Well, after three intense days, Legal Tech is over. This annual gathering seems to grow every year. Here then are my observations.
I spent most of my time with clients and in one-on-one meetings. So I can’t offer the first-hand report I had hoped. For a good summary, see David Munn’s LegalTech.com Blog reports (here and here).
My private conversations support David’s observation that MS SharePoint has rapidly gained mindshare. David also reports that e-discovery is everywhere (suggesting that the “elevator index” I proposed in my prior post is, not surprisingly, going up).
Indeed, EDD was everywhere: ads on the floor (how do they stick those plastic “billboards” on the floor?); ads in the program; in the elevator. Even ads in the men’s restrooms – on the walls as one entered, above the urinals, even on the mirrors. Not sure that’s where I’d want my product featured, but it was memorable.
From one-on-one conversations, it’s clear that large law firms have serious planning underway for portals, document management upgrades, and significant KM undertakings.
I’d say that the change is incremental; I did not notice anything revolutionary. Yet unlike some years past, there is no sense of stagnation. It’s not the dot-com era (thankfully), but excitement is back.
Update (2/6/06): Jim Calloway over at Law Practice Tips Blog has a good Legal Tech report.