After 33 Years, The ABA TECHSHOW Remains Relevant And Essential

TECHSHOW remains one of the quintessential legal technology conferences in the United States.

In the dog years of technology, 33 years seems like a millennium. That is how much time has elapsed between the American Bar Association’s first TECHSHOW in 1986 and the one that convened for three days last week in Chicago.

If TECHSHOW was not the first legal technology conference, it was certainly one of the first, and for many years, it remained one of the only. It was born into a very different technology landscape, one in which fax machines were still ascending in use, WordPerfect was the number-one word processing software, and an IBM PC would set you back nearly $6,000.

And it was born, as well, into a very different legal industry, one in which technology was an anomaly — a sideshow largely ignored by most legal professionals. It seems safe to say that whoever attended TECHSHOW that first year must have done so out of either acute prescience or extreme curiosity.

For any conference, remaining relevant and fresh is a challenge. After 33 years, that challenge is great indeed. Whereas TECHSHOW was once virtually alone in its genre, today it competes for attendees and attention in an increasingly crowded field of conferences devoted to technology and innovation.

It also faces the challenge of attracting attendees from across a spectrum of knowledge levels, ranging from what might be called the innovation community of legal professionals who are savvy about technology and more interested in what’s coming than in what’s here, all the way to the tech newbies who are looking to learn the rudiments of using technology in their practices — and everyone in between.

Of course, no conference can be everything to everyone. And not everyone who attends will be happy with every aspect of a conference. But it struck me this year that TECHSHOW achieved the right balance — with programs and exhibitors relevant to both the innovators and the newbies and the various levels of know-how and interest in between those extremes. For that, credit goes to this year’s planning board and, in particular, its co-chairs John Simek, vice president of Sensei Enterprises, and Lincoln Mead, project manager for Canon Discovery Services.

I heard several people snicker over the fact that TECHSHOW offered programs this year on rudimentary topics such as changing default settings in Microsoft Office. But I will tell you this: I often speak to lawyers’ groups about the duty of technology competence, and the question I am asked most often is, “I know I need to get competent in technology, but how do I do that?” Part of my answer is always, “If you can make it, go to TECHSHOW.”

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It would be wrong to say that TECHSHOW still needs to offer training in basic legal technology skills. The correct way to say it would be that the legal profession still needs TECHSHOW (and other conferences) to offer that training. There remain few other options available for lawyers who want to learn basic, practical technology skills.

But TECHSHOW is also a conference with plenty of programs for the innovators and those interested in what’s next. As but one example, I am very proud to have helped organize for the third year TECHSHOW’s Startup Alley and affiliated opening-night startup pitch competition, which together highlight the next generation of legal technology companies and products. This is a showcase for innovation and has helped spawn a community of startups who view themselves not as competitors, but as collaborators in working to enhance the legal ecosystem to the benefit of legal professionals and those in need of legal help.

In addition, TECHSHOW has become a hub for ancillary events, not formally tied to the conference but aligned with its existence and audience. One such event, held the day before TECHSHOW, was the day-long Women of Legal Tech Summit, held at Chicago-Kent College of Law. In addition to a series of ignite-style presentations on increasing opportunities for women in legal tech, the summit included a luncheon recognizing the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center’s 2019 Women of Legal Tech.

Another such event was the LegalTech & Innovation Talks meetup presented by Dan Linna, visiting professor at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law, and Dan Katz, professor at Chicago Kent College of Law, featuring a series of brief talks on innovation and technology given by lawyers, technologists, and law students (including one from me).

By way of full disclosure, I should note that I am on an ABA task force that is considering the future of TECHSHOW and ways to ensure that it remains relevant and successful well into the future. And I have, over the years, sometimes been critical of TECHSHOW for not maintaining an edge and for having too many of the same programs delivered by the same round-up of usual suspects.

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But I thought this year’s conference had a vibrancy and energy to it that was a reminder to everyone who attended that TECHSHOW remains one of the quintessential legal technology conferences in the United States. Whether you are a lawyer or a technologist, a vendor or a buyer, a newbie or an old hand, there was something at this conference for you.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — the number one reason to attend any conference is networking. Within the world of legal technology, there may be no better conference for that. Had you been at TECHSHOW last week, you would have encountered everyone from first-year law students to veteran bar leaders, from new solos to accomplished judges, from fledging tech developers to successful CEOs.

Ultimately, people go to TECHSHOW to learn from each other and to share with each other. That spirit of camaraderie and collaboration has kept TECHSHOW vital for 33 years, and that spirit will likely keep it essential for many years to come.


Robert Ambrogi Bob AmbrogiRobert Ambrogi is a Massachusetts lawyer and journalist who has been covering legal technology and the web for more than 20 years, primarily through his blog LawSites.com. Former editor-in-chief of several legal newspapers, he is a fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and an inaugural Fastcase 50 honoree. He can be reached by email at ambrogi@gmail.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@BobAmbrogi).

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