March 20, 2024 – This year was my in-person return to the ABA TECHSHOW – the last conference I attended in person was 2020 – right before everything shut down.

It was great to be back, and the conference seemed very well-attended from both the attendee and the vendor perspectives. Preliminary reports from planning committee members indicate it was one of the most well-attended Techshows.

Speaking of vendors, it seemed like every vendor had a shiny new generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) integration into their product that they were excited to talk about. Last year's Techshow focused on GenAI and its potential effects on the legal industry. This time, the focus was on how vendors are integrating GenAI into existing legal platforms and creating new legal-specific platforms built around GenAI. Many of these new integrations are still in the beta-testing stage, but nearly all have an expected release date of sometime in 2024.

At this point in the legal technology industry, it feels like we are seeing a bit of a GenAI arms race. Every legal tech company seems to be trying to beat the next one to market with their GenAI integration.

Here are my takeaways from ABA Techshow 2024.

Techshow Kickoff: AI, AI, and More AI

The Techshow kickoff event each year is the Startup Pitch Competition. Every year, 15 legal tech startups are selected to present a three-minute pitch about their product to the Techshow audience. Attendees vote on the most innovative startup.

To no one's surprise, almost every entrant was some form of GenAI or had a deep integration with GenAI. In a bit of a twist, or maybe due to its ability to differentiate from the crowd, the winner, AltFee, is not a GenAI product.

AltFee is a system that assists lawyers in setting reasonable fees in alternative structures, claiming to "transform your billing practices to match the modern legal landscape. AltFee lets you align pricing with value, enhancing client trust and firm profitability."

Although AltFee is not GenAI-based, it can be considered GenAI-adjacent given all the talk about the fate of the billable hour now that GenAI is here. This product aims to capitalize on attorneys seeking an alternative to the billable hour because of the substantial time savings of implementing GenAI in the law practice.

Focus on Implementing GenAI

Brent Hoeft at ABA TECHSHOW.

GenAI is being integrated into legal technology platforms of every type and size, from legal research to practice management and more. This integration into legal-specific platforms has the potential to bring considerable gains in efficiency and time savings. The buzz is exciting, and the capabilities are impressive. Both vendors and sessions concentrated on the various ways that GenAI can be used in law practice.

Many of the vendors introducing GenAI integrations into their existing products were quick to focus on their understanding and knowledge of the lawyers' ethics requirements. The vendors went to great lengths to address confidentiality and privacy, as well as lawyer concerns surrounding the potential for “hallucinations” – a term used to describe when GenAI outputs false or inaccurate information.

The vendors all pointed out that GenAI integrations into their platforms allow law firm data to remain within the vendor's system, which lawyers already use and trust. The GenAI model operates within the vendor's software, so law firm information does not leave where it already exists. This addresses both confidentiality and privacy.

Additionally, these GenAI outputs are based on existing law firm information and data within the platform, significantly reducing the potential for hallucinations. Specifically, the legal research providers were quick to point out that because the data available to GenAI is the library of cases, statutes, and vetted legal resources of the legal research provider, hallucinations are extremely unlikely, especially in comparison to the risks of hallucinations when using non-legal-specific GenAI models.

GenAI and Breaking Barriers to Justice

A session that stood out was "Generative AI: Amplifying Legal Services Delivery & Expanding Access to Justice," presented by Natalie Anne Knowlton and Judge Scott Schlegel of the Louisiana State Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Schlegel is recognized for designing and managing "one of the most advanced courts in the county for delivering justice online."

In this session, Judge Schlegel led a very interactive discussion on the complicated issues that create barriers to access to justice, and demonstrated how GenAI can help break down some of those barriers by facilitating and streamlining the development of consumer-facing services and content.

Judge Schlegel demonstrated how deepfakes (videos manipulated so that an individual appears to be doing and saying something that they are not) can be used to easily create videos to provide information and content to individuals to help them navigate the court system. These videos can be seamlessly translated into different languages even though the individual depicted in the video does not speak those other languages.

It was a very thought-provoking session on the potential of GenAI to increase access to the justice system. Judge Schlegel is a featured speaker at the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Annual Meeting and Conference, June 19-21 in Green Bay.

A Non-AI Topic: Change Mindset

Although many vendors and sessions focused on GenAI, other technology and practice management topics were covered. Most non-GenAI topics can be separated into two broad categories: Practice management process improvement with technology and change management mindset.

The "change management mindset" category of sessions was interesting. It spoke to where we are in the legal industry and technology. In an era when legal technology options, availability, and affordability abound, firms often resist implementing new technologies because of the fixed mindset and adherence to how things have always been done. Technology tools are available to improve a law firm.

Still, the potential for change and improvement will never be realized if firms and lawyers cannot overcome their resistance to change and adherence to how things have always been done. More than 18 sessions focused on these obstacles to change.

State Bar Practice Management Advisor Brent Hoeft (second row, right) joined state bar practice management advisors from across the U.S. and Canada for a daylong retreat before the Techshow.

2024: the Year of GenAI in Legal Technology and the Year Law Firms Embrace Change Mindset

In 2023, we saw many announcements but very few GenAI products were available in legal offerings. 2024 will be the year that these products become a reality and appear in legal products that attorneys already use.

It is hard to believe that ChatGPT was released to the public only a year and a half ago. The pace at which legal technology companies are implementing innovative ways to integrate GenAI into products is unprecedented.

There is no doubt that change will come to the legal industry over the next few years as new offerings become a reality and more technology platforms are created to address the effects of GenAI on the legal sector. Conferences like ABA Techshow help lawyers understand what is available and how to harness these powerful tools to improve their law practices.

Hope to See You in Chicago in April 2025

If you have any questions about the products I learned about at Techshow or how to improve processes within your practice, please don't hesitate to contact me at practicehelp@wisbar.org.

If you haven't attended Techshow, I highly recommend it. ABA Techshow 2025 will be April 2-5 (a few weeks later than usual) at a new, larger location: Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago. Visit techshow.com for more information. I hope to see you there!