At ABA TECHSHOW in Chicago very last week, it struck me that it is conceivable that an attendee could be the third era in just a household to have been to a TECHSHOW. After all, the meeting was first held almost 4 decades ago, way back in in 1987. That means that, in a multi-generational family members of attorneys, an attendee this 12 months could nicely have experienced a mother or father and grandparent show up at in some prior yr. That is pure speculation, of class, but the point is that TECHSHOW has been all around so lengthy that the original attendees are now almost certainly someone’s grandparents.
For TECHSHOW, that endurance is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that its longstanding name as a preeminent and trailblazing legal tech show permits it to entice A-record speakers and a loyal contingent of attendees. The curse is that the demonstrate has, in some many years, confirmed indicators of its age, and for a period of time, it seemed to have been trapped in a legacy rut. As a greater variety and range of lawful tech conferences have sprung up in recent decades, the challenge for the 36-calendar year-previous TECHSHOW is to continue on to supply the variety of practical programming legal professionals have arrive to hope, when also being as sprightly and cutting-edge as the more recent generation of conferences.
It is a complicated obstacle without a doubt. In truth, a number of a long time back, the ABA convened a rather-stealth committee, different from the TECHSHOW organizing board, to brainstorm the lengthier-phrase vision for TECHSHOW and arrive up with techniques to give it a up to date refresh. Owning been roped into volunteered for that committee, I can notify you that we in no way came up with any magic formulas.
In opposition to this backdrop, I am pleased to report that TECHSHOW 2023 was not your grandparents’ TECHSHOW — not even your parents’ TECHSHOW. The atmosphere was really energized, the audience was hugely enthusiastic, and the total concentration skillfully maintained that balance between sensible and chopping edge. The packages had been informative and compelling and the figures of the two attendees and exhibitors exceeded the pre-Pandemic numbers of TECHSHOW 2020.
6 of the panelists from the weekly Legaltech 7 days podcast bought to cling out: Steve Embry, Victor Li, Stephanie Wilkins, Niki Black, Joe Patrice, and me.
Credit history for all of this goes to the TECHSHOW planning board. If you are not mindful of what occurs powering the curtains of TECHSHOW, it is all planned and place alongside one another by a volunteer board of lawful professionals who sink significant time and work into the organizing course of action. This year’s board was co-chaired by Jeannine Lambert government director of facilities and programming at Northern Kentucky University Chase Higher education of Law and Gyi Tsakalakis, founder of AttorneySync with aid from co-vice-chairs Sofia Stefanie Lingos, founding and handling legal professional of Trident Authorized and Cynthia Thomas, proprietor of regulation firm management consulting firm PLMC & Associates.
Other members of the board were Heidi Barcus, shareholder at Lewis Thomason Kenton Brice, director of engineering innovation at the University of Oklahoma Faculty of Law Nkoyo-Ene Effiong, director of the Legislation Follow Administration Plan for the Point out Bar of Ga Carolyn Elefant, operator of Regulation Places of work of Carolyn Elefant and publisher of MyShingle.com Ivan Hemmans, senior supervisor of complex advancement at O’Melveny & Myers LLP Darla Jackson, director of the Mabee Lawful Facts Centre at the University of Tulsa College of Law and Jayne R. Reardon, former government director of the Illinois Supreme Court docket Commission on Professionalism.
One stroke of meeting-setting up genius this 12 months was to abandon the conventional keynote displays in favor of keynote sessions that tackled up to date topics in dynamic means.
Let’s experience it: Keynote speakers extra generally tumble flat than inspire. (I say that as a person who has been a keynoter.) Conference organizers toss as well a lot funds at major names who know almost nothing about the viewers, in the hope that they’ll help draw attendance. Keynote sessions are usually a waste of the conference’s cash and the attendees’ time.
The legaltech visionaries panel was moderated by Jack Newton of Clio and showcased Kimberly Bennett of Fidu, Jazz Hampton of TurnSignl and Erin Levine of Hi there Divorce.
This 12 months, TECHSHOW scratched keynotes and changed them with two interactive classes. On the 1st working day was a panel of “legaltech visionaries” – aka authorized tech organization founders Erin Levine of Hi Divorce, Kimberly Bennett of Fidu, and Jazz Hampton of TurnSignl – in a dialogue moderated by Jack Newton, founder and CEO of Clio. Notably, although this panel could conveniently have tackled alone to budding business people, it in its place stayed concentrate on TECHSHOW’s genuine viewers, authorized practitioners, aiding them realize why these companies issue to them and their shoppers.
The 2nd day keynote session was a mock public listening to on proposals to amend Specialist Perform Guidelines 5.4 and 5.5. Moderated by the aforementioned Jayne Reardon, the plan was to phase a fictional committee conference to discussion variations similar to all those adopted in Utah and Arizona. Even though I did not go to this session, I heard almost nothing but rave testimonials. Even devoid of acquiring attended, I have no question that, for individuals who did, it was far far more engaging than nevertheless a different clueless huge name speaker.
Over and above these keynote sessions, the panels spanned a equilibrium of practical, contemporary, and upcoming-looking subjects, with subjects that ranged from the simple (these as what is new in Term) to the present (AI and facts analytics) to the subsequent (the hybrid regulation company of the long term).
Fidu founder Kim Bennett presenting at the Startup Alley pitch level of competition.
The moment all over again this calendar year, I hosted the opening night time function, the Startup Alley pitch competitiveness. I’ve already posted about one thing that transpired all through that party, and I’ll put up separately about the results.
The only program that felt like a throwback to TECHSHOWs prolonged past was the “60 in 60” plenary plan. TECHSHOW has a longstanding custom of wrapping up with a quick-fireplace session that has advanced from 60 web sites to 60 strategies to 60 gadgets and gizmos. This year’s system was meant to be a mash-up of all of all those. But to me, it felt like an oldies demonstrate on an obscure cable channel. How lots of of these sites and tips and gizmos have we viewed before, and how lots of many years ago did we initially see them? (Textual content Expander, I’m looking at you.)
My only other grievance – which is seriously a compliment – is that it all seemed way too quick. The exhibit hall opened Wednesday night time with a reception and closed 2 p.m. Friday (an hour previously than planned, thanks to threats of snow). That remaining very little time to both show up at periods and look through booths. Even though TECHSHOW historically spilled above into Saturday, this calendar year it ended Friday evening, save for a Saturday morning breakfast. That experienced numerous individuals previously heading out just two days just after they’d arrived.
But these are insignificant nits. My impression – and the consensus of all people I questioned – was that this was just one of the best TECHSHOWs ever, at the moment practical and crucial and applicable.
It unquestionably was not your grandparents’ TECHSHOW.
