(L to R) Chris Cangero, CEO, Docstyle; Adrian Bailey, Chief Architect, Docstyle; and Jennifer Hart, CEO, Connective Counsel at ILTACON 2019's exhibit hall opening. (L to R) Chris Cangero, CEO, Docstyle; Adrian Bailey, chief architect, Docstyle; and Jennifer Hart, CEO, Connective Counsel at ILTACON 2019′s exhibit hall opening. Photo courtesy of Hart.

 

So you're a legal tech entrepreneur. Or you're an IT director, chief information officer, practice manager or other non-lawyer technical professional for a law firm or in-house legal department. Or perhaps you're a lawyer who wants to stay abreast on the best of legal technology and innovation in the practice of law. Then I certainly hope you were at ILTACON '19 in Orlando last week.

As a recovering lawyer and legal tech entrepreneur myself, I attended my first-ever ILTACON by participating in the Startup Hub. Here are my top five takeaways from my first ILTACON:

1. Lack of Lawyers: I was shocked by how few lawyers were at the conference. I expected the attendance list would be dominated by information technology departments, and it was. From CIOs to records managers, and practice managers to litigation support leaders, there were lots of people who work with lawyers, whether in firms or corporate legal departments. But one title I didn't see much of was "partner," "practice chair" or "general counsel."

Lawyers need to start coming to ILTACON alongside their IT teams. In talking on the exhibit hall floor to attending sessions, it was clear to me that there is a significant lack of communication about what lawyers and clients are looking for. Great advice from one panel on training lawyers was to "incorporate practicing attorneys into developing solutions and technology." From the Software Dating Game session, the best advice was to make sure that attorneys are actually using technology during proofs of concept.

As a recovering attorney, I cannot stress enough how valuable I would have found ILTACON while practicing, but it was simply not on my radar at the time. Technology is changing the practice of law, and lawyers need to be a bigger part of that conversation. Being at ILTACON would be a great start.

2. Integration, Integration, Integration: So many conversations I heard between buyers and vendors were about integration. During one product demo, the lack of integration between a cloud-based product and a document management system was a matter of just two additional clicks, but one of the CIOs on the demo said, "My lawyers are telling me it's all about reducing the number of clicks."

From listening to sessions and canvassing the exhibit hall floor, it's clear that there are many products that are filling a lot of different needs in the legal market. But the fact that they don't all play well together is a problem. It's why I'm sure we will continue to see consolidation in the legal tech market. Two of the biggest acquisitions in legal tech (Thomson Reuters acquiring HighQ and Litera Microsystems acquiring Doxly) were announced just before ILTACON and are harbingers of a larger trend.

3. Embrace the Theme: Every year, there's a theme at ILTACON. And during the opening night night cocktail reception, many vendors dress up in costume and decorate their booths in accordance with the theme. This year's was "Journey into Classic TV." Not only does the theme make for entertaining social media photos but it makes the party much more fun.

Now it isn't a scientific study, but vendors who embraced the theme and dressed in costume saw significantly more traffic than those who didn't. In Startup Hub, where I was located, two of the other startups dressed in costume and hosted a game with giveaways. Those two vendors saw a lot of traffic and people came back later in the week asking if "we were the people with the game on Monday." To any first time exhibitors next year, I strongly suggest that you invest in costumes and decoration for Monday's cocktail reception. It will definitely pay off.

4. Cutting Edge: ILTA's programming was top-notch. From the speakers to the topics covered, I was very impressed by the quality of the subjects and the subject matter experts who were speaking. While the sessions on AI and blockchain made it clear that we are in the early stages of these technologies, it was also clear that they are here to stay and will only become more important as time goes by.

5. It's One Big (Law) Family: Before Monday's opening Keynote from Josh Linkner that focused on innovation (the last of the conference buzzwords), the leadership of ILTA and organizers of the convention performed a little skit instead of the standard formal introductions. The theme of the skit was a family reunion barbeque. It was a fun way to introduce the speakers who were giving out awards and recognizing committee chairs, but for this first-time attendee (and the 800 or so others, I am sure) it also brought home that ILTA is a close-knit community.

After the skit I ran into a CIO of an Am Law 100 firm who'd been attending ILTACON since before the organization was called ILTA. He said, "ILTACON really is like a big family reunion." As I watched people run into one another at sessions and cocktail receptions, and warmly embrace, I understood exactly what he meant. It's also an ethnically and gender diverse family, though it seemed to skew more to the Big Law side of the legal family. When asking about firm sizes of attendees whose names I didn't know, I rarely heard numbers below 300 total employees. I hope to see more mid-sized firms in attendance in the future—there are a lot of technologies and vendors at ILTA who can really help those firms shore up their IT resources and improve their workflows.

Overall, I enjoyed my first ILTACON, and I plan to be back next year. I'll definitely be in costume on Monday evening, and hopefully, I'll see more lawyers and mid-sized firm representatives in the crowd.

 

Jennifer Hart is CEO of Connective Counsel (www.connectivecounsel.com), a software company which will be launching ConnectIVITY, a new client-facing mobile app for law firms, in early 2020. Previously, Hart was an associate at Kohrman Jackson & Krantz, a mid-size law firm based in Ohio. Email Jennifer at [email protected].