Legaltech 2022 - A recap including quotes from industry subject matter expert participants

 

Thankful to have been able to attend the recently completed Legaltech conference in person, which took place from Tuesday, March 8th through Friday, March 11th, in New York City.  Delayed from the originally scheduled February date, LegalWeek began on Monday, March 7th, coinciding as per usual with Legaltech. With this being the 41st year of Legaltech, the conference this year was unique since the event last year took place as a virtual event because of the existing Covid-19 restrictions.

Held at the Hilton Midtown, on 6th Avenue in Manhattan, as it has been for the past several years, I was looking forward to the Legaltech conference this year with both anticipation and anxiety. Personal work related interactions were limited to video meetings via the internet for essentially two years leading into Legaltech.Being a “people” person, the forced limited personal interactions for the past 2 years have been challenging. Interacting with so many people whom I certainly would not have gone so long seeing under usual circumstances was both refreshing and invigorating.

Legaltech is a large conference, billed as the industry’s largest annual event. With hundreds of exhibitors, as well as over 200 subject-matter expert panelists speaking during LegalWeek.  The wide-ranging agenda reaches several topics related to the efficient use of technology. Identifying technology which can provide a return on investment through increased efficiency, and reduced risk, are benefits that many of the conference attendees are seeking to gain by actively taking part in LegalWeek.

While there is always an informative slate of educational sessions offered during the Legaltech event, this year I was unable to attend any due to conflicting meetings throughout the day, as it always proves to be a hectic week.  The educational sessions were categorized into specific topics of interest, which included: Information Governance; Practice Management; Discovery Innovation; Investigations; Cybersecurity; Contract Lifecycle Management; Professional Services Convergence Acceleration; and Legal Talks. The list of speakers whom take part as thought leaders and panelists in the event can serve as a “Who's Who” for the legal technology industry.

Because I am local to the New York area, I particularly enjoy being able to interact with so many industry friends and colleagues whom all find themselves in New York City at the same time. I had several discussions on the exhibit floor with various technology providers, as well as technology services organizations whom focus on providing various SaaS options. Between the conference’s exhibit hall, the demo suites at the Hilton, and other nearby demo rooms, there are literally hundreds of software based solutions seeking to share information about their features and functionality.

Beyond the educational content, the networking amongst colleagues during LegalWeek is always eventful.  There are competing events to attend each night during Legaltech and it is a challenge to plan which functions to attend throughout the week.  For the past several Legaltech conferences many attendees meet at “Faces and Names” for networking in the evening, it is conveniently located less than 1 block from the Hilton which hosts Legaltech.  Unfortunately, as result of disruption from the pandemic there are many businesses that no longer operate in Manhattan, I was glad to find that Faces and Names continues to serve as a meeting point.

During the course of the conference I spoke with several industry subject-matter experts and asked them for their opinion about what they felt was interesting about this year’s Legaltech/LegalWeek.

Several of the experts I spoke with were kind enough to provide quotes to share regarding their take on Legaltech 2022.

Here are some of the interesting insights that were shared with me by conference participants:

 

“It was incredibly refreshing to connect with peers and colleagues again in person after a two-year hiatus, especially in the context of LegalWeek’s robust 2022 programming. A number of themes stood out to me from this year’s conference. The biggest was the real demonstrable push for use of AI as every provider I met with had some component of AI; the beyond vertical movement of eDiscovery into areas like knowledge management, and business and legal operations; and the challenges we’re seeing as a result of the rapid proliferation of emerging technologies across the EDRM. It was obviously very rewarding for the firm be recognized as the 2022 Most Innovative Operations Team of the Year, and to receive the Tech-Enabled Litigation Department of the Year award.”

Scott A. Milner, Esq.

Partner and Co-Leader

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP (eData PG)

Legalweek 2022 had an energy unlike any of the over a dozen (not to date myself) I have attended. There was an electric combination of joy at seeing our legal tech family again, excitement at the volume of true innovation being discussed on panels, and intrigue with the new players and AI-powered tech on showcase at the show.  Not to mention it was pretty darn cool to see Reveal almost anywhere you looked!

Cat Casey

Chief Growth Officer

Reveal-Brainspace

“It was great to have actual face to face communications.  I found the sessions to be very relevant in today’s business world with sessions like “The secure Home Office” and it was great to be able to have face to face communication with colleagues.  The main focus of my job is helping the legal space develop a strong DEI program so it was nice to see diversity sessions included in the agenda as well as having the opportunity to speak with law professionals about the benefits of having a diverse culture”.

John Perella

Chief Diversity

 OfficerJURISolutions LEGAL (JSL)

LegalWeek 22 was a unique week in it’s combination of nostalgia and futurism.  The spontaneous networking of the Hilton lobby was in full-effect and it was nice to once again see people passing through like stray electrons before being drawn in (or sometimes repelled by) chatting nuclei to create and re-establish bonds.  It almost felt like January of 2020 again and even Wednesday gave us a dose of March sleet to remind us what the LegalWeek weather should be regardless of the month.  As always the topics had us both landing on some new standards of scope and expectations of what technology can deliver and asking the new questions that will need to be answered in time for next year.

John L. Kapp

Manager – Practice Support & eDiscovery

Shearman & Sterling LLP

LegalWeek 2022 will be one of those “Do You Remember When….???” events for those of us who were fortunate to make it into Manhattan in that 2nd week of March.  It was the culmination of so many expectations of the past two years as we waited on the sidelines to emerge from our homes to return to our world of legal technology.  There was such a high sense of energy abounding throughout the conference center as colleagues joyously greeted one another.  It was apparent that the “human interaction” component had been sorely missing from all of our lives.  And while there were fewer people attending than in years past – the quality of the folks who were there was certainly in the upper echelon.

The educational components continued to evolve to ensure that they are more broadly inclusive of the entire Information Governance wheel with a little something for everyone ranging from Security, Compliance & Privacy to Adoption & Change Management as well as AI, Contract Management, eDiscovery Tech Tools, and Legal Ops.  The topics of HR, Labor & Employment, the evolving Workforce Issues and Diversity & Inclusion were also on the agenda.  The sessions that I was fortunate to attend were excellent – however – many folks expressed that they were so overscheduled with meetings and “reunions” that they found it difficult to attend as many sessions as they would have liked.

There were the standard business partners/vendors who you would typically expect to be on the exhibit floor – but there were lots of newcomers this year as well.  That was certainly heartwarming to see that kind of expansion despite the Covid lockdown.

The “soirees” and events were plentiful and amazing as usual.  There certainly was no lack of events to attend if you wanted to do so.

Some folks opted for more subtle/low key dinner meetings while others enjoyed the very large gatherings like the spectacular events held at the fabulous Rainbow Room.  My favorite thing from LegalWeek was having the opportunity to connect in person with the friends and colleagues whom I had met through Ari Kaplan’s Virtual Lunch Zoom Meetings which he has held daily since March 16, 2020, when Covid first isolated us.  How delightful to finally share moments in person with these friends from all over the world!

And in true LegalWeek fashion – the weather made sure that despite moving to March – Mother Nature still needed to chime in with some Snow & Sleet to ensure that we were reminded of the LegalWeeks of ages past!  Some things remain constant – no matter how hard you try to change them.  LOL.

Ann Gorr

Legal Technology Consultant

Ann Gorr, LLC