The 2009 ABA Technology Show is over. As usual, it started Thursday and wound up Saturday with the celebrated 60 Sites in 60 Minutes. Predictably, the atmosphere was part lecture-hall, part trade-show, mostly meet-and-greet.
This was my tenth year attending and in that time I've enjoyed the show as a spectator, an exhibitor, a blogger, and, most recently, a columnist.
I've seen trends take shape and fade, witnessed "revolutionary" changes (that weren't), and took careful note of which vendors stuck and which ones were one-hit wonders. Below you'll find my observations on this year's show.
Still Crazy After All These Years …
TechShow is still:
Produced by a volunteer board of lawyers, consultants, and ABA staff under the umbrella of the Law Practice Management section.
An opportunity for attendees to network face to face rather than just via email or telephone.
The premier national venue for startups to debut and established vendors to introduce products.
A forum about technology concerns of the day — PC versus Mac, email security, Twitter, eDiscovery (the 800 pound gorilla).
The best opportunity that attendees will have all year to preview technology that will shape the profession; and
Dependent on perennial sponsors like LexisNexis and Westlaw.
Given the diverse forces that bring the show to life every year, it's impressive that the whole production comes to us without major snafus. This year was no exception, and saw the return of the concierge desk manned by members of the Blawgerati, including Adriana Linares, Kevin O'Keefe, Dennis Kennedy, and Tom Mighell (last year's chair of the planning committee). It's good to know there are some things you can count on. Then again ...
Shrinkage …
The standard elements of a successful show existed this year, including:
Star bloggers (everyone was taking video).
Celebrity authors flogging their latest books.
Vendors connecting with big money accounts.
Startups vying for attention and coverage.
Educational sessions with national experts.
Chotchkies-a-plenty (my personal favorite).
But there was a distinct difference as well — let's call it shrinkage. And no element was spared. Consider that:
Even deep-pocketed vendors like Wolters Kluwer and Kroll Ontrack were absent.
Many regulars simply did not make an appearance at all or kept a very low profile.
Vendor participation appeared to be around 50% lower than last year.
The upshot is that although the show floor at the Hilton is smaller than the spread at the Sheraton where the show took place for years, there still weren't enough vendors to fill the space. Why not? The implosion of high-profile law firms? Pervasiveness of attorney joblessness? Ripple-effect of recent events on Wall Street? Maybe — but then again, why would that stop a vendor if the need for their products existed? That's the real question.
My Second Annual Best of Show Picks …
Sure the current economic trough affected TechShow. But why stop there? The collapse of the housing and financial services markets has also left lawyers with fewer opportunities than they've had in years and forced them to meet unprecedented demands. In short, it has created an opportunity for lawyers to break with past practices, leverage their knowledge, collaborate, and streamline the way they work.
You could even say that the current recession has created the perfect opportunity for lawyers to use technology to solve their problems. Or at least we could say that if the vendors at the show delivered innovation instead of overpriced me-too products.
Don't get me wrong. It wasn't all bad. But honestly, how many eDiscovery ads do you see per week and how many vendors can the market handle? The overabundance of eDiscovery companies can be extended to nearly every category of exhibitors at the show. So it's no surprise that my picks for "Best of Show" were companies that brought real value to the table in four emerging fields.
1. Web-Based Practice Management: Clio
Both of the primary contenders in this space were at the show — Themis Solutions' Clio and Rocket Matter — and both get the job done. But in the end Clio brings more polish to its product in my opinion.
Built in Ruby on Rails (geeky but important), Clio looks familiar, is easy to master, and is effective even for a sole practitioner — yet it can handle hundreds of users without sacrificing security or functionality. Clio introduced offline functionality at TechShow as well, so that even when the Internet is down the application can keep time then re-synchronize itself as soon as you're online. The Clio practice management suite also allows users to collaborate securely with clients.
Clio's pricing makes it an ideal entry-level solution for displaced biglaw associates now starting their own solo careers (BigSolos as my fellow SmallLaw columnist Ross Kodner refers to them).
I couldn't blame you for skipping this section. How boring is storage, right? Everyone knows you can buy enough storage to hold every fact ever known for practically nothing. So why even discuss storage? Because reliability and access remain the twin holy grails of this field — and you can't expect either from small companies no matter how innovative.
Let's face it: size matters. So it's no wonder that my Best of Show pick in this category is Mozy. This company with the catchy name is really the cuddly face of EMC Documentum, a company that knows security and storage better than practically anyone. Because of EMC's size and deep pockets, Mozy can give away gigabytes of storage for free even before it begins charging. Even then its plans are accessible to pretty much anyone — users pay a small price per computer per month, plus 50 cents/gigabit/month thereafter. Yeah, I'll take that deal.
3. Managed Law Office Services: Total Attorneys
There was only one managed services vendor at TechShow — luckily it would be a good choice even among competitors. Total Attorneys represents an idea whose time has come.
Like Mozy, it sells just enough at a price that is just right. Services include a full complement of administrative tasks that lawyers traditionally suck at: business development, call centers, back-office work, follow up, etc.
There is a catch however — buying managed services means paying retail. And the retail price of these services includes labor, materials, profit, overhead, shipping, taxes, lunch for the crew ... you get the idea. At the end of the day, lawyers often live on a thin slice of profit. Giving that away may not represent a viable long-term strategy. Still, outsourcing may be the only strategy that works for many sole practitioners.
4. Automated Activity Tracking: WorkTRAKR
I really believe that WorkTRAKR, the automated time-keeping application from VoIP provider Proximiti, has potential. The application is a winner even with its built-in limitations. For instance, it works primarily on telephones and email, entirely missing faxes, computer applications, and a number of other billing sweet-spots. But the company is moving in the right direction and the product shows promise. It is Web-based now and works via plug-ins with such standards as Outlook. With some tweaking, WorkTRAKR might actually take some of the drudgery out of billing. We can only hope.
Wrapping It Up …
In the last ten years, TechShow has showcased a number of prodigious advancements in technology. Chief among these has been the transformation of the Internet from a world-wide billboard to a research pipeline and, more recently, to a comprehensive practice solution.
TechShow 2009 gave us still more evidence that anywhere, anytime law practice has arrived. Chances are that next year's show will bring a spate of me-too Web-based practice management vendors, followed by the inevitable shakeout and acquisitions by larger players. I only hope that the best companies make the cut — and the entrepreneurs who founded them don't cut and run after cashing out. Here's hoping that the next ten years are as groundbreaking as the last ten were.
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Coming today to BlawgWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 44 articles from the past week worthy of your attention, including our Post of the Week. Here's a sample:
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We would like to thank the 102 people who braved the snow on February 3, 2009 to attend the TechnoLawyer Party (2009 Edition) in New York City. We'll have photos and a more detailed report on the festivities soon.
In the meantime, I'd like to share with you a short video interview of TechnoLawyer publisher Neil Squillante that was filmed just as our party was getting underway by West's senior communications specialist Angelique Schaffer and posted on West's Westblog. Angie was joined by Scott Augustin, West's director of communications. (You can see Angie, Scott, and Neil from left to right in the above photo.)
In the video below, Neil discusses one of his top five 2009 predictions for the legal profession — robust legal applications for next-generation smartphone platforms like the iPhone, BlackBerry Storm, and Palm Pre. Neil discussed this prediction and others in greater detail in his recent article, TechnoLawyer's 2009 Legal Industry Predictions.
Transcript What's the top legal tech trend for 2009?
Earlier this year I published an article with my top five predictions for 2009. I think one of the biggest is going to be the development, the explosion really, of mobile applications for lawyers. With the advent of the iPhone, the BlackBerry, the next version of Windows Mobile, Google's operating system for telephones, I think that's probably going to be the big story this year, although it may take till the end of the year for us to really start to see it gestate.
Why?
Well lawyers have always been pretty mobile, and while they've always been described as technology laggards, the one thing that lawyers really adapted to very early and quickly were these mobile smartphones like BlackBerrys, Treos, iPhones, etc. The fact that you can now almost do anything that you can do in your office on these phones, particularly with these rich applications that are coming out, will change the way lawyers work and make their lives a lot better actually. They won't have to go back to their office after court, for example, to do something. They can get it done right there and then go home.
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Coming today to BlawgWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 40 articles from the past week worthy of your attention, including our Post of the Week. Here's a sample:
How to Receive BlawgWorld
Our newsletters provide the most comprehensive coverage of legal technology, practice management, and law firm marketing, but not the only coverage. To stay on top of all the noteworthy articles published in blogs and other online publications you could either hire a research assistant or simply subscribe to BlawgWorld. The BlawgWorld newsletter has received rave reviews and is free. Please subscribe now.
You hear a lot these days about people live-blogging trade shows and other events. But with few exceptions live blogging (perhaps we lawyers should call it realtime blogging) fails because quality writing takes time. It's sort of like the speed of light or the force of gravity. There's just no getting around it.
So when we began discussing how to cover ABA TECHSHOW 2008, we nixed the idea of live-blogging this important event. Instead, we decided to publish reports as quickly as possible while maintaining high standards. Call it retrospective blogging. Or just call it good reporting.
But don't worry. We're done! Below you'll find our complete coverage of ABA TECHSHOW 2008 — 13 reports. If you're still hungry for even more coverage, you'll also find links to 33 additional reports in other publications.
Crazy Mazy ... Trade shows are unpredictable. Whenever you bring together thousands of smart, free-thinking people, sparks will fly. So who better to cover ABA TECHSHOW than our most unpredictable TechnoLawyer correspondent and the ultimate free thinker — Mazyar Hedayat. Or as we call him, Crazy Mazy, a name inspired by Apple's famous Think Different ad campaign about free thinkers, which begins, "Here's to the the crazy ones." When he's not reporting on trade shows, Mazy practices law in Bolingbrook, Illinois.
About TechnoLawyer Trade Show Reports
Even in today's wired world, trade shows continue to play an important role. But not everyone can attend trade shows. Hence, our trade show reports, which bring trade shows to you. You can find our trade show reports here in TechnoLawyer Blog, and also in TechnoGuide, a free newsletter that also contains exclusive content. Learn more about TechnoGuide.
Presenters: Tom Mighell & Friends Saturday, March 15 at 11:00 am
In addition to being a perennial favorite among both attendees and speakers, this TechShow staple is a great opportunity for the crowd to let its collective hair down and enjoy an often irreverent, free-form look at the Internet for lawyers.
This year was no exception as TechShow chairman Tom Mighell and colleagues took to the dais and led us all a journey of self-discovery and good fun. Of course your humble reporter was bushed by then so I just sat back and enjoyed the show.
Of the 60 sites, below you'll find my favorite 8 in no particular order plus 2 that I would have included:
When just one know-it-all site isn't enough, turn to this bulletin board forum where you might find for instance that you're not the only one who thought the "tab" button on your keyboard would order you a soda ... or who had a particular PDF question. Same difference.
Dodgeball was among the poster-children of the early Web 2.0 movement. The speakers agreed this site is great for reaching people with text messages when they get near a given location.
This site is just what you would guess: a remedy for what ails you. It also represents the pinnacle of "giving it away" when it comes to really useful information. Try to find something software-related that it doesn't address.
8. Google (including Google Docs, Google Calendar, Gmail, Goog411, etc., etc., etc.)
There is absolutely nothing I can add here that hasn't been written to death ... except maybe this:
• Nearly every aspect of the Google Office Suite is in the throes of being upgraded and improved on a constant basis.
• When I remember how Google Docs drew "oohs" and "aahs" at last year's TechShow it blows my mind to hear it tossed out in such a matter of fact manner as a viable office suite. What's the world coming to?
Twitter asks that you answer the question "What are you doing?" Respond in 140 characters or less and you're twittering. Join thousands around the world doing the same or keep the conversation private. It's a combination SMS system, social network, and cultural phenomenon.
About TechnoLawyer Trade Show Reports
Even in today's wired world, trade shows continue to play an important role. But not everyone can attend trade shows. Hence, our trade show reports, which bring trade shows to you. You can find our trade show reports here in TechnoLawyer Blog, and also in TechnoGuide, a free newsletter that also contains exclusive content. Learn more about TechnoGuide.
Back to the Future: Adobe Acrobat Still Kicks [Redacted]
Adobe's booth was one of the first on the exhibit floor, but that's not why I stopped there, tired feet notwithstanding. Nor does that explain why I anointed Acrobat 8 Professional with a Best of Show.
What did convince me to spend a moment at the Acrobat booth was that in one fell swoop I was able to chat with Adobe rock star Rick Borstein and check out the classic Lawyer's Guide to Adobe Acrobat written by TechShow stalwart David Masters.
Though no longer a spring chicken, Acrobat 8 Professional continues to rule the document world. With its commenting, communication, collaboration, Bates stamping, and redaction features, as well as its conversion and search functions, Acrobat 8 Professional isn't just good, it's crazy good.
About TechnoLawyer Trade Show Reports
Even in today's wired world, trade shows continue to play an important role. But not everyone can attend trade shows. Hence, our trade show reports, which bring trade shows to you. You can find our trade show reports here in TechnoLawyer Blog, and also in TechnoGuide, a free newsletter that also contains exclusive content. Learn more about TechnoGuide.
It's hard to pick one Best of Show in a category like electronic discovery in which the vendors outnumber the attendees. Okay maybe that's a slight exaggeration but the number of electronic discovery vendors significantly outnumbered vendors in any other category. Among the many contenders, I tip my virtual hat to a pair of companies that represent opposite (but equally important) extremes in this space.
Hot Neuron announced the release of Clustify, which uses both concept and literal search paradigms to eliminate "near duplicates" (a hot topic nowadays) and extract meaning from reams of eDiscovery information. The resulting output is displayed in "clusters" of related documents. Pricing is flexible as well.
Clustify exemplifies the trend towards keeping applications light and simple. Hence it runs on anything from a laptop to a server without sacrificing its raison d'etre — finding and sorting information.
Kroll Ontrack has gotten eDiscovery right as well. But if Clustify demonstrates what a lightweight, focused application can do, Kroll shows us that keeping a hand in multiple areas does not doom a company's products to mediocrity.
Born out of the insurance industry, Kroll has become a major player in the eDiscovey space by combining homegrown technology with strategic acquisitions. Its lineup includes software, search, and consulting.
About TechnoLawyer Trade Show Reports
Even in today's wired world, trade shows continue to play an important role. But not everyone can attend trade shows. Hence, our trade show reports, which bring trade shows to you. You can find our trade show reports here in TechnoLawyer Blog, and also in TechnoGuide, a free newsletter that also contains exclusive content. Learn more about TechnoGuide.
Who says my Best of Show picks need to be edgy and sexy? Consider Legal Bar, an add-on for Microsoft Word and Outlook from BEC Legal Systems.
Legal Bar occupies a thimble of space on your hard drive, but does something every lawyer can appreciate — it puts a law-centric faceplate on two of the most ubiquitous programs in the office.
But rather than wasting space here talking about all the features you can read about at the company's Web site, let me just point out that while watching a demo I must have thought to myself "I should have thought of that" or "I've wanted to do that for years" about a dozen times. And since Legal Bar costs about $160, I'm out of reasons not to incorporate it into my practice.
Overall, Legal Bar represents a clever concept executed well and priced right. It's win-win. Legal Bar works with Office 2003 and Office 2007.
About TechnoLawyer Trade Show Reports
Even in today's wired world, trade shows continue to play an important role. But not everyone can attend trade shows. Hence, our trade show reports, which bring trade shows to you. You can find our trade show reports here in TechnoLawyer Blog, and also in TechnoGuide, a free newsletter that also contains exclusive content. Learn more about TechnoGuide.
Remember the early 1990s when outsourcing didn't apply to lawyers? Well you can forget those days because for the last decade outsourcing has become the name of the game for large discovery projects.
The theory is that firms shouldn't pay for an associate or paralegal here when they can have documents reviewed for less overseas. But where were all the legal process outsourcing (LPO) vendors at this year's show? Only one made the trip — SQ Global Solutions.
Of course it would be unfair to award one of my coveted Best of Show picks for that reason alone, so I spoke at length with company representative Tim Ninowski.
After many probing questions, I believe these guys have what it takes. Not only can they provide an instant discovery and document review department for law firms in need of manpower, but they have actually developed a lawyer ecosystem in their facility in Hyderabad, India.
The notion appears to be that if SQ Global Solutions nurtures an entire law firm (not just individual lawyers) overseas then it can handle nearly any size job on a temporary or long-term basis. In addition, the company provides services at a fraction of the cost of a full-time stateside associate or paralegal.
Yeah, it's kind of scary, but there's no point in burying our heads in the sand.
About TechnoLawyer Trade Show Reports
Even in today's wired world, trade shows continue to play an important role. But not everyone can attend trade shows. Hence, our trade show reports, which bring trade shows to you. You can find our trade show reports here in TechnoLawyer Blog, and also in TechnoGuide, a free newsletter that also contains exclusive content. Learn more about TechnoGuide.
