Tuesday, February 2, 2010. Another cold February weekday workday morning. Another noisy, bumpy, spill-my-coffee-on-my-newspaper-every-two-minutes train to the city. I looked around me, and observed the others commuting from Newark to midtown Manhattan, beginning their daze days with the lethargy one might associate with a Jets fan circa last Monday.
But not me. This was day two of LegalTech New York 2010, and I was on my way to this premier legal technology showcase sponsored by ALM. Given how great my experiences were last year, I was amped up and ready to go. So, with my coffee down and chin up, I grabbed the B line and took to the Hilton New York.The day began with the Blogger’s Breakfast. As you might recall from my last experience with LegalTech, they cater to bloggers, providing them with a meet & greet, as well as prime seating and access to all of the lectures and keynotes. While at the breakfast, I was able to meet some new faces, like the fellas from RocketMatter, and was able to reconnect with blogstars like Ari Kaplan, of Ari Kaplan Advisors, and the one and only Robert Ambrogi, ex-Legal Blog Watcher and founder of LawSites. After a chat about legal research iPhone apps and some “shameless plugging,” I was off to catch some speaker sessions.
LegalTech put together quite an impressive set of panels for this particular day. Some of the most well known names in the industry — eDiscovelebrities, if you will — were featured in timely discussions about the electronic discovery world’s biggest issues. Mark Howitson (Deputy General Counsel, Facebook), Patrick Oot (General Counsel, eDiscovery Institute), Jason Baron (Director of Litigation, National Archives), Laura Kibbe (Senior VP, Epiq), Allison Brecher (Senior Litigation Counsel, Marsh & McLennan) and Fernando M. Pinguelo, partner and co-chair of the Response to Electronic Discovery & Information Group at Norris McLaughlin & Marcus, are just a few (understatement) of the speakers and ediscovelebrities that attendees were able to catch. Plus, those invited to a private Fios, Inc., lunch at the Warwick Hotel across the street were able to listen to an education discussion among key players in the field, including Leonard Gordon (Federal Trade Commission), David G. Keyko, (Partner, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP) and Joshua R. Weiss (Special Counsel, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, LLP), moderated by blogstar Mary Mack (Fios, Inc.).
I even spotted a couple of eDiscovelebrities walking the halls and browsing the exhibits, notably: Laura Zubulake (the princess of eDiscovery), James Batson (Zubulake’s Counsel), and Alex Arato (Associate General Counsel, CA, Inc.).
Throughout the day, I was also able to visit the vendors’ stations, and chat with the models representatives of the various companies. Some vendors’ displays were quite creative this year, with one giving away a smart car, and another by ConnectInPrivate‘s Bill Montgomery, which demonstrated (via a glass outhouse in the center of the showroom floor) how secure the internet really is (not very). I was even able to score a t-shirt, hat, and a couple million pens to show off to my peers when I returned to class the next day. But soon enough, 5:00PM came, the vendors started packing it in, and I realized it was time to go…
To the Fios, Inc. VIP afterparty, of course! Thanks to Dennis Kiker (Director, Professional Services, Fios, Inc.), I was able to get into the exclusive event following the show, and met more eDiscovelebrities like Gabe Acevedo, of Gabe’s Guide to the e-Discovery Universe, George Socha, of Socha Consulting, and Brett Burney of Burney Consultants. Plus, who doesn’t like a few free drinks?
In all seriousness, though, it was great to get feedback, blog tips, and career advice from each of the folks I met at LegalTech this year. The spirit of the show as a whole was running high, and attitudes were very positive throughout the entire day. So once again, LegalTech, allow me to thank you for your gracious hospitality, and I look forward to seeing you again next year.
To everyone else, look forward to seeing some video interviews from the show posted soon. (For real this time!)
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February 4, 2010 at 1:06 PM
I was there, too. I registered to win every Kindle, iPod, sports car, and every other giveaway that was being offered at the various vendors’ booths. I’m sure my mailbox will explode in a few weeks with glossy brochures and other sales propaganda from all those vendors who scanned my badge. I also greedily grabbed one of the USB thumb drives that CT Summation was handing out like candy from their booth. I wondered what size it was. 1 GB? 2 GB? “Nah,” an associate at the law firm where I work offered, “It’s probably a puny 540 MB drive.” We sat in rapt attention and watched the Properties display after I inserted the drive into my computer. We were both wrong: it was a whopping 240 MB drive. Well, can’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
I hope ALM considers moving LEGALTECH 2011 to the Javitz Center for next year —- it seems this show was bursting at the seams in the Hilton on Avenue of the Americas. I had to elbow my way through the exhibit hall and had several close calls with people carrying large cups of coffee. Speaking of coffee, the free coffee stand on the 2nd floor was a welcomed treat!
February 9, 2010 at 12:54 AM
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February 10, 2010 at 4:34 PM
You mention that you found some legal research iPhone apps in you recent blog entry. I for one would love to read an article that focuses on all the apps available and maybe rates a top 10…
February 19, 2010 at 12:56 PM
@Evan Rosenberg,
If you haven’t already seen it, you might enjoy reading a fellow “Blawg-100” site, iPhone J.D. (http://www.iphonejd.com/). What you’re looking for is likely to be covered in a variety of posts over there.
For the record, my discussion with Mr. Ambrogi was centered around the free Fastcase app, which he wrote on just a week prior to LegalTech 2010 (http://www.legaline.com/2010/01/exclusive-first-look-fastcase-iphone.html). It really is a great tool to have for on-the-fly lookups of cases.
February 10, 2010 at 8:20 PM
I attended LegalTech 2010 and enjoyed it very much. My experience unlike yours was more focus driven. My colleague Allison Brecher, E-discovery extraordinaire and her trusted right and left hand Eric Yiech of Marsh & McLennan Companies had very specific goals during our time at the conference. We sought out select providers that both Allison and Eric researched over the past year. So, while I did not have an opportunity to sit in on the conference panels, I do enjoy the special privileges of know what’s coming down the pipe for my company.
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