When is a new convention not just a new conference? When it is the inaugural Information Management & Innovation for Legal Convention (or KM&I for shorter).
Enable me explain.
Organizers Patrick DiDomenico and Joshua Fireman kick matters off.
For many years, the ARK Group’s annual KM meeting in New York City was considered the go-to conference for authorized KM professionals, and for at least 8 decades it experienced been cochaired by Patrick DiDomenico, president and founder of InspireKM Consulting and previous head of innovation and know-how administration at various regulation corporations, and Joshua Fireman, president and founder of the strategic consulting company Fireman & Enterprise, an Epiq business.
But when ARK decided last 12 months to go the conference to Chicago, numerous regulars ended up unhappy about that (one particular person explained the reaction as an “uproar”) — especially since a lot of of them had been situated in New York.
This calendar year, DiDomenico and Fireman decided to take matters into their very own arms and arrange a KM meeting of their possess, again in the conference’s property turf of Manhattan. It was a bit of a gamble, to say the minimum, as they ended up putting them selves individually on the line for the conference’s funds and achievements.
Nicely, their gamble compensated off — bigtime. The inaugural KM&I convention was a success by any evaluate. They offered out the exhibit spaces. They bought out the attendance. And they set on a conference that was substantive, participating, and assumed-provoking.
The Systems
The conference organizers promised a conference that would focus on “value, innovation, and know-how administration for authorized industry experts.” They did this by nine plenary periods spanning a variety of KM and innovation topics, five breakout classes targeted on specific topics, and two keynotes, one particular by Andrea Alliston, associate and leader of know-how and follow innovation packages at Fasken, Canada’s most significant legislation agency, and another by Mark Smolik, chief lawful officer at DHL.
Ilona Logvinova and Rachel Dooley share ideas for driving innovation, both equally inside of a lawful department and at a law agency.
What impressed me about the systems was how useful they all were, with performing KM and innovation industry experts sharing insights and encounters that other individuals could just take dwelling and put to functional use in their personal careers. Look at these panels:
- A dialogue of how the legislation organization Stradley Ronon crafted a company-huge KM method from the floor up, with Marissa Parker, chief working officer, and Sarah Andrews, director of know-how administration.
- A candid back again-and-forth on driving innovation within just a regulation organization and a authorized department that includes Rachel Dooley, chief innovation officer at Goodwin Procter, and Ilona Logvinova, head of innovation for McKinsey Legal.
- Insights on how to get purchase-in for procedure automation and authorized tech adoption from Alma Asay, chief innovation and worth officer at Crowell & Moring, and Oz Benamram, main knowledge and innovation officer at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, in a conversation moderated by Anna McGrane, CEO and cofounder of PacerPro.
- A fascinating search into how the regulation organization Gunderson Dettmer is developing a culture of innovation to generate what it thinks is the legal exercise of the future, with Gunderson’s Natalie Pierce, chair of the firm’s labor and work team Joe Green, main innovation officer Stephanie Goutos, follow innovation attorney and Avi Saiger, practice innovation lawyer.
- Suggestions for how corporations can use KM and innovation for business enterprise and shopper progress from Evan Shenkman, chief understanding and innovation officer at Fisher Phillips, and the aforementioned Mark Smolik, moderated by Anand Upadhye, founder and CEO of AlphaLit.
- A well timed appear at actual illustrations of how regulation companies are utilizing generative AI, with discussions of real pilots and jobs introduced by Meredith Williams-Selection, chief lawful operations officer at Gibson Dunn Hunter Jackson, main expertise officer at McDermott Will & Emery and Gunderson’s Joe Inexperienced. Moderating the panel was Julie Chapman, head of authorized, North America, for LexisNexis.
- How corporations can improve their relationships with KM and innovation suppliers, that includes information from convention organizer Fireman Glenn LaForce, main information and innovation officer at Holland & Knight and Kate Cain, senior director of understanding and innovation delivery at Fenwick & West all moderated by Kate Meltzer, director of knowledge management technology at Ropes & Gray.
- A look at how the American institution of baseball presents insights for law corporations all around KM and innovation, offered by Scott Rechtschaffen, main expertise officer, Littler Mendelson.
- Effective succession scheduling in KM and innovation management, introduced by Jeff Rovner, retired controlling director for details at O’Melveny & Myers Ali Shahidi, handling director for KM and innovation at O’Melveny & Myers and Amanda K. Brady, handling director and main running officer of The Alexander Group.
Rounding out the keynotes and plenary periods have been breakout discussion teams on topics including KM and innovation fundamentals, a C-suite roundtable, and a person expertise discussion led by Nicole Bradick, founder and CEO of Concept & Principle.
Real stories of how law corporations are utilizing Ai, with Julie Chapman, Hunter Jackson, Meredith Williams-Array, and Joe Inexperienced.
The Venue
Meeting sponsor Centari drew fascination not only for its item, but also for Oprah’s preferred cookies.
The convention was held in a space called 360 Madison Avenue. It was an best house for a smallish meeting these types of as this.
The primary conference place was roomy and highlighted a wall of screens so that anyone could see the shows, no matter exactly where they sat. Seating was at 50 %-moon tables so you could prop up your notebook or notebook.
Attendees entered instantly into another roomy lobby region, which is wherever the exhibitors ended up established up and where breakfast and lunch was served. The area had astonishing great foods for a convention location.
Off the main lobby were being several private rooms for offline meetings and breakout groups.
The Attendees
Ben Ambrogi and I had been on hand to record podcasts and boost the LawNext Lawful Know-how Listing.
About 150 people attended the convention. They ended up practically all individuals doing the job in KM and innovation at more substantial law companies or company legal departments. Lots of of them have been the heads of KM or innovation at their organizations.
A Somber Be aware
The meeting commenced on a somber observe, as Fireman recalled the current reduction of Michael Mills and led a moment of silence in his honor. Mills labored in KM right before founding Neota Logic and experienced been a mate and mentor to quite a few in the area.
The Bottom Line
For me, the takeaway from this conference can be summed up in 3 words and phrases said by 1 speaker: “Knowledge is electrical power.”
The internet, of class, is a lot more than delighted to discussion the origin of that phrase. Francis Bacon reported it in 1597, but some say it goes again to a much-previously proverb in Sanskrit.
But when keynote speaker Mark Smolik spoke that phrase in the course of his speak, it appeared to me to sum up the significance of this conference.
For a regulation company, its collective knowledge is, without a doubt, its electrical power. For the men and women at this meeting, it is their occupation to acquire and protect that know-how and make it simply available.
It is also their position to imagine and employ new approaches of using awareness and new instruments for tapping into it.
When I 1st talked to DiDomenico about his programs to organize this meeting, he claimed that a person of his aims was to give men and women the capability to stroll absent from it with a listing of matters they could do better.
Without having problem, he accomplished that intention.