InsideLegal

ILTACON 2021: Legal Tech's Lollapalooza Back in Full Swing

We are excited to reconnect with our legal tech brethren this week as we head to Vegas for ILTACON 2021. It's hard to believe that my last travel to conference was TECHSHOW in February 2020 when baskets of ABA branded hand sanitizers sat untouched in the exhibit hall. 

I know the hype, anticipation as well as apprehension surrounding ILTACON this year is high so not having major expectations might be the best M.O. Regardless, one thing is certain, the conference content, delivered via nearly 90 in-person and virtual sessions, will be high caliber and provide many opportunities to learn, share ideas and trade war stories. A brief look at the session 'areas of focus' provides a preview of what ILTA members are looking for: 8 sessions are focused on Corporate; 7 on Litigation Support; 6 on Security; 6 on KM; 5 on Marketing as well as numerous sessions on AI, O365, Legal Process Improvement, Leadership and Data Science. You can also check out InsideLegal's word cloud from the ILTACON 2021 session grid here.

While there are too many intriguing sessions to list, here's a handful that caught my eye:

Disrupt the DMS - How We Made SharePoint Work, 8/25, 11AM 

Who Watches the Watchers? Vetting and Securing Cloud Services, 8/25, 2:30PM (onsite only)

One Size Does Not Fit All: Leveraging Client Feedback to Co-Create Innovative Technology Solutions That Strengthen Relationships, Create Value, and Drive Revenue, 8/25 4:00PM 

Looking Beyond the New Normal: Maximizing Productivity in a Permanently Hybrid World, 8/25, 2:30PM 

All Together Now: Co-Authoring With or Without Your Document Management System, 8/24, 4:00PM – Michelle S.

I'll be roaming the Mandalay Bay exhibit hall and conference space this week so look forward to seeing many familiar faces. #myILTACON

Inside Legalweek 2019: Battle Tested Tips for Conference Survival

If you are looking for basic tradeshow tips such as "wear comfortable shoes", "plot out who you want to meet ahead of time" and "bring business cards", etc. this isn't the post for you. This is a post based on 19 years of attending Legaltech New York and most all other legal events and conferences. We make the joke annually that it's no coincidence that Legaltech is always within a few days of Groundhog Day. Legaltech's timing is unique in that it allows you to kick off the new year with a bang, however it can also make for a brutal week. With the morphing of Legaltech into Legalweek, this is even more so the case. Here are some Legalweek 2019 'coping' tips which will hopefully have you looking back at the week ahead with enthusiasm not vitriol.

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 19 years attending Legaltech. Realize that the property is a ‘hot’ spot and that you never know who is at the table beside you in the restaurant or sharing the elevator with you, so be discreet!  Update: I'm going to extend this tip out two blocks in all directions. If you are at the Warwick or the Starbucks or the corner pub, it can still be full of Legalweek attendees or your competitors!

2. Multi-task

There is a lot to take advantage of at Legalweek, so often plans for the event begin and end with working your 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 but also take time to meet with legal associations on-site such as ILTA , ARMA, AALL or AECDS.

3. "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… it happens all the time! Also bring your manners to the Twitter-verse and don't hog the hashtag. There are many people that participate in the Legalweek social media world so be respectful and don't hog the hashtag! If you are including the #Legalweek19 hashtag (which you should), don't send tweets from multiple company/employee accounts multiple times in a row. 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! 

4. Meeting space hell

Unfortunately, one of the biggest challenges at Legalweek is finding a space to meet on-site, so prepare accordingly. All major events should provide ample space for their attendees to sit and network, but unfortunately, the main common area for meetings during the day is now rented out by ALM to vendors for their meetings during the day, so it's been closed off. We suggest you book a separate meeting space, locate a few off-site meeting options  beforehand or just 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? :-)  

However, we've found a couple of creative ideas from the suspended glass box meeting room above to the "portable chair" to the right (try at your own risk!). Next year, someone should give them away in the exhibit hall!  

5. Beware of 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. (OK, obviously the photo is an exaggeration but you get the idea!)

6. Measure up the competition

If you are a technology vendor/Legaltech exhibitor in town for the week, this is the perfect time to 'compare and contrast'. What are companies in your application area promoting this week? How visible are they? How is their exhibit floor/booth traffic? What are they doing that you might be able to pull off better? Did you know there is a full schedule of demos and product pitches happening throughout the week? And, there's a new Legaltech Product Innovation showcase and award to check out and vote on via the app. Don't come to town solely focused on booth duty and the 'wine and dine'. Be aware, take notes, and share it when you get home. 

A variation from a post originally published January 20, 2015

Inside Legalweek 2019: Rewarding Legal Technology Innovation

In July, 2015, ALM’s Legaltech News last unveiled the winners of the LTN Innovation Awards, an annual recognition of the best legal technology leaders, products and projects in the legal community. Three and a half years have passed and now it's time to once again recognize industry leaders in legal technology innovation. The 2019 Legaltech Product Innovation Competition is underway with 7 finalists having been named in early January. 

Erin Hichman, Senior Analyst with ALM Intelligence, is charged with organizing the 2019 innovation competition. We wanted to learn more ... how did this come about? how will the judging work? who applied? and who made the final cut. Let's find out.

IL: What is the genesis of the award? Why launch this now?
EH: Over the past year we’ve really witnessed the continued “explosion” of legal technology, but, more importantly, and interestingly, we are starting to see a new level of sophistication and innovation in product development. The legal technology market and landscape is changing so quickly - and is becoming crowded. We decided to launch the Product Innovation Competition this year at Legaltech to provide a platform for those that are using technology to improve the legal industry and approach traditional challenges and goals in a new way. It’s also a great way to help the consumer and user of legal technology understand what is available to them.

In most firms and legal departments, there are multiple stakeholders who must review and evaluate new technology, and many of those are in NYC the last week of January attending Legalweek. Given the depth and breadth of attendees, including many in-house legal professionals, we wanted to provide a platform for companies to launch new products with maximum exposure.

IL: Please walk us through the judging and evaluation process?
EH: There will be two awards given out - one from the panel of judges we have, and one from the conference attendees (“People’s Choice Awards”). We have a fantastic panel of judges including Catherine Krow of Digitory Legal; Haley Altman of Doxly; Silvia Hodges Silverstein of Buying Legal; Richard Tromans of Tromans Consulting, and Ryan McClead of Sente Advisors. They will all speak with the finalists at their booths, and also take part in the demos or “pitches” each finalist makes. All of the conference attendees are encouraged to check out the finalists and interact with them as well. The judges will evaluate on six criteria, using a scale of one to five:
1. Is the solution distinctive or fundamentally different from existing products?
2. Does the solution enhance efficiency and/or productivity?
3. If there a clear market need?
4. Design
5. Functionality
6. Applicability

Conference attendees will be able to vote via the event mobile app (for iOS devices), on the following criteria:
1. Does the product enhance efficiency and/or productivity?
2. Design
3. Overall Functionality
4. Applicability

IL: What are the judges looking for in a finalist/winner?
EH: Ultimately the judges are looking for products that are unique and differentiated from existing products in the legal industry that solve a particular challenge, and/or take a new approach to something that has been fairly static historically.

IL: Can you touch on the application field, the recently announced finalists and the award ceremony?
EH: There was a broad range of products, 25 in total, who entered the competition, from smaller newer entrants to the legal field to large and well-known names. Some key themes we saw reflected across many entrants was using AI and creating a more integrated, seamless and collaborative experience for the end-user.

Seven finalists were identified after an initial round of scoring by the judges:

• Fastcase Analytics Workbench enables lawyers and librarians to create their own reports using user-defined analytics, rather than pre-defined analytics.
• FRONTEO Patent Explorer 19 uses the company’s AI engine, KIBIT, to perform patent search and analysis.
• H5 PII Identification Solution helps legal and compliance professionals quickly and accurately identify likely PII content within Relativity.
• LexisNexis Context provides AI-powered insight to attorneys on judges and expert witnesses to better prepare for, present and argue cases.
• LexMachina Legal Analytics for Insurance Litigation includes more than 93,000 cases pending in federal court since 2009 to provide insight and trends in insurance case timing, resolutions, damages, remedies and findings.
• OneTrust Privacy Management and Marketing Compliance Software helps law firms better demonstrate regulatory compliance through its privacy management and marketing compliance platform.
• Tikit Carpe Diem Intelligent Time allows attorneys to write or dictate time sheets by using Natural Language Processing and turns them into time records. This tech analyzes and converts unstructured into structured data; attorney’s thoughts are transformed into fully formed time narratives.

The Award Ceremony will be held at 10:40 on January 31 on the Legaltech LITE Stage, which is accessible to everyone at the entire Legalweek event. We encourage everyone to attend!

IL: What does the future hold for the Legalweek Product Innovation competition?
EH: We are very excited about this new addition to Legaltech. The response to the competition has been really good. We had 25 very interesting products enter, and after some close scoring, ended up with seven finalists. We think that this type of competition is the perfect fit for Legaltech and the overall Legalweek event, and are already making plans to include it next year.

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.

ILTA Firms Recognize Vendors That Provide Exceptional Customer Support & Service

On Monday, we released the 2015 ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey which includes detailed technology budget data; updated information on firms’ purchasing influences and patterns; legal IT department trends and challenges; and expansive sections on specific legal technology purchases – both last year’s and those planned for the upcoming year. You can view the highlights here.

Each year, we look forward to seeing the results of the last question - an open-ended one asking "what legal vendors have provided you with exceptional customer support and service in the last year?" This year the 184 firms wrote in 101 unique responses. Four vendors received the most mentions, at least 7 write-ins each:

CDW   •   Dell   •   Mimecast   •   NetDocuments
 

The other vendors that were listed include (in alphabetical order):

•  AAC  •  Accudata  •  Aconsulting Ltd.  •  Acrowire  •  Adaptive Solutions  •  Aderant  •  Advanced Legal  •  Advisex  •  AirWatch  •  American River International  •  Aquipt-SSINET  •  Aurora North Software  •  Auto-Docs  •  Autonomy  •  Avaya  •  BEC Legal  •  BigHand  •  Case Data  •  CDW  •  Chesapeake Netcraftsmen  •  Cisco  •  Citrix  •  CommVault  •  Complete Computing  •  Computech  •  Comstar Technologies  •  ContactEase  •  Core BTS  •  CornerStone  •  Crowther  •  Datalink  •  Dell  •  DocAuto  •  Docs Corp  •  EIM International  •  Elite  •  Esquire Innovations  •  Ethan Group  •  FlexPrint  •  Fujitsu  •  Geocent  •  Hartman Executive Advisors  •  HBR Consulting  •  HQ Network Solutions  •  iConect  •  Infoware  •  InOutsource  •  Intapp  •  Integrated Data  •  Intelliteach  •  IPM  •  IPRO  •  Iridium  •  IT Simplify  •  iVision  •  Keno Kozie  •  Kraft & Kennedy  •  Kroll  •  Laser Options  •  LegalAnywhere  •  LexisNexis  •  Litera  •  LogicForce Computing  •  Matrix Logic  •  Microsoft  •  Mimecast  •  mindSHIFT  •  NetDocuments  •  Netrix  •  Network Solutions  •  NSG  •  Nuance  •  OpenText  •  PayneGroup  •  Project Leadership Associates  •  RBRO  •  Respond Communications Plus  •  Ricoh  •  Savvy Training  •  Semaphore Corp.  •  SHI  •  Sigma  •  Softchoice  •  Soundpath/Global Meet  •  Stratuspeer  •  Synergy  •  Tech Heads  •  ThomsonReuters  •  Tikit  •  Total Networks  •  Traveling Coaches  •  Unitrends  •  Veritrak  •  Vertigrate  •  viDesktop  •  VLCM  •  WAMS  •  Westlaw  •  Winscribe  •  World Software Corporation  •  Younts Consulting  •

Congratulations to all those recognized!

 

InsideLegal Partners with ILTA to Produce the 12th Annual Vendor Education Program Onsite at ILTACON

We at InsideLegal have been partnering with ILTA to co-produce the Vendor Education Program at the ILTA Annual Conference since 2004. For our twelfth year anniversary, we will be offering our popular "InsideLegal Market Flash Course" that outlines the best tips and advice for promoting your company to the legal space as well as bringing back our very popular session, "Advice for Selling to ILTA Firms". Don't miss the opportunity to hear directly from ILTA members the best way to market and sell to them leading up to ILTACON and throughout the year. As always, the program begins with Peggy Wechsler's Vendor Business Meeting covering any conference announcements and tips on how to work with ILTA throughout the year and ends with the release of the 2015 ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey covering ILTA firms' purchasing habits and trends for the upcoming year. Please get your booths setup early on Monday, August 31st so you can join us at 1:30 in the Anzio room of Caesars for the 2015 ILTACON Vendor Education Program.

Vendor Education Program
[Monday, August 31st, 1:30-4:00pm in Anzio (Promenade Level, 3rd Floor)]

1:30 - 2:00 p.m.: ILTA Vendor Business Meeting
This session will include an opportunity to meet the ILTA staff and Board, receive an update on conference activities, and learn additional ways to work with ILTA throughout the year.
Faculty - Peggy Wechsler, ILTA Program Director

2:00 - 3:00 p.m.: InsideLegal Market Flash Course - How to Promote Your Company Within the Legal Space
We know how valuable your time is on-site at ILTA, so this rapid fire session will pack in industry statistics and legal marketing information. The program will include topics such as: legal market statistics; the one thing EVERY legal vendor should do…and it's free; where to get marketing research; stats on purchasing budgets and trends; and working with the legal media. Walk away with tips, tricks and legal resources you can use immediately.
Faculty - JoAnna Forshee, InsideLegal CEO & Jobst Elster, InsideLegal Head of Content & Legal Market Strategy

3:00 - 3:30 p.m.: Advice for Selling to ILTA Law Firms
Priceless advice from ILTA members on how to reach out to them and what not to do.
Faculty - Kevin Sullivan, Cohen & Grigsby Director of Technology

3:30 - 4:00 p.m.: 2015 ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey Results
Last but not least, we will be reviewing the results from this year's ILTA member technology purchasing survey conducted by InsideLegal. The report includes data from 184 ILTA law firms of all sizes including: what percentage of firm revenue they spend on technology; what they purchased last year; what they will be purchasing next year; did their budgets increase or decrease; what vendors gave exceptional customer service; etc. Session attendees will receive a hardcopy report. View the 2014 Survey.
Faculty - Jobst Elster, InsideLegal Head of Content/Legal Market Strategy

Complete your setup early Monday and make sure to join us for the program. Please RSVP to JoAnna Forshee with name, title, company and email address for each participant.

Additionally, InsideLegal has added a link that pulls all their exhibitor resources and articles. Check it out! 

Legal Influencers Weigh In On Legal Technology Startups

Entering Startup. While you would probably pass right by Startup, a 4-square mile town in Snohomish County, Washington with a population of 676, the tidal wave of startup businesses and entrepreneurs hitting the legal shores is hard to ignore. We’ve all heard of the new, post 2008-recession ‘normal,’ and the legal technology startup scene is definitely a part of it. How big of a part? Is it just noise? An exciting distraction or a true disruption poised to change the legal game forever?

All intriguing questions … and ones that our esteemed colleagues at Legal IT Professionals asked us to address in the current issue (hot off the press today) of Legal IT Today (LITT). “Start me up … I’ll never stop” pulls back the covers on the legal version of the startup craze to better understand it. Who are the leading legal entrepreneurial minds? What are they looking to change? And how’s it going?

 

In the spirit of collaboration, we have reached into our treasure chest of legal influencers and crowd sourced some prolific commentary and opinions on the startup topic. Check out the LITT article for some of these gems and keep on reading for our ‘Legal Influencers Weigh In’ series, ‘Startup’ edition. We requested feedback on a multitude of questions including state and rise (or fall) of legal startups; current startups - fad, trend or true disruption? And, which startup apps and legal services are winning the race?

 

Startup trend = disruption in legal?!

On disruption in legal (and whether startups will lead this charge), David Perla, President of Bloomberg BNA Legal Division and Bloomberg Law offers a ‘big picture’ view. “The last decade has brought a methodical move toward efficiency, predictability and transparency across virtually every area of law. Since none of these areas has historically been core to lawyering, it’s been very difficult for the establishment to keep pace with market demands. The large number of startups that have been able to enter this space with little or no prior legal experience is impressive. However, few will affect real disruption, as the need increases for sophisticated (and capital-intensive) analytics technologies that can be deployed on the massive sets of unstructured data that permeate the profession.”

 

Perla adds: “Disruption has the potential to radically change how lawyers work and think about their clients, but it also requires significant capital and a keen understanding of how lawyers consume information. This is where startups will struggle. The massive capital needs and long time frame required are a mismatch for the funding sources currently investing in legal startups – angel, venture and strategic. As a result, most legal startups won’t make it – and change will come from the few that do, plus a handful of existing larger players with the requisite combination of capital and legal and technology prowess.”

 

We first took note of Fastcase and its CEO Ed Walters back in 2010, when the company announced its free legal research app for the iPad, a bold and innovative move. We asked Ed about the future of startups and what will occur first – further expansion of the startup landscape, consolidation or increasing dissolutions? “There will be *both* expansion and consolidation for the next two years. Venture funds now see the opportunity in legal tech. Legal services are broken – but change (intelligent agents, document automation and analytics) is coming. There will be ample capital available for attackers, and the market will expand. At the same time, the market will consolidate in two areas. Global publishers will continue to divest business units (even big ones) that don’t keep pace with international growth targets. And unless innovators can achieve both scale and profit in time, they will have to be acquired. If the stock market remains high, and interest rates stay low, there will be ample capital available for acquirers as well.”

 

State of the current legal (tech) startup space

Basha Rubin is the CEO of Priori Legal. Like many of her fellow startup founders, Rubin is a lawyer who identified a major gap between existing legal services and what she would want to access as a potential client. While Priori Legal is focused on high value business-attorney matchmaking, Rubin sees a lot of similarities between the large pack of startups: "We all have the same short term goal of changing behavior. As a community, we can all collaborate to change the way consumers and businesses source legal services and how these services are made more accessible." In terms of where startups are now, Rubin sees continued opportunities for growth. “We are still in the very early days with lots of room for innovation and legal problem solving.” According to Rubin, new entrants focused on law practice management, legal services marketplaces and legal research are bubbling to the top. Also, per Rubin, the April acquisition of Shake, a legal forms and agreements startup is “a big deal” and perhaps the sign of more M&As to come.

 

Dan Lear, Avvo’s Director of Industry Relations, blogger, legal technology meet-up founder and legal hacker, knows a thing or two about the startup growth path. "There is definitely a lot of interest in the space. It’s a combination of a well-performing technology sector combined with a fair number of out of work or underemployed, under-utilized, or just plain unhappy lawyers who are looking to do something different.” Lear notes we are at an inflection point with technology as well. “The cloud, mobile, greater broadband access and some interesting technological innovations are really opening peoples’ minds to some amazing possibilities.”

 

Rob Saccone, CEO of SeyfarthLean Consulting (SLC), leads a team of 35 legal service design and technology professionals focused on law department optimization and legal service design. SLC is a subsidiary of Seyfarth Shaw and operates across all types and stages of legal, risk and compliance work. “I feel like the window has passed for events such as LexRedux (a legal startup/investment event platform created by Rob, Josh Kubicki, and Dave Perla a few years back) or ReInvent Law. There was a wave of interest in activity which I feel has slowed down over the past several months, as startups shift into execution mode and buyers take a more practical and detailed look at their options. Some startups continue to do well, particularly in the B2C space, but activity is definitely down from what it was this time last year.”

 

SLC is still pushing ahead with legal innovation. “Seyfarth has made active investments in its captive innovation and R&D efforts for 10 years. We’ve invested in more failed attempts than most firms have invested at all, and our culture supports the ‘fail fast’ mindset to truly innovate and learn,” concludes Saccone.

 

Rise of legal technology and business of law startup companies

According to Dr. Roland Vogl, Executive Director of CodeX, the Stanford Center for Legal Informatics, “there is a new generation of savvy ‘lawentrepreneurs’ using existing web technologies to provide new options for corporate clients demanding more efficient delivery of legal services. At the same time, many startups are trying to find new ways to empower consumers, providing them with more affordable legal documents or legal advice.”

 

“Not all of these startups will succeed. Some will go out of business. Others will merge with competing startups. A few will be acquired by (or partner with) the large legal information companies. It's not clear whether there first will be consolidation between startups or acquisitions by larger companies, but I am quite certain that, five years down the road, there will not be dozens of players in the various legal technology ‘sub-verticals’ and application areas.” What’s next? “The next generation of legal innovation will likely develop from companies that provide ‘computable law,’ where technology can process legal rules and can automate legal decision making, or where contracts are smart and ‘operationalized.’ Computable law techniques will also embed legal information in the systems that we use every day (e.g., cars) and bring it to the person who needs it in real-time,” surmises Vogl.

 

Peter Ozolin, Manzama’s CEO & Chairman attributes the rise in legal startups to a few technology shifts. “Innovation Debt: in the period from 2004-2010, we didn’t see a lot of disruptive legal technology brought into the marketplace (other than small firm solutions). As a result, when new entrants like Manzama came along, there was a strong interest in new approaches from firms to develop business, largely fueled by the worst recession in recent memory, and a sense that it wasn’t going to be ‘business as usual,’ which meant that new methods and practices needed to be encouraged at the firms themselves. Secondly, cloud computing raised the potential for firms to consider new technologies at relatively low cost that, if successful, could easily displace enterprise applications that required more of a footprint both in terms of servers and people, as well as vendor support.”

 

Fred Cohen, CEO & Founder of Zola and Amicus Creative Media, groups the wave of new startups into three primary categories: “Uberification: Connecting idle legal resources with those that demand it, whether in a B2B or B2C context. An example is a service which enables business lawyers to make themselves available on demand as in-house counsel to small businesses. Specific technology (providing brilliant solutions to very narrow problems): Most of these are in the practice management space, such as services that enable clients to stay abreast of billable hours or ingenious task management solutions. The challenge with many of these tools is that they rarely work well with larger practice management solutions, so lawyers are often forced to do double data entry and deal with multiple applications, the burden of which may not justify the increased productivity afforded by the solutions. AI: Finally, the most interesting category in the legal tech space involves tools that leverage unprecedented computing power for artificial intelligence used to review legal documents. While many of these are at a very early stage, over time they could supplant attorneys - at least when it comes to many transactional matters.” 

 

Doug Caddell is the owner of Legal CIO Consulting LLC and former CIO of Foley & Lardner. He has spent the last 22+ years leading the technology efforts of various legal organizations, including mid-sized and large law firms and a governmental law department. During that time, he has witnessed several waves of legal technology innovation including the third and latest wave staring around 2011. So why the current rise? “New foundational technologies such as cloud computing and increasingly flexible programming languages have made it easier to develop products, and meet the needs of underlying changes to law firm business models created by the recession. The recession changed law firm economics and the market for legal services from a seller’s to a buyer’s market, putting dramatic pressure on law firms to become more efficient to meet client demands,” notes Caddell.

 

Dr. Rick Kabra, CEO of CosmoLex Cloud, sees the surge of legal technology solutions as a “…result of evolving technology making it possible to offer ‘next-generation’ solutions that significantly improve a lawyer’s daily work life. In the law practice management space, the first generation cloud based legal technology solutions handled only a single function (like billing or practice management). Now 2nd generation solutions offer multiple, integrated functions (such as billing & accounting & document management) - along with mature, dependable & secure mobile access - that is a much better fit to the way lawyers actually work. It’s a lot like how the mobile phone went from being a simple PDA type device to a smartphone performing dozens of useful tasks that have revolutionized everyone’s daily life.”

 

Stevie Ghiassi, Co-Founder of Australian-based Legaler believes “advancing the delivery of legal services” is a major startup priority, but there are two key areas that need the most attention – access and communication.” Ghiassi adds: “It is well documented that there is a monumental access to justice/legal services problem not just in the US, but globally. In the US alone, up to 80% of consumers are not able to access legal services for reasons such as complexity, affordability and sheer unapproachability. However, the lesser known fact is that poor communication is the main culprit in up to 90% of legal malpractice suits. Both figures are staggering and have no right to exist in this day and age of technology. History has shown startups can have a rampant and immense social impact in a very short time and it is now our responsibility to tackle these problems head on. Communication should be the lawyers’ biggest asset, not a sword to fall on.”

 

This concludes our legal startup ‘weigh in.' The LITT article along with this companion piece with additional contributors’ comments will hopefully get you thinking. Look us up, share with your peers and keep the conversation going. Also, if you don't already subscribe to Legal IT Today, sign up today to receive the free online subscription delivered directly to your inbox. Enjoy. 

 

Legaltech News Announces Innovation Awards Finalists

Legaltech News (formerly Law Technology News) recently announced the finalists of the 2015 Legaltech News Innovation Awards, which recognizes both outstanding achievement by legal professionals in their use of technology and vendors across 20 categories.

 

The 2015 Innovation Awards finalists are:

Law Firm/Law Department Finalists

CIO of the Year
Ralph Losey, Jackson Lewis
Dan Nottke, Kirkland & Ellis
Harry Shipley, Iowa State Bar Association

Law Department Operations Manager of the Year

Connie Brenton, NetApp

Mary Shen O’Carroll, Google Inc.

Most Innovative Use of Technology in a Corporation

General Electric

Hewlett-Packard

AOL Inc.

Luxottica Group

Most Innovative Use of Technology in a Law Firm (less than 100 lawyers)

Bassi, Edlin, Huie & Blum and Keesal

Young & Logan

Most Innovative Use of Technology in a Law Firm (more than 100 lawyers)

Munger, Tolles & Olson

Reed Smith

Seyfarth Shaw

Most Innovative Use of Technology in a Pro Bono Project

New York State Unified Court System

Vendor Finalists/Winners

New Product of the Year
Avvo Inc., Advisor
Catalyst Repository Systems, Predict
Diligence Engine
Lex Machina

Best Marketing Services Providers
JD Supra
One400

Best Knowledge Management Software
Motivation Group’s Easy Data Maps
MDLegalApps’ Not Guilty App
Prosperoware
ZL Technologies

Best Mobile Device Tool or Service
Abacus Data Systems
AgileLaw
Logik Systems’ Logikcull

Best Trial Support Software
Indata Corp.’s TrialDirector
LexisNexis CaseMap
Thomson Reuters’ Case Notebook

Best Case/Matter Management System
Bridgeway Software
Mitratech Holdings’ TeamConnect 4
Lexicata

Best Records Management Software
Hewlett-Packard Co., HP Records Manager (formerly TRIM)
IBM Records Manager
ZL Technologies

Best Risk Management Software
Compliance Science Inc.
IBM OpenPages Operational Risk Management

Best Time and Billing Software
Abacus Data Systems
Tabs3 Software
Tikit Carpe Diem

Best Collaboration Tool
Accellion kiteworks
Litera IDS
Mitratech’s Lawtrac Self-Service Portal
Opus2 Magnum

Best Document Automation/Management
Allegory
HotDocs Market
Leaflet Corp.
SmartRoom

Best E-Discovery Managed Service Provider
Clutch Group
FTI Consulting, FTI Technology
Iris Data Services’ Arc
UnitedLex

Best E-Discovery Processing
Exterro Inc.
iPro Tech
Nuix
UnitedLex
ZL Technologies

Best E-Discovery Review Platform
FTI Technology's Ringtail software
iConect Developement
kCura Corp.’s Relativity
Recommind Inc.'s Axcelerate 5

Best E-Discovery Legal Hold
Exterro Legal Hold
Legal Hold Pro

Best E-Discovery Hosting Provider
Iris Data Services
Logikcull
Nextpoint Inc.

Best E-Discovery OEM Technology Partner
Content Analyst
Nuix

Best Research Product
CaseMetrix
Docket Alarm Inc.
Handshake

Best Research Platform
Bloomberg Law
Fastcase
LexisNexis’ Lexis Advance
Thomson Reuters’ Westlaw Next

Best Practice Management Software
LexisNexis Legal & Professional’s Firm Manager
Thomson Reuters’ Firm Central

 

The winners will be recognized at a special event on July 14 in San Francisco (coinciding with Legaltech West). 

10 Legal Tech Influencers Weigh In On the State of the Legal Cloud

Over the past few months, my mind has been in the clouds ...literally. The Association of Legal Administrators asked me to author a "working in the cloud" feature for the May issue of Legal Management (LM), ALA's member-only publication. The idea; talk to law firms, CIOs, technologists, vendors and analysts and gauge the state of legal cloud computing. What are firms doing? which cloud technologies are hot? what's the overall attitude toward cloud alternatives? and what's next on the path to 'cloudy skies'? You can read the full article, "Getting Comfortable in the Cloud" here.

Obviously, this is a topic with many angles and 'it depends' and 'what if' scenarios, especially in the legal market. The LM article and accompanying sidebar only scratch the surface in documenting the relevance of cloud technologies in everyday law firm life.

Since I've had way too many great conversations to fit into one feature, I figured it would be practical to include additional expert quotes and commentary here. Consider it the companion guide to our Legal Management content.

State of the (cloud) union

So David Houlihan, Principal Analyst with Blue Hill Research, was one of my bar mates in New York recently when we joked about the cloud (still) being the hottest trend in annual legal technology surveys and benchmarking studies. Hot might describe the rate at which firms are increasingly open-minded when it comes to cloud applications and starting to deliver business value to their users via various ‘as-a-service’ models. Or, hot might describe the earnest belief that this ‘cloud thing’ is new. As David stated “the irony is that thanks to LexisNexis and Westlaw, legal has actually been doing cloud solutions for longer than we've had ‘the cloud,’ we just don't think of it that way.” The same goes for email … Microsoft launched Hotmail (now Outlook.com) in 1996 and 8 years later Google introduced Gmail. Right around the Great Recession in 2008, folks started giving this web-based/application service provider model a new label … cloud computing.

Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney, the author of Cloud Computing for Lawyers, and Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase.com: "After solo and small firms, I think that large firms will be the next to incorporate on a large scale cloud computing into their systems that store confidential client information. Right now most large firms are already using cloud computing for less sensitive data but will eventually use the cloud, most likely via private clouds, for other types of data as well. And midsize firms will be the last to move to the cloud in full force. The biggest barriers for many firms are security concerns. However, when lawyers educate themselves about the security of their data as it now exists in their firms when stored on premises versus the security offered by many cloud computing providers, they often realize that many legal cloud computing solutions offer more secure storage for sensitive data than what they're currently using."

Adds Houlihan: "Cloud/SaaS models create deployment and pricing models that put software capabilities within reach of the limited financial and IT resources of small firms. eDiscovery is increasingly a cloud market as well, especially as the market matures and basic capabilities are commoditizing."

Speaking of cloud-based eDiscovery ... Brett Burney, owner of Burney Consultants, 2015 ABA TECHSHOW Chair, prolific speaker and author on all things legal tech (especially eDiscovery/lit support): "Most of these SaaS-focused eDiscovery and litigation support players have been in the market for the last 7-10 years but just like any cloud-based service, they continue to be questioned about their overall security capabilities. Lawyers continue to find it incredibly difficult to overcome their irrational fear of using cloud-based services, even though every lawyer uses unencrypted e-mail every day to send the most sensitive and confidential information to clients."

"The biggest advantage of SaaS e-discovery tools is that they’re so easy to use. If you can upload a picture to Facebook, you can upload a .PST file to these services. Files are processed on the backend and presented to reviewers so they can filter, search, tag, and produce the files themselves. And these tools come with all the advantages of any other cloud-based platform in that updates and security patches get applied automatically without the firm having to worry about it," concludes Burney.

The cloud at work 

Microsoft Office 365 and Azure have given Houston-based Bracewell & Giuliani an easy, cost effective platform to build out a firm alumni and emergency site as well as a client extranet solution. Azure provides the ability to securely tie back into the firm’s network, saving internal users from providing multiple logins and passwords.

Sean Luman, Senior Director of Knowledge Management at Bracewell & Giuliani: “After discussing benefits, costs, and limitations of each, we opted for the Azure solution. Maintenance of these machines is much easier than on-premise or private data center boxes and speed is solely dependent upon internet connection performance. While the above issues could be problematic with on premise solutions, the Azure cloud deployment has made so many of the arduous and mundane tasks we loathed obsolete.”

Skip Lohmeyer, Jackson Kelly’s CIO: “The core competency of a law firm is not to purchase and maintain a bunch of software and hardware. But, purchasing and maintaining makes  perfect sense if there is a competitive or operational advantage.  However, if a service company has commoditized the same, functional service in the “cloud” (or SaaS, IaaS, etc.) and the cost is about equal, it stands to reason the firm should be looking at those as serious alternatives. Security, compliance, continuity, functionality, and performance all top the list when considering cloud services vs. in-house/firm owned and operated solutions. [See Lohmeyer’s "Should Your Firm Head to the Cloud" Legal Management sidebar for more]

Rick Varju, Foley & Lardner's Director of Engineering & Operations: “Firm leadership understands the value that hosted applications and services can offer, provided we maintain full ownership and control of our data and the hosted service provider meets and maintains industry standard data security requirements. We've been moving closer and closer to a ‘cloud first’ approach to new application and services planning and provisioning over the past couple years. Today, more and more of our new technology discussions start off with a focus on whether or not the cloud-based offering of the application can be pursued as an alternative to hosting it all internally.” [Look for more from Rick and what Foley's is doing in the Cloud in the upcoming October issue of Legal Management]

Jared Correia, Assistant Director and Senior Law Practice Advisor for the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, advises the state’s practitioners on law practice technology decisions and purchases including the cloud. "The gateway drug for most solos and small firms with respect to the cloud is case management. Those are the systems that people will buy first, then, they start adding. That's once they've figured out the benefits of an law practice management system."

“Most of the innovation in our community comes from lawyers situated in the entrepreneurial sectors of the big city (Boston). These are usually solo lawyers or very small firms, whose managing partners have a significant interest in technology for gaining efficiency … hence the interest in the cloud. Generally, solos and small firms discover cloud technology when an existing system fails: the server goes, or the case management system that hasn't been updated since 1998 gets too wonky; then the potential cost-savings, at least initially, become very appealing to them.”

Seizing up cloud training

Stacy Gittleman, CEO and Founder of Encoretech, a nationally recognized technology training, learning and development organization, looks at cloud computing from a firm user’s and overall training impact perspective. “Until recently, users have had a lifetime of experience navigating drop-down menus, tool bars and right-click functionality with relative minor change to the user interface and application workflow for each new version of software; that all changes with a move to the cloud,” notes Gittleman.

Editor comment: If we state the case for cloud computing, can't we make the same assertion for non-traditional, cloud-based training? Lawyers are increasingly mobile as are their clients so the services offered to support technology use and overall productivity have to match this ‘lifestyle’. However, Gittleman and other professional trainers will make the case that instructor-led hands-on classroom training is still warranted. Especially for new cloud rollouts, initial live support is crucial since most of the “learning” happens when users are back at their desks. 

Cloud futures: we have SaaS and many 'as-a-service' models ... what's next?

Doug Horton, CEO of Handshake Software: “The next big thing for computing in law firms will be a "service-as-a-service" model … rather than mid to large sized firms hiring full time application/technology-skilled staff, they will be able to "rent" them as needed for discrete projects, just as they can "rent" data space and computing power.  The advantage to the law firm is that they do not have to carry excess capacity and are able to "staff" up accordingly based on specific projects.”

Horton contends that the only full time employees in law firms might well be the lawyers, paralegals, KM or other staff who are directly involved in providing the legal services to the clients - the actual work product of the firm.  Various law firms are already outsourcing different back-office and operations functions so the service-as-a-service model may not be so farfetched.

Matt Duncan, CEO of NetDocuments: “The future of the cloud will rely on an increasing focus on system integration and customization to firms’ unique technology landscape. Apps and integration marketplaces and platforms, open APIs, and the technology and channel partners to support them, will be at the forefront of legal technology innovation.”

Duncan concludes: The biggest challenge firms are facing today revolves around the client demands for security and compliance. The Am Law and Global 100 firms are faced with an onslaught of audits coming from their big-name clients. This presents an incredible opportunity for specialized vendors to address these information governance and data privacy concerns, without putting the burden on the firm itself. Meeting these client demands is simply not possible or feasible with on-premises or hosted solutions as it becomes prohibitively expensive and cumbersome for a firm to tackle global data privacy, security, and data encryption demands."

This concludes our impromptu legal thought leader cloud 'sound-off'. Also, I hope you take a moment to check out the Legal Management cloud feature or peruse the entire May issue -- free for members, available on a subscription basis for non-members. Enjoy. 

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.