About the Awards is a series of Q&As with our editors across ALM Media's publications that aims to give readers and potential nominees insight into our judging process for awards related to ALM Recognition Events. We hope this will guide you as you draft your submissions, and we welcome any additional questions you may have.

This week, we'll be discussing our annual Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law Awards with Legaltech News Editor-in-Chief Stephanie Wilkins, who will be leading the judging across all categories.

For more information about the 2023 Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law Awards contest, please visit the awards site and the official Call for Nominations. Deadline for submissions is November 14, 2022. You can also view other upcoming ALM contest submission deadlines and sign up for marketing notifications here.

Stephanie, when did you start as the new Editor-in-Chief of Legaltech News? 

I just recently started with Legaltech News on September 12, 2022, and my first two months have been great.

Can you tell us more about yourself and your legal and journalism background?

I've been writing in the law and legal tech space for nearly a decade. As a freelancer, I regularly wrote about legal technology for Above the Law and created content and thought leadership for a wide range of legal tech companies and legal marketing firms. Prior to that, I attended NYU School of Law and was a Biglaw litigator for several years. I earned my B.A. from the University of Notre Dame, where I majored in Psychology, Sociology and Russian. Today I live in Brooklyn, and am a professional photographer when I'm not writing about legal technology.

What do you think sets these awards apart from other contests? For example, how does this differ from The Recorder's California Leaders in Tech Law?

The Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law Awards recognize that legal innovation happens in all corners of the world and across all areas of the law, which is why we give out awards in so many categories. The California Leaders in Tech Law, in contrast, focused on innovative corporate legal departments, firms and outside providers primarily for the tech industry in Silicon Valley. In our third year of giving out these awards, ALM and Legaltech News want to recognize law firms, legal departments and vendors who are pursuing innovation and change in a wider variety of areas across the legal industry.

Who should be interested in submitting nominations for this contest?

Any corporate legal department, law firm or outside provider who is proud of the work they've done in the legal tech space in the last year should submit. We would love to see submissions from people who believe they're doing something unique in the industry, are adding something new to the legal tech conversation, and believe they provide a model for how technology and innovation can help to challenge the law and push it into the future. That's a high bar, but one our past winners have not shied away from.

Who is judging this contest?

All entries will be reviewed by ALM's editorial staff, including myself and others associated with Law.com, Corporate Counsel, The American Lawyer, and additional publications where relevant. From there, we'll determine finalists that will be submitted to an outside panel of judges, including senior in-house counsel, law firm partners and executives, legal educators, jurists and more. Like will not evaluate like – for example, judges from law firms will not evaluate submissions from their competitors in the law firm categories.

What are you looking for in nominations?

We want to see unique, new and exciting work being done in the legal tech space, things that are changing the dialogue and the expectations of the industry. Don't just tell us about a new product or successful M&A transaction; tell us how your development or deal came about. Was there something particularly novel about the workflows, the parties who collaborated to achieve success, the particular technology or application of a technology that made it all possible? It's important to note that these aren't "best use of technology" awards, but rather "most innovative," which can mean any number of things depending on the situation.

What do you hope to see in nominations?

We want to see specifics, which is why we're asking for multiple representative matters in some categories. We don't want vague statements about how you're "innovative," we want to know how you're innovative, what facts or figures make your accomplishment unique, and why your work is forward-looking, precedent-setting or game-changing. If necessary, portions of submissions can be marked confidential and we will take those portions into account in our judging. It does become difficult, however, to award submissions that are marked fully confidential, as we can't publicly explain why they won.  

Our ultimate goal is to have the best and most complete information possible on which to judge submissions and choose our winners.

The deadline for submissions for Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law 2023 awards is November 14, 2022.

For more information about Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law Awards and other Recognition Events awards, please contact Recognition Events desk manager Pearl Wu at [email protected].