The Circuit: Chicago! Philly! D.C.!
Whether it be in D.C., Philly or Chicago, you have three grand slams for good education on legal technology!
As the 2016 baseball season wraps up, all eyes are likely to turn to Chicago. I was born in the Windy City, so yes, Chicago is definitely in my veins: I’ll be rooting for the Cubs! (Yeah, yeah — I still haven’t given up on the great “Baby” Yankees but it’s a very, very, very long shot, especially after the fiasco at Fenway. But at least we are done with A-Rod!)
Before I dive into three October education options, I want to give a shout out to Robert Ambrogi‘s terrific Above The Law column on August 29: “This Week in Legal Tech: The Best Legal Tech Conferences for Small-Firm Lawyers.” It’s a great read and I agree with everything he said! (Disclaimer: Bob and I co-host the Law Technology Now podcast for the Legal Talk Network.)
PHILADELPHIA: ATL APP
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
Ambrogi and I will both be participating in the upcoming Above The Law Academy for Private Practice, which has two components. It opens with a “Pre-Conference” on Thursday, Oct. 27, at the University of Pennsylvania’s Law School (3501 Sansom St.) and then ATL APP runs all day on Friday, Oct. 28, at the Hotel Monaco Philadelphia (433 Chestnut St.) The Pre-Conference will focus on evolving legal technology, while the Friday event will discuss how lawyers are already running their practice with technology.
Thursday kicks off at 4:30 p.m. with “Media Training and Storytelling,” moderated by Jules Miller, co-founder at Evolve Law. Panelists include Elie Mystal, Editor-at-Large, Breaking Media; Pavla Kopecna, Founder, Pavla Kopecna Ltd.; Laurence Colletti, Producer, Legal Talk Network; and moi.
Above The Law’s inaugural alt.Legal Innovation Showcase will be held at 5:30 p.m. It was organized by Gurinder “Gary” Sangha, a lecturer in Law at Penn Law and a Stanford CodeX Fellow. “Companies will pitch and preview their technologies to influencers, media and lawyers,” explains Above The Law. The evening concludes with an invitation-only round table and reception.
On Friday, Oct. 28, the ATL APP opens at 8 a.m. at the Monaco Hotel for registration and breakfast; the Exhibit Hall opens at 8:15 a.m.
Sponsored
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
How Generative AI Will Improve Legal Service Delivery
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
Friday’s agenda is rich with concrete ideas and lots of inspiration (both at the panels and the Exhibit Hall). Sangha (who also is founder and CEO of Lit IQ) will present the keynote (do not miss that!) followed by the first general session: “A Level Playing Field? How Boutiques Compete” featuring Andrew Dick, Carolyn Elefant, and Gaston Kroub.
“Product Sportlight: Creating Error-Free Contracts (Even If You Don’t Have an Army of Junior Associates to Review Them)” will be presented at 11 a.m. — at the same time as two workshops: “Yes, You are Competing with LegalZoom” (Chad Burton, CEO, CuroLegal and Dan Lear, Director of Industry Relations at Avvo) and “Must-have Legal Tech,” (Larry Port, CEO, Rocket Matter.)
Three more workshops will be presented after lunch. The conference wraps up with a second general session: “Don’t Believe the Hype: Cypbersecurity and the Cloud.” (Nicole Black, Legal Technology Evangelist, MyCase; Denver Edwards, partner Bressler, Amery & Ross; and Jeff Bennion, Attorney, Blogger, Trial Consultant.)
“Although not exclusively about legal technology, tech is certainly on the agenda for this event, which addresses the challenges of starting and optimizing a small firm practice,” wrote Ambrogi in the aforementioned article. (Ambrogi will be facilitating Workshop 5 “Choosing a Practice Management Platform,” at 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.)
More: Agenda. Sponsors. Speakers. Advisory Board. Venue. Contact ATL.
Click here to register — use “ATLAPP50” for a $50 discount!
Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
CHICAGO: RELATIVITY FEST
Talk about a buzz — at ILTACON last month, almost everybody I talked to said they are heading to Chicago for Relativity Fest, Oct. 9-11 in Chicago at the Hilton Chicago. And with all the recent acquisitions, it’s fair to say that e-discovery is maturing and the “winners” are settling into a new norm. (Probably the most important change to e-discovery is that the Baby Boomers — who were educated to avoid all technology — are departing.)
Relativity Fest has become a massive event: The 2016 iteration offers “130+ sessions” and invites attendees to “Build Your Agenda.” It offers four different “skill levels” and tracks include everything from “Law in Practice,” to admin and workflow, platforms, fundamentals, “Information Governance, Risk, Compliance and Security,” exams, general sessions, networking, and a “Boot Camp.” You can also pick choices based on your job role.
Among the 184 speakers include many kCura employees and a lot of outsiders, including U.S.D.C. (New York) Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck; Western District of Texas Judge Xavier Rodriguez; Western District of Pennsylvania Judge Nora Barry Fischer; and David Waxse, U.S. Magistrate Judge, District of Kansas. (The all will be on the “Judicial Panel,” moderated by kCura’s David Horrigan.)
Among the mix of other non-kCura speakers are Peg Gianuca (Blank Rome); Barclay Blair (Information Governance Initiative); Sean Doherty (451 Research); Tracey Vinson (Bayer); Patrick Oot (Electronic Discovery Institute); Patrick Burke (Seyfarth Shaw); Elizabeth Jaworski (Motorola); George Socha (BDO Consulting); Michael Quartararo (Stroock & Stroock & Lavan); and yours truly.
D.C. MASTERS CONFERENCE
The Masters Conference for Legal Professionals marks its 10th anniversary with a two-day conference Oct. 18 & 19 in Washington, D.C. The broad agenda addresses nuances of career paths in the legal community. Among the topics are career paths; e-discovery; information governance; cross-border data transfers; “risks and opportunities”; the “Internet of Things”; case management/intelligence; the ramifications of the new Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; automation’s impact on e-discovery; privacy; and “The Bench.”
Among the more than 360 speakers are Jason Priebe (Seyfarth Show); Alex Ponce de Leon (Google); Alexandra Chopin (Patton Boggs); Allison Stanton (U.S. Dept of Justice-Civil Division); Ashish Prasad (Etera Consulting); Babs Deacon (Venio Systems); Deborah Baron (Align Matters); Gail Gottehrer (Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider); David Cowen (The Cowen Group); Deena Coffman (BDO); Jason R. Baron (Drinker Biddle); Judge John Facciola (retired); Michael Potters (Glenmont Group); Nia Castelly (Google); Ralph Losey (Jackson Lewis); to name just a few (yes, moi aussi.)
So whether it be in D.C., Philly or Chicago, you have three grand slams for good education!
(Go Cubs!)
Monica Bay is a Fellow at CodeX: The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics and a columnist for Above The Law. She also writes for Bloomberg BNA’s Big Law Business and is an analyst and consultant. A member of the California Bar, she frequently can be found at Yankee Stadium. Email: monicabay1@gmail.com. Twitter: @MonicaBay.
