For lawyers who are so inclined, there is no shortage of legal conferences to spend their money on, get their CLE, and network with their peers. Local and state bar associations. Affinity bars. Trade shows. You know the drill. Sit through mind numbing death by PowerPoint CLE presentations, swing by the exhibit hall to collect the swag, cap it off with a cocktail or two at the networking reception, and call it a day.
But for those lawyers who are invested in the future of legal, the conference circuit can feel like an exercise in futility. Do you need practice management software? Is the cloud safe? Make sure you understand the ethical rules before you use that app! Please…
Enter the Clio Cloud Conference. From the moment the absolutely fabulous Jesse Harink took to the stage at Clio Cloud 18, it was clear that this was not going to be just another snoozefest.
Since most, if not all of the attendees are Clio customers, it wasn’t a shock that the Luddite lawyers were few and far between, if not absent altogether. But this crowd was hungry to learn about growing their business, embracing technology, and outsourcing resources to offload tedious work, leveraging other applications to maximize profit and efficiency, workflow, blockchain & AI, the list goes on. The innovative spirit was palpable. So was the camaraderie.
Clio Cloud offered something for everyone. Part pep rally, part boot camp, part spiritual retreat during the daytime. And at night, attendees could laissez le bon temps rouler in New Orleans’ French Quarter.
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Among the highlights from the two day conference were:
- Clio’s CEO Jack Newton kicked off the conference by citing some findings from the 2018 Legal Trends Report on consumer satisfaction with the legal industry. He revealed the sad statistic that when calculated for the US legal profession as a whole, law firms had a dismal Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 25, about the same as airlines, banks, and wireless carriers. Newton emphasized Clio’s commitment to improving this lawyer-client disconnect by announcing the acquisition of Lexicata, client relationship management platform and the launch of its new product Clio Grow and the Clio Referral Network, a new lawyer-to-lawyer resource for Clio users.
- Announcements of the winners of the Reisman Awards, Clio’s annual recognition of law firms singled out for excellence in innovation, community work, growth, and best new law firm.
- Tali taking home the $100,000 prize for winning the Launch//Code Contest
- Killer Keynote speakers that challenged the audience to question prevailing attitudes about stress, career satisfaction, and US race relations from:
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- Health psychologist, Stanford lecturer Dr. Kelly McGonigal, who made the case that stress can be harnessed for good with a new mindset.
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- Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, co-authors of the #1 New York Times Best Seller, Designing Your Life offering invaluable advice like “[l]ife is an improv skit. We are all making it up as you go along. The only thing you can do to succeed is practice getting better at making it up.”
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- A poignant, powerful closing from MacArthur fellow, Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative that brought the crowd to tears and to their feet.
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After years of hearing about Clio Cloud, this is one conference that actually lives up to the hype.
Next year Clio Cloud is moving to San Diego. Book your early bird tickets here.
Deb Tesser is Director of Special Projects at Above the Law, and the point person for Evolve the Law, ATL’s Legal Innovation Center. Follow Deb on Twitter (@Deb_Tesser).
