As August winds down, it’s time to check in on the wild world of legal technology at the International Legal Technology Association’s annual convention. This year, the show is in National Harbor, so no joyrides in Ferraris this time, but there’s still a lot to see and experiment with at this massive gathering of law firm and legal team technologists. It’s one of the conferences that lawyers really should try to attend so they can understand the tools that will shape their practice in coming years.
Plus, Workstorm gave out free John Dalys last night. It’s an essential collaboration tool — and the software is cool too.
The event started off a little rocky with some miscalculations over the issuing of press passes. While Above the Law got its credentials with no problem, a number of prominent legal tech journalists didn’t, leaving exhibitors hoping to make a splash beyond the walls of the conference a little disappointed. The show seems to have figured out where it went wrong and should be back on track for next year. Still, a less than great start, but it does mean that if you want coverage of the event, Above the Law is the place to be because we’re one of the very few outlets here. So we’ve got that going for us.
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The opening reception took place last night and exhibitors were encouraged to dress up as video game characters. It’s a better theme than the unfortunate 2016 effort and it allowed us to see the largest collection of people dressed up like Mario and Luigi in North America.
Still some folks thought outside the Mario sibling box and deserve kudos for their originality.
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What do we expect to see at the show this week? A lot of talk about cloud-based applications (including a session I’m moderating on Wednesday at 3:30 in Maryland A), practical AI, more declarations about the power of blockchain to do whatever it is it can do for law, and some sobering talk about cybersecurity. A 15-year-old is going to demonstrate how easily clients can get hacked, which should be terrifying.
If you’re at ILTACON, come on up and say hi. I’m hard to miss… I’m basically the only person here with a press badge.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.