I didn't attend LegalTech 2008 this year, but I didn't miss anything. And no, I'm not criticizing LegalTech. I'm praising it. ALM (the company behind LegalTech) covered the event extensively in its Legal Blog Watch blog. Additionally, a number of other bloggers and podcasters also covered LegalTech. We've compiled the best of these posts and podcasts below with some commentary.
LEGALTECH AT TECHNOLAWYER ...
Why didn't we attend LegalTech given that our office is less than a mile away from the Hilton? If you're a non-ALM publication, you cannot conduct press briefings at the Hilton as there is no place to sit. Also, hotels serve notoriously bland food. Life is too short for processed turkey sandwiches.
So instead we invited legal vendors to meet with us at our office in our whisper-quiet conference room, which we stocked with high-end gourmet goodies from six best-of-breed New York purveyors.
The result?
Last year we scheduled 23 meetings at the Hilton. This year, we scheduled 41 meetings at our office! I'd like to thank everyone who attended. Same time next year!
As a result of these meetings, you'll learn about lots of new products in the coming weeks — plus some reviews as well. For now, you can get a "taste" of these meetings by checking out the all-day menu we provided.
The photos above show ALM's LegalTech flyer, one of the 41 meetings we held during LegalTech in our conference room, and Eleni's New York cookies, which were among the gourmet goodies we offered our guests. Seated in the conference room from left to right counterclockwise: Me, my colleague Sara Skiff, Jobst Elster, Vice President of Envision Agency, and M.W. Whit McIsaac, President & CEO of Client Profiles. JoAnna Forshee, CEO of Envision Agency, snapped the two conference room photos.
ALM'S EXTENSIVE COVERAGE OF LEGALTECH ...
According to Law Technology News editor Monica Bay, she and her team decided to live blog LegalTech the day it started. As a result, the coverage is more like a series of snapshots in a photo album than a documentary. But it's nonetheless impressive and well worth reading. Because blogs are organized in reverse chronological order, we've un-reversed the best posts for you.
CourtroomLive Launches Today
Martindale-Hubbell Blog
Balancing In-House and Outsourced EDD Resources
Tuesday Morning Panel Reports from KM Space
Day One Is Nearly Done
LegalTech Seminar — Authenticating Digital Evidence
Law Technology News Award Winners
The King (or Queen) of LegalTech Swag?
Anonymous Blawger Sighting
Photos from Bloggers' Breakfast
Lawyers Catching Up With Web 2.0
"EDD Uncertainty Looms Over LegalTech"
Google Goes to LegalTech, and LegalTech Goes Global
The Last of the LegalTech Blog Posts
BEST OF THE REST ...
Aaref Hilaly, the CEO of Clearwell Systems, who was kind enough to visit with us and who authors the blog E-Discovery 2.0, published the best account of LegalTech from the perspective of a vendor.
Is LegalTech A Good Investment?
Brett Burney, eDiscovery expert and one of the nicest guys in the business, covered the highlights from the E-Discovery Institute's event, Counselor, Why Can't You Google It? I'm sure the event lasted an hour, but you can read Brett's excellent recap in less than five minutes.
LegalTech NY 2008-Googling Your Document Review (E-Discovery Institute Session)
Ross Kodner, legal technologist extraordinaire and long-time Microsoft critic, concluded that Microsoft made the most electrifying product announcement at LegalTech.
LegalTech NY Day One: Microsoft and the Next Big Thing: "Intrasocial Networking"
Doug Cornelius of KM Space live blogged LegalTech, and, unlike many others, was nice enough to tag his posts so that I can point you to all of them with one link.
In his post, LegalTech Wrap Up, Doug echoes my criticism about nowhere to sit (just in case you didn't believe me and thought we were just making excuses to stay in our office), writing:
"Overall, I found LegalTech to be crowded and loud. I was always looking for a place to sit and chat with people but there was nowhere to be found."
Finally, Thomson West created a blog dedicated to its announcements at LegalTech. Watch the videos, which are like watching product demos in a trade show booth — but better because you're not actually in the booth.
LISTEN TO LEGALTECH COVERAGE ...
Two Legal Talk Network podcasts also covered LegalTech. Below you'll find links to the actual MP3 files. You can also find these podcasts in iTunes.
In her new podcast, Law Technology Now, Monica Bay and guests Craig Ball and Henry Dicker discuss LegalTech, including some inside baseball.
Bob Ambrogi and J. Craig Williams cover LegalTech in back-to-back episodes of their Lawyer2Lawyer podcast. I was invited to participate in one of these shows, but couldn't fit it into my schedule. Nonetheless, they are still worth a listen (ha).
What's New in Legal Technology?
LegalTech Recap
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