloud in order to provide visual clues of what topics are hot and which ones are not. Below is the ABA TECHSHOW 2016 agenda word cloud, visually displaying the words/themes included in the event's agenda of sessions. For everything attorney tech education-related, ABA Law Practice Division's TECHSHOW won't disappoint.

FYI ... the size of selected words dictates how often they have been mentioned or referenced within the agenda (aka, how popular they are). [Click on image to enlarge]

Subscribe to InsideLegal for ABA TECHSHOW updates and market information and follow us on Twitter at @InsideLegal. 

 

 

The word cloud was pulled from the agenda located at www.TECHSHOW.com minus speakers' information and includes words mentioned 3+ times.

Legaltech New York 2016 Agenda Word Cloud (& Comparison to Past Years)

In a couple of weeks, a few thousand people will convene at Legaltech New York (LTNY) for 3 days of exhibitions, networking and legal technology sessions. To give an overview of what will be covered in those sessions, we have again created the LTNY agenda word cloud, visually displaying the words/themes included in the event's agenda of sessions.

 

FYI ... the size of selected words dictates how often they have been mentioned or referenced within the agenda (aka, how popular they are). [Click on image to enlarge]

 

This is the sixth year we have used the event program to create a visual snapshot of the main content themes and discussion topics. How does this compare to previous years? What topics made headlines in our word clouds for 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011? Take a look and compare for yourself...  

 

 

 

Subscribe to InsideLegal for LTNY updates and market information and follow us on Twitter at @InsideLegal for timely updates. 

 

 

The word cloud was pulled from the agenda located at www.LegalTechShow.com minus speakers' information and includes words mentioned 4+ times.

LOMAP’s 5th Annual Super Marketing Conference To Be Held June 4th

The 5th Annual Super Marketing Conference 2015 - co-sponsored by Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program (LOMAP) and the American Bar Association Law Practice Division (ABA) - will focus on the theme "Social Marketing Strategies" and will be held June 4, 2015 at MCLE, Milstein Hall in Boston. If you are in Boston, you can register now to attend this conference (online or as a walk-in) ($100-120 fee) that will feature nationally-recognized legal marketing experts, including:

• Kevin O’Keefe (@KevinOKeefe), CEO of LexBlog
  
• Larry Port (@LarryPort), CEO of Rocket Matter
  
• Leigh McMillan (@LeighMcM), Senior Vice President of Marketing at Avvo
  
• Ed Walters (@EJWalters), CEO of FastCase
  

Conference will focus on       (Download program brochure here)

Law firm marketing, in 2015, is a whole different ball of wax—especially compared to what it was, even five years ago. Before web-based marketing mastered the public consciousness, lawyers could 'hang shingles' and expect client traffic to commence; law firms could place advertisements in paper publications, without ever reconsidering self-publication alternatives; attorneys viewed websites as luxuries. The rise of the internet, most especially social media, has led to a sea change in the way in which professionals market their services. Traditional advertisements have morphed into two-way conversations; engagement is the new touchstone. Law firms no longer need to uncover publication sources, when blogs have become a standard medium in legal, and where the reach of those blogs can be expanded through leveraging social media accounts. The revised shop front is an effective website, buttressed by a robust, continually expanding social presence. Time was, lawyers could count their marketing efforts on one hand; but, modern law firm marketing is a Hydra. The question is how to master the beast, and convert it into an efficient selling machine.

Conference agenda

9:00 - 9:45 A.M.     What Works and Doesn't Work: Online Law Firm Marketing in 2015 

9:45 - 10:30 A.M.   Online Law Firm Marketing Panel Discussion 

10:30 - 11:00 A.M. Networking Break 

11:00 - 12:00 P.M. Top Tips for Marketing a New Law Practice Panel Discussion 

12:00 - 12:15 P.M. Lunch (Sponsored by the ABA Law Practice Division) 

12:15 - 1:00 P.M.   Lunchtime Speech: A Start-Up Marketing Success Story 

1:00 - 1:30 P.M.     Networking Break 

1:30 - 2:45 P.M.     Surviving and Thriving in Social Media 

2:45 - 3:30 P.M.     Panel on Social Media 

3:30 - 4:00 P.M.     Networking Break 

4:00 - 4:45 P.M.     How Blogging Will Help You Realize Your Dreams 

4:45 - 5:30 P.M.     Niche Marketing Panel Discussion 

Afterparty-Boston Solo/Small Firm Legal Meetup

If you are attending the conference (or not), you are also invited to join the Boston Solo/Small Firm Legal Meetup later that night hosted by Lisa Solomon and Carolyn Elefant. This event will serve as the ‘official’ conference wrap party, but it’s also open to any solo and small firm lawyers in and around Boston — regularly, or on that night in particular. The fun starts at 5:30 at Scholars on School Street.

Not able to attend?

If you aren't able to attend in person, you can follow the conversation through its hashtag #LHLM, through @InsideLegal or through LOMAP's social media guru @JaredCorreia.

 

[InsideLegal is a media sponsor of the 5th Annual Super Marketing Conference]

ILTA Announces "Browning Marean Scholarships" for ILTACON 2015

Browning Marean

In August 2014, the legal community lost a great friend. Browning Marean, a Partner at DLA Piper, touched the personal and professional lives of many within the legal sector.

In honor or Browning’s work in the litigation field and his extraordinary international ambassadorship, the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) has established two scholarships to their annual conference, ILTACON 2015 - one for individuals who live and work in the U.S. and one for those outside the U.S. 

You must apply for the scholarships, no later than June 5th. If selected by the judging panel, your attendance at ILTACON 2015 (August 31 - September 3 in Las Vegas, Nevada) will be covered, including registration fee, lodging and all reasonable travel costs.

View scholarship application and submission information here.

 

For more information on ILTACON 2015, visit the website here.

LegalTech New York 2015: Punxsutawney Phil Says More eDiscovery Ahead

LegalTech New York (LTNY) is here, again. The Super Bowl and Groundhog Day are over; the snow is here, so it must be time for another LTNY … This was how we started last year’s post, oh the irony.

2015 marks our 16th LTNY attendance and if you aren't able to be on-site with the thousands of attendees, 190+ vendors and many legal technologists, consultants, media/bloggers and influencers from literally all over the place, tune in to our daily LTNY reports and recaps.

To kick-off our 2015 edition, here’s our short list of pre-show topics, sessions to watch, trends to notice and conference stats.

Going to LegalTech … viable alternatives to exhibiting

So as many of you know, we like to track stuff … how many vendors at LTNY? How many EDD folks? Session themes and sponsorship influence; top conference topics and word cloud buzz? What are the vendors doing? And what aren’t they? And, who’s new?

Here are some stats for starters. According to the official LTNY mobile app info, 190 vendor companies registered (aka have a booth) in 2015. Compare this to 220 in 2014 and 263 (29% more) in 2009, the 2^nd year we started tracking this. 44% of all 2015 exhibitors represent EDD products & services not counting the consultancies (another 5%) that specialize in EDD-related consulting support in some form or fashion. This marks the 2^nd highest percentage (we counted 45% in 2012) of EDD vendors since our first analysis in 2008. Beyond EDD, we took note of several other vendor focus areas with some critical mass (at least 4% exhibitor share):

• Analytics 4%
• DMS/Document Assembly and related tech 5%
• Practice/case management 7%
• Info Governance [Privacy/security/DR/Governance] 8%

The stats above reiterate what has been on the lips of many LTNY goers for years … LTNY is EDDNY and if you are not in the information governance (IG)/Risk Management/Security/Privacy space largely within the realm of EDD; LTNY is not your best bet. Large, household name vendors are not renewing exhibit space and many other companies are looking for alternatives to connecting with targets during the week. This trend is not necessarily bad; it just clarifies the writing on the wall. In actuality, between companies attending the Law Firm CIO/CTO forum, other non-LTNY legal influencer events, a significant spike in off-the-clock soirées and separate non-Hilton hospitality and demo suites, the shear amount of legal/legal technology brainpower attending this year is at its peak. On Monday alone, we had the option of four alternate legal/tech-themed programs leading up to LTNY kick-off on Tuesday.

Hot button issues

As mentioned in our previous ‘word cloud post’, LTNY 2015 is heavily focused on IG, risk and compliance... particularly as it relates to eDiscovery, corporate security and information management. We heard it last year but this year it is loud and clear... IG is no longer a sideline, add-on activity but a broader strategy of managing information overload. The time to simply check off IG and compliance tasks is over. Big data while less of a buzz word than the past three years, is being rolled into IG, risk management, information management and business analytics priorities as opposed to being positioned stand-alone. From a technology perspective, big data is still tightly linked with the eDiscovery space and specifically Technology-Assisted Review, aka predictive coding. Considering privacy and security are on everyone's 'major challenges' and 'top priority' lists, the topics themselves are somewhat downplayed. We suspect these topics are central to most information governance discussions which seem to be dominating this year.

CIO Forum

Law Technology News and The American Lawyer are presenting the 11th Annual Law Firm Chief Information & Technology Officers Forum, a day and a half event taking place in conjunction with LTNY at the Hilton New York. The 21 session program includes 8 roundtable discussions forum attendees can choose from including: Mobility in Legal Services; Legal Services. Anywhere; Managing Cyber security Risks; Securing Your Content in the Cloud; Navigating the transition to an efficient, paperless office; and fulfilling regulatory and KM guidelines for email. Check out the full agenda here and watch this space as we’ll be covering some of the CIO Forum sessions via @InsideLegal and here.

Legaltech (new)s beginnings

Per Monica Bay’s recent post on lawtechnologynews.com, the February 2015 edition of Law Technology News magazine is its last. Last night, at a party kicking off LegalTech New York 2015, ALM unveiled "Legaltech news." The new name aligns with its sister unit, Legaltech (which will lose its capital T). The February 2015 edition is also Monica’s last, marking 30+ years with ALM. And as she put it “time for the next generation to take the helm.” Speaking of, as of February 9^th, the new editor of Legaltech news will be Erin Harrison, the current Associate Publisher and Editor-in-Chief for InsideCounsel.

New class of legal entrepreneurs wanted

A few weeks ago, ALM announced a collaborative partnership with CodeX: The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics, a think tank of Stanford faculty and students, as well as professionals from key organizations working on the frontier of legal technology. According to the release, the partnership will help provide compelling new educational content at ALM's Legaltech events, plus ALM will be working with the CodeX team to introduce new companies to the LTNY crowd. Eligible companies will be offered free exhibit space in a new pavilion on the trade show floor, as well as have the opportunity to host thought leadership presentations on the pavilion stage. This could be a smart move considering much of the existing educational content is sourced from mostly established vendors with the resources to pay for sponsored speaking tracks. ARMA and ILTA do a fine job plugging in educational content for their respective audiences, but what are less established, not as well financed companies to do when it comes to adding their thought leadership and know-how to the mix? The ALM/CodeX partner model might facilitate this and provide more balance across the board.

For LTNY 2015, CodeX will present three ‘future of legal technology’-themed panels and has secured exhibitor space for a group of innovative, early stage legal tech companies. The CodeX Pavilion Exhibitors include 10 vendor companies spanning big data analytics; IP/patents; compliance; document processing; web-based case management and a law firm-specific digital creative and content marketing.

We hope this gives you a quickie snapshot of what’s in store over the next several days. Stay tuned to this blog and out Twitter feed for more #LTNY15 and #LFCIO15 coverage and insights.

10 Practical Tips for LegalTech NY Attendees

New LegalTech NY (LTNY) attendees are often surprised at the pace and not as prepared as they could be to make the show work for them. Here a few tips from our 15 years of attending LegalTech. We've left out all the 'wear comfy shoes' and 'don't talk on your phone in a meeting'. 

1. There is no ‘cone of silence’!: You wouldn’t believe the things we’ve heard in the common areas of the Hilton over our 15 years attending LTNY. Consider the property a ‘hot’ spot in that you never know who is at the table beside you in the restaurant or is sharing the elevator with you, so be discreet!

2. Leave time to get where you are going: Particularly if you are staying in the Hilton. In years past, a 15 minute elevator wait was the norm. It seems to have gotten better since, but leaving a buffer is always a good idea. 

3. Multi-task: Often, vendor plans for industry events begin and end with working their booth. To maximize your investment, take advantage of all the opportunities available to network and/or promote your brand including connecting with partners, media, bloggers and additional industry associations on-site such as ILTA & ARMA.

4. Scheduling is paramount: I am sure by now you have glimpsed at the show schedule to see what is happening when. What about your own company’s schedule? Have you pre-scheduled meetings? You get the idea. Without a schedule and timeline of ‘what? where? when?’ for your LTNY team, prepare for chaos, frustrated colleagues and lost opportunities.

5. Share your learnings and insights garnered from sessions and floor conversations with your colleagues and fellow legal professionals. Twitter (#LTNY15), LinkedIn and even Pinterest are all good outlets for this.

6. Avoid meeting space hell: Unfortunately, one of the biggest challenges at LegalTech NY is finding open meeting space on-site, so prepare accordingly. Book a separate meeting space, locate a few off-site meeting options beforehand or direct all meeting traffic to your booth to collectively find appropriate space. We have managed to find a few choice places to meet, but then again, you don't expect us to publish those, do you? :-)

7. Social networking: The first word in social networking is SOCIAL. In an industry with the staying power of legal - no one ever leaves, they just change companies/firms - it is just as valuable to make social connections with peers and contacts. During social events, stay social! Don’t start listing the bullet points for your product or bust out a laptop/tablet for a ‘quick demo’. Seriously… we’ve had it happen… more than once!

8. Skip the 'convenience' of the coat check. In the past, recovering from hypothermia because I walked to the Hilton without my coat was less annoying than standing in the coat check line. Seriously. 

9. Don't hog the hashtag. There are many people that participate in the LegalTech NY social media world so be respectful and don't hog the hashtag! If you are including the #LTNY15 hashtag (which you should be), don't send tweets from multiple company/employee accounts. There are always a few people/companies that decide that social media success is based on the number of tweets they post. In fact, often those people are ridiculed and avoided, so don't be one of them! 

For Vendors:

10. Booth workflow: LegalTech NY attracts attendees from all walks making it different than an event like ILTA where everyone that stops by your booth may be a qualified prospect. Have someone act as ‘chief traffic coordinator’ in the booth and organize the flow of foot traffic to quickly qualify attendees that are truly interested in your product/service so you can engage them. Remember: Treat everyone with respect. Even if they are with a 2 person firm now, they may be hired by your largest client in a couple of years! 

LegalTech New York 2015 Agenda Word Cloud (& Comparison to Past Years)

In a few weeks, a few thousand people will convene at LegalTech New York (LTNY) for 3 days of exhibitions, networking and legal technology sessions. To give an overview of what will be covered in those sessions, we have again created the LTNY agenda word cloud, visually displaying the words/themes included in the event's agenda of sessions (minus days, times and people's names). FYI ... the size of selected words dictates how often they have been mentioned or referenced within the agenda (aka, how popular they are). [Click on image to enlarge]

 

This is the fifth year we have used the event program to create a visual snapshot of the main content themes and discussion topics. How does this compare to previous years? What topics made headlines in our word clouds for 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011 (shown below)?  Here are some musings on 2015 and past year comparisons:

• Content wise, LTNY 2015 is heavily focused on information governance (IG), risk and compliance... particularly as it relates to eDiscovery, corporate security and information management. We heard it last year but this year it is loud and clear.. IG is no longer a sideline, add-on activity but a broader strategy of managing information overload. The time to simply check off IG and compliance tasks is over.
• So what happened to big data? I thought it was bigger than ever? Yes, but we are seeing two distinct trends ... 1) Big data is being rolled into IG, risk management and information management themes as opposed to positioned stand-alone and 2) analytics, a hotter than ever topic, is essentially a big data off-shoot. Case in point, the 2014 ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey revealed that over 50% of responding ILTA member firms would use analytics as a primary big data technology. 
• Considering privacy and security are on everyone's 'major challenges' and 'top priority' lists, the topics themselves are somewhat downplayed. We suspect these topics are central to most information governance discussions which seem to be dominating this year.
• Last year we asked "where did the big pricing discussion go? Remember AFAs?" Session wise, LTNY seems to have moved on, although we did notice an increase in cost-related themes and sessions.
• Based on our five year comparison, the 2015 LTNY cloud has by far the most government focused content. IG, information management, compliance and increased regulations are all intertwined with government so this trend adds up. 

As a comparison, we have included the LTNY Agenda Word Clouds from 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011.

 

 

Subscribe to InsideLegal for LTNY updates and market information and follow us on Twitter at @InsideLegal for timely updates. 

 

The word cloud was pulled from the agenda listed in the LegalTech NY Show Brochure from www.LegalTechShow.com.

A Look Back at InsideLegal's Top 10 Posts in 2014

Happy New Year! To help you kick off 2015, we will be publishing a variety of useful resources and posts on the legal space over the next couple of weeks. [Subscribe now to receive these tools via email.]

Before we look forward to 2015, we wanted to take a look back at InsideLegal's highlights from 2014, beginning with our 10 most read posts...

1. Law Firm Technology: What Law Firms Said They Bought Last Year (broken down by firm size) (January 6)
2. ILTA's 2014 Technology Survey: An Early Holiday Gift for the Legal Tech Community (December 4)
3. Law Firm Technology Budgets: Who is Spending What (February 6)
4. InsideLegal[Tech] New York 2014: Privacy, Innovation and New(ish) Technologies (February 13)
5. 2014 ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey Delivers Promise ... Increased Tech Spend (August 20)
6. ILTA 2014 Conference Registrants by Country (July 28)
7. LexThink.1 2014 'End of Irrelevance' Speakers Announced! (March 10)
8. LegalTech NY 2014 Agenda Word Cloud (& Comparison to Past Years) (January 23)
9. ILTA 2014 Conference Registrants by Firm Size (August 13)
10. ALA's Legal Management Goes Digital ... Looks Ahead with Future Legal Technology & Strategy (January 14)

Here are a few that didn't rank, but that we felt should have:

1. AALL Big Data Panel: Discussing Big Data Opportunities with Firm Partners (July 15)
2. InsideLegal[Tech] New York 2014: Essential Facts, Figures & Predictions (February 4)
3. What Technology ILTA Law Firms Said They Plan to Buy This Year (broken down by firm size) (January 27)

Stay tuned...

ILTA 2014 Conference Registrants by Country

The Annual ILTA Conference is by far one of the hottest legal technology shows in the United States, but clearly the word is spreading. Here is a look at the pre-registrants (as of July 29 July 15) broken down by Country. 

REVISED CHART: Updated based new list.