The Circuit: ReInventing Dan Katz & Thanksgiving

A review of upcoming legal technology conferences this November. Will we see you there?

The Circuit by Monica Bay - main imageBefore I dive into November highlights, just a quick reminder that it’s not too late to attend the Above The Law Academy for Private Practice (aka ATL APP), in Philadelphia. It  kicks off on Thursday, Oct. 27,  with a “Pre-Conference” at the University of Pennsylvania Law School (Gittis Hall) that includes a “Media Training and Storytelling” session, followed by the “alt.legal Innovation Awards Company Showcase.” Friday (Oct. 28) is a day-long conference that will be packed full of inspiration and education.  (Location: Hotel Monaco.) For details, check out last month’s column and “The Growth of Legal Tech Entrepreneurship,”  a special edition of the Law Technology Now podcast featuring Gurinder “Gary” Sangha and ATL Editor Joe Patrice.  Hope to see you there!

Nov. 4, Chicago: #Fin (Legal) Tech

Daniel Martin Katz has a knack of drawing a big audience, and the now that he has settled into his new job he’s already ramping up his latest agenda. On Friday, Nov. 4, Katz  will launch Fin (Legal) Tech – A Conference About Law’s Future.

Katz is now an Associate Professor of Law at Chicago-Kent College of Law-Illinois Institute of Technology and the director of the soon-to-be-launched Law Lab @ Illinois Tech). He also is an affiliated faculty member at CodeX.

If his name sounds familiar, it’s probably because of the “ReInvent Law” road show (with Renee Newman Knake) when he was at Michigan State University College of Law. It drew a lot of attention, to put it mildly. Among many accolades, ReInvent catapulted Katz into recognition by the American Bar Association (ABA Journal Legal Rebel) and as a member of the 2013 Fastcase 50 — an award that “recognizes 50 of the smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders in the law.”

In August, Katz hit a home run at ILTACON (the International Legal Technology Association annual conference) with his keynote discussing his current passion: Fin (Legal) Tech — The Financialization of the Law. The time has come to rethink the economics of law, he argued.  It’s time to create financially rigorous measures of the value of legal services — law firms must build a more perfect supply chain and move many decisions from “art” to the “science” column.

On Friday, Nov. 4, Katz is launching Fin (Legal) Tech, a day-long conference sponsored by the school and Nextlaw Labs. Explains Katz: “#FinTech embraces two major themes-characterizing/pricing increasingly exotic forms of risk and removing unnecessary frictions from previously friction laden financial centered processes. #Fin(Legal)Tech is the application of those ideas and technology to a wide range of law related spheres including litigation, transactional work and compliance.”

Sponsored

The agenda will address:
1) Quantitative Legal Prediction-From Costs to Outcomes (and Beyond).
2) Legal Underwriting/Characterizing (Pricing) Legal Risk/Legal Portfolio Management.
3) Markets for Legal Finance/Legal Insurance.
4) Computable Contracts, Blockchain. New Legal Information Infrastructure.
5) Toward the Frictionless Delivery of Law.

The conference will “bring together a wide-ranging and diverse group of industry leaders for a truly unique conference experience,” said Katz. Among the many speakers: Aaron Katzel (AIG); Connie Brenton (NetApp); D. Casey Flaherty (Procetas; Haight Brown & Bonesteel); Michael Bommarito II (LexPredict); Timothy Mohan (Chapman and Cutler); Peter Krupp, (retired, Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom); Selvyn Seidel (Fulbrook Capital Management); Kim Trautmann (DRW Venture Capital); Oliver Goodenough (Vermont Law School); Marie Elisabeth Bernard (Dentons, Nextlaw Labs); Tanina Rostain (Georgetown Law Center); Mark O’Brien (Pro Bono Net); and Edward “Eddie” Hartman (LegalZoom).

A closing reception will be held at Dentons’ Chicago Office.

The conference is free, but registration is required. Full details here.

Law Technology Now podcast with Katz.

Sponsored

Nov. 10-11: Georgetown Law — The Advanced E-Discovery Institute

I’m guessing that the usual suspects will be jumping for joy at the date of the 2016 conference — in the past, the annual event almost always took place on the Thursday and Friday right before Thanksgiving week. Because just about everyone in the legal community travels and takes Turkey week off, it was a nightmare to travel after the conference.  (And of course, the airlines and trains jack up the prices on that Friday: My train back to New York from D.C. often cost more than a routine flight to see my family in San Francisco!)

This is the 13th year of the conference, which is organized by the law school’s continuing legal education team. It will be held at the JW Marriott (1331 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., in Washington, D.C.). It’s a must-attend event for those in the e-discovery trenches.

This year’s program offers 26+ sessions with 40+ speakers and is led by Lawrence Center, Assistant Dean at the Law School. The keynote address will be delivered by former judge Paul Grewal, now Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Worldwide Litigation at Facebook.  “Interlocutor” Robert Eisenberg is Chair of the event.

One of the trademarks of the conference is the judicial panels, and this year is no exception. The Sedona Conference’s Deputy Executive Director Kenneth Withers will moderate “Case Law Update,” with Judges John Anderson, J. Michelle Childs, Kristin Mix, Andrew Peck, and Lee Rosenthal.  As is the tradition, the event will close with a Judicial Roundup, this year with Judges Paul Grimm; Gail Andler; Michael Baylson; Joy Flowers Conti, James Francis IV; Elizabeth Laporte; Derek Pullan, Craig Shaffer; and Elizabeth Stafford.

Among the other topics on the two day event address e-discovery and cybersecurity; possession, custody and control across federal circuits;  state responses to new rules; cost shifting; criminal liability; rapidly changing tech; and four sessions specifically for corporate, law firms, consultants, and government. Other topics include applying legal project management to e-discovery; cross border issues; data analytics; and more.

More details and registration here. 

May you have a wonderful November. I hope you will be able to spend time with people you love!


Monica BayMonica 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.

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