"So, you're skipping all the seminars and just attending the parties," joked CaseSoft co-founder Bob
Wiss at the Sheraton's bar as he handed me a bottle of Pilsner Urquell. All too true I must confess.
I was in Chicago from April 19-21, 2006 for the ABA's annual TechShow. However, I spent my days in Rosemont at MarketingSherpa's Email Marketing Summit where I spoke about Serial Storytelling, the technique we use to operate TechnoLawyer. I also hung out with my longtime client Shannan Friedman of Equisys, a company that invests heavily in email marketing. Read about the conference.
At night I drove into Chicago to hang out with the TechShow crowd. Even though I didn't have a chance to attend any TechShow seminars, I nonetheless have some news to report.
LEXTHINK LOUNGE AND CASESOFT DINNER
On Wednesday night, I attended LexThink Lounge, a sponsored event at 10Pin, an upscale bowling alley near the House of Blues. Along with Bob Wiss, John Tredennick, Reba Nance, and another gentleman whose name escapes me (sorry), I spoke on a panel about the future of legal technology. Unfortunately, our microphone and speakers could not compete with the bowling alley's other speakers blaring pop music so most people could not hear our pearls of wisdom.
Nonetheless, the event was a lot of fun. I met a number of people I've only known via email and reconnected with others. Take a look at the photos and see how many legal technology luminaries you can spot (extra points if you can spot me).
I left LexThink Lounge at about 7:00 and headed to Spiaggia on Michigan Avenue for an Italian dinner hosted by CaseSoft. The food and wine were terrific, and the company even better. There I met Ernie Svenson of Ernie the Attorney fame who just launched his own law firm. CaseMap is among the applications he uses. During dinner, I sat between Natalie Kelly of the State Bar of Georgia and Nancy Smith of CaseSoft who planned the event (nice job!).
THE DINNER AND TRIBUTE TO BOB BUTLER
On Thursday night, I attended "The Dinner" at Cafe Brauer at the Lincoln Park Zoo. The Dinner is a legendary annual event for the legal technology cognoscenti — a cocktail party and elegant dinner at a different location each year. Hosted by legal technology guru Ross Kodner and legal marketing guru JoAnna Forshee, The Dinner is a unique event because it's sponsored by about a dozen legal vendors. Thus, everyone who attends receives a gift bag full of goodies (I especially liked the Attenex USB drive, which works great with my PowerBook).
No fewer than three surprise announcements took place during The Dinner. First, Ross announced that on the way out Corel representatives would give everyone a free copy of Corel WordPerfect Office X3, which now features an email client.
Second, Kenny Lee of Apple Computer gave an iPod Video and MacBook Pro to Dennis Kennedy, Jim Calloway, and three other legal technology influencers, the idea being that they will persuade other lawyers to consider Apple (Intel Macs can run Windows).
Third, Time Matters founder Bob Butler announced that he was leaving LexisNexis and the legal
technology world. After Bob sold Time Matters to LexisNexis in 2004, he could have called it quits then, but instead spent the last two years working harder than ever (it seemed like he was always on a plane) to help transform LexisNexis into a software powerhouse. During this period, he orchestrated the acquisition of PCLaw among other initiatives.
Among his many innovations over the years, Bob was the first to incorporate email into a case management application. Nowadays, law firms take this widely-adopted feature for granted. Bob wasn't just an entrepreneur, but also a legal technology visionary. He may not have written every line of code in Time Matters, but he understood the code (and I suspect he wrote many a functional specification).
Bob now leaves LexisNexis's software division in the capable hands of Ann Fullenkamp whom I met at The Dinner and who spoke warmly about her time working with Bob since the two hatched a strategic alliance several years ago that ultimately led to the acquisition in 2004.
Bob was an early believer in TechnoLawyer. Along with a handful of others, he immediately saw the value of participating in TechnoLawyer. I'm grateful for his support over the years and can't wait to see what he comes up with next.
PHOTOS AND OTHER TECHSHOW REPORTS
Take a look at my TechShow photos.
More TechShow photos courtesy of Adriana Linares.
Read David Snow's account of some of the same events.
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