eDiscovery Daily Blog

Observations about Legaltech 2020 from Attendees, Part Two: eDiscovery Trends

As I’ve done the past four years, I reached out to several Legaltech attendees (some of whom I met with during the show) to get their thoughts and impressions of this year’s show.  We had so many people respond that I decided to split their feedback into two posts.  Yesterday was the first half, here are the remaining observations.  And, no, I didn’t split this into two posts just so I could save myself another day of writing, my observations are at the bottom of this post.  ;o)

As always, these should be taken as their personal opinions and observations regarding the show, not those of their employer or clients.  Here are additional observations from attendees of the show:

“This year ALM re-did the layout of exhibit halls and the exhibitors stepped up their game with bigger booths that also had more open space to engage with attendees. Though much smaller than in previous years, the new flow encouraged traffic to booths and seemed to ignite much needed energy in the conference that had been lacking the past few years. Ted-style talks seemed to be a big theme allowing for quick presentations mixed in with the usual panel style presentations not just in meeting rooms but throughout the venue. And lastly, diversity and data privacy were the two topics that continuously came up in conversations. My last takeaway–provide honest feedback about your experience. The more we do that either through articles such as this or the post-conference survey, the more it will help to improve Legalweek and what happens there (or any conference for that matter).”

— Maribel Rivera, Marketing and Events Specialist

I was actually prepared to be disappointed after last years rather dreary show but instead found myself pleasantly reinvigorated seeing old friends and colleagues such as Monica Bay, Neil Aresty, Patrick Oot, George Socha and Robert Singleton.  It reminded me that my pre show attitude was more jaded than I had realized and that the real strength of the conference is the people it draws together.  If you don’t go you won’t know.

— Tom O’Connor, Director, Gulf Coast Legal Tech Center

“I heard the phrase, ‘Change Management,’ more during the three days of Legaltech at Legalweek than the entire rest of my life combined. Is it an exciting and growing concept or merely window dressing on the tired, overhyped concept of ‘Innovation’? Only time will tell.”

— David Horrigan, Discovery Counsel and Legal Education Director

“‘Management’ was the constant refrain emanating from Legalweek 2020 in New York this week.  Apparently, you can learn to manage just about anything in legal these days with the aid of technology, process design and qualified human resources.  From change management to contract management, case management to eDiscovery project management, and the all-important management of client expectations who look to technology and consultants to solve their most complex problems…the ubiquity of management is here to stay in legal tech.”

— Christy Burke, President, Burke & Company LLC

“This was a very exciting LegalWeek to catch up with friends and colleagues. The conference was buzzing with many industry professionals and I overheard one main theme: short message analysis. Like the early days of email management for eDiscovery, text messages, #Slack, chat etc. are the new wild west for investigators and litigants.”

— Rick Clark, Chief Strategy Officer, ESI Analyst

“Legaltech has gone mainstream. In addition to speaking with their clients and prospects, a number of my contacts mentioned meeting with investors and other professionals interested in learning more about how to incorporate legal technology into their portfolios. The conference itself also seems to have increased global appeal. I was lucky to speak with attendees from Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, India, Israel, the U.K., and Russia.”

— Ari Kaplan, Legal Industry Analyst & Principal, Ari Kaplan Advisors

And, here are my observations from the show:

From a CloudNine perspective, Legaltech was once again a great conference – from our NineForum sessions at the booth once again to our terrific #DrinkswithDougandMary happy hour with EDRM and Compliance Discovery to a number of great meetings with clients and prospects discussing all of the exciting new capabilities and products at CloudNine!  It was a great show for us!

As for the show in general, it seems that the trend for the “show outside the show” has continued.  There are a lot of attendees at the event that never seem to attend the conference officially but are still there because it’s a terrific opportunity to connect (or reconnect) with clients and prospects or to catch up with old friends.  It seems more and more, when I ask folks how the show is going for them, they talk about how their meetings are going, not about the sessions or the interesting new developments they’ve seen at the exhibit hall.  Legaltech seems as busy as always, but actual participation in Legaltech seems to be down once again.  Of course, I’m one of those who was mostly busy out of the show (other than some time at the booth, especially for our NineForum sessions), so I could be wrong.  ;o)

So, what do you think?  Did you attend Legaltech last week?  What did you think of this year’s show?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Sponsor: This blog is sponsored by CloudNine, which is a data and legal discovery technology company with proven expertise in simplifying and automating the discovery of data for audits, investigations, and litigation. Used by legal and business customers worldwide including more than 50 of the top 250 Am Law firms and many of the world’s leading corporations, CloudNine’s eDiscovery automation software and services help customers gain insight and intelligence on electronic data.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine. eDiscovery Daily is made available by CloudNine solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Daily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

print