The October, 2024 issue of Circuits (the e-Journal of our Section) has been published. You can download a copy of the issue here.
Here is the Letter from the Chair by William Smith:
We’ve had a great Section year so far, kicking off with our participation in the June State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting in Dallas.
It is my great pleasure to succeed Reginald Hirsch as the Computer & Technology Section Chair. We’ve had a great Section year so far, kicking off with our participation in the June State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting in Dallas. Our Adaptable Lawyer track featured sessions on using AI and related ethical issues, social media and litigation and Word power user tips, and how to implement a privacy and data protection compliance program.
We wrapped the conference up with a networking social co-hosted by the Corporate Counsel Section and sponsored by the U.K. Ministry of Justice’s GREAT Legal Services campaign. Then in September we hosted a Council retreat in San Francisco, where the Council worked on Section strategy and met with a California privacy regulator to compare and contrast Texas and California data protection enforcement.
Many thanks to the Council’s Circuits Committee of Katie Stahl, Aaron Woo, and Maria Moffat for their hard work of putting together this issue. It has great practical information and relevant topics such as:
The conflicts between GDPR personal data protections and U.S. discovery process
How to use ChatGPT in your law practice
A novel product liability claim theory being tested against social media companies
How to protect trade secrets in the age of generative AI
A distilled survey of notable recent social media cases
The evolution of OFAC/BIS technology export controls in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Last but not least: save the date for Friday December 6 in Austin! We will be hosting the 8th Annual Technology and Justice for All CLE Day at the State Bar of Texas building. I hope to see many of our Circuits readers and Section members there. Keep an eye out for an email with the agenda soon.
Thank you for your membership in the Computer & Technology Section!
William Smith, Chair State Bar of Texas Computer & Technology Section Austin
ABA Techshow 2024: Startup Alley Pitch Competition
mark i unger
Life is a funny thing. It’s ironic, perplexing, and like a conundrum on steroids. All that taken together simply means that all the cliches that our parents got from our grandparents and great-grandparents before them were semi-truisms meant to be passed on in ways that we had to, well…learn for ourselves.
Wednesday was yet another funny thing. I’ve been fortunate to be included in some things, excluded from others, and given the fortitude to know the difference in their worth.
I’ve previously posted on ABA TechShow 2024’s Startup Alley Pitch competition, how cool it was and is, and believe it’s symbolic of change.
It’s brought forth ingenuity, a pushing of the envelope, and often the enigma of knowing what you thought you believed as opposed to the changes and agility of others that might either call those into question or simply keep you swimming (nod to Nemo). In all senses, change is constant, and chasing it is healthy.
These were the healthiest chasing change, and the top 15 vote-getters in this year’s competition, along with my take —
BriefCatch https://briefcatch.com: At Legal Week, BriefCatch was introduced. This tool enhances legal document editing by providing expert guidance. This innovation aims to improve both writing skills and case outcomes. It allows users to upload legal documents (such as rules, regulations, or cases) and specify the intended audience and their concerns. The tool then generates client advisories with relevant links and recommended action steps. Notably, it was mentioned that AI inventions could now be patented, provided they involve innovative prompts.
Ai.Law https://www.ai.law: This AI-powered tool streamlines the creation of various litigation documents. Users can input basic claims to receive a list of possible courses of action, upload complaints for analysis of missing elements, and receive auto-generated drafts and suggestions. The system can also generate discovery responses with objections in about five minutes, which are editable. Features include robust chat functionality, deep search capabilities for medical records, and a contract drafting module that facilitates dynamic interaction with the system before exporting to a Word document. While this technology was scary, it also might foretell the commoditization of law, or even the ‘robotization’ of practice, if you will. Its significance in theory is why lawyers are afraid, but its implementation may or may not be valid as it seemed literally to take over the practice as we currently believe it to be. With that said, this was definitely above average.
Lexamica https://lexamica.com: Designed to optimize practice and revenue growth, Lexamica facilitates case referrals within a network of law firms. It addresses the inefficiency of traditional advertising spends by ensuring each lead is maximized, particularly in industries where firms can recoup up to 50% of their advertising dollars. This seemed to be more pitch than fork in the road kind of change agent. It may be more significant than credit given but it wasn’t quite there for me.
Resolutn https://www.resolutn.com: Founded by a litigator, Resolutn aims to expedite settlements through digital mediation. The platform facilitates faster case settlements by allowing parties to make initial offers and engage in negotiations through a double-blind process guided by a proprietary algorithm. Settlements are reached when offers overlap, with a 2% charge to each party capped at $500. Despite a lackluster presentation, the product’s potential for increasing access to justice (A2J) was emphasized. While I thought this end-thought might have been pandering a bit, it was to me significant. This was one of the major spaces ripe for change and for that reason, one of the more significant attempts at innovation (though it has been attempted now in different ways for several years). For those reasons, I had this near the top of my list and could see where this, if presented in a more robust way (grain of salt: presenters were given 3 minutes), could have won the day;
Recital: https://recitalapp.com/ Canadian company provides a contract negotiation platform that integrates with Word, streamlining the organization of contracts and emails. It claims to address common frustrations among lawyers regarding document version control and accessibility, offering a solution that allows fast access to documents and redlines without the need for extensive file management. While this was pitched with a lexicon of verbiage not often found in professional presentations (i.e. curse words), I found the shock value fine the first time (“where the F is my Sh t?”)..thrice made me feel a little more dumb for listening to the ‘effect,’…However, for what it promised, without explaining how, was worthy of 8.8;
LexSelect: https://lexselect.io/ LexSelect, which significantly reduces the time required to review transcript evidence, thus boosting productivity in trial preparation. The technology transforms the tedious task of reformatting and retyping citations, offering a potential time saving of up to 92%. While the stats were significant (along with the name dropping in motivation) the time savings provided by efficiency within product were significant if scalable (i.e. if all could do them) and so it was worthy of 8.3;
AltFee: https://www.altfeeco.com/ CEO Scott Lee introduced AltFee, a platform that enables law firms to adopt alternative fee structures more efficiently. The system assists in scoping, pricing, proposing, and auditing alternative fees, addressing the inefficiencies of traditional billable hours through AI-enhanced workflows. While I thought this was a possible throwback to prior presenter Kimberly Bennett’s Fidu, which was very persuasive, a friend of mine Kenton Brice pointed out the significance of the analysis aspect of this, which reminded my of my analogy to alternative billing possibles similar to the medical field’s RVU model. Until, we have a good measure of value that is alternative to the billable hour, at least to Judge’s who make these rulings when asked, I have to defer, though I want more. I gave this an 8.0. This was the Startup Alleys 2024 winner and continues a trend of claimed access to justice motivated startups,
Henchman: https://henchman.io/ This tool, originating from Belgium, saves time by integrating relevant contract clauses and definitions directly into Word or Outlook, facilitating more efficient contract negotiation for legal professionals. This pitch claimed that the product was more proactive by utilizing your own data as opposed to the claimed reactive nature of something like Copilot. I’m interested to see where this goes as I’ve attempted to drill down on this concept with other AI offerings. I gave this an 8.0
Skribe.ai: https://skribe.ai/Skribe.ai offers a solution to reduce the costs and time associated with legal testimony, enhancing attorney efficiency and providing rapid Court transcripts and real time video testimony playback. I have to admit bias, as this startup is from Austin. This offering came in second in this pitch competition and is in an area that, in this writer’s opinion is in a space that is so ripe for enhancement and modernization that the need can not possibly be overstated, given the inability to timely get court transcripts at reasonable prices and while, there is much potential competition and there are bells and whistles and laws needed to be added or changed respectively, this tech is massively significant. This was in my top three. I gave this an 8.3, only as it really needed to be shown how it could work a little more in slides and workflows;
Gretchen: https://www.gretchenapp.com/ Developed by CEO Blake Adam, Gretchen is a generative AI-powered tool that integrates with email inboxes to improve response times for inquiries, particularly beneficial for solo practitioners and small law firms. This tech was also launched in other products somewhat as a sidebar add-on in Outlook and with claim to require access to all of your documents (DMS), something which still gives me some concerns. I did give this an 8.0 for the efficiency effect to reply to clients’ questions;
2nd Chair: https://2ndchairtrialsupport.com/ 2nd Chair is an AI tool designed to analyze extensive case materials quickly, providing key facts and document links, and alleviating concerns about potential sanctions from judges. Named David, I loved the source/citation of same aspect, as I’ve repeatedly considered this need, however the claim to be ‘summaritive’ and generative seems a little in need of the next level of its capability.
Beagle: https://discoverbeagle.com/ Beagle is presented as a new best friend for document review, utilizing AI and machine learning to improve accuracy and efficiency in e-discovery, significantly reducing time and costs. I’m not sure this has the current sophistication, at least in the way presented to challenge current eDiscovery vendors’ pitches and the analogy to being ‘cruelty-free’ seemed off to me, despite my love for dogs/animals;
Civille: https://getciville.com This company offers digital marketing solutions for law firms with AI-powered forms and chat tools, aimed at capturing and converting relevant prospects effectively. I gave this a 7.8, based on it’s claimed performance stats and while the representations were a bit conclusory, I think, if true, it’s exemplary, but perhaps not a change agent for a market underserved;
Altumatim: https://altumatim.com CEO David Gaskey highlights Altumatim’s focus on narrative in eDiscovery, using AI to identify key evidence efficiently and tell compelling stories in litigation. This really triggered my frontal lobe in the sense that key facts and evidence in a timeline format is massive in litigation and the fact that it claims, via autonomous review, to format in relation to your case ‘story.’ Also, the speed of review of documents to get there is significant. I gave this an 8.5 and perhaps undervalued it.
Paxton AI: https://www.paxton.ai Paxton AI is developing AI-powered legal research tools to enable faster access to laws and case law, aiming to transform legal work and establish firms as leaders in AI adoption. This offering won third in startup alley and it’s players have paper and street cred like you wouldn’t believe; however, just based on the presentation, I’m at a loss to understand it’s success. Either I missed the boat on this one or they connected with many in the audience that I didn’t. Either way, kudos to them and I look forward to the future.
Holiday Greetings from the Computer & Technology Section! We thank you for being a member and please help us spread the word by urging your fellow colleagues to join as well. Recently as Chair of our Section I attended the Council of Chairs, a bi-annual event hosted by our State Bar in Austin. This was a great event allowing the Chairs of the various Sections of the State Bar to personally interact with each other and share common issues and potential solutions. The State Bar provided up to date information regarding Bar activities and requirements for Sections per our State Bar rules and regulations.
On December 1, 2023 our Sections sponsored its 7th Annual Technology and Justice for All CLE live in Austin, Texas at the State Bar Building. This year’s presentations were outstanding, and we thank our great presenters and our engaged audience for their participation and presence. As many of you know we offer this CLE free to the legal aid lawyers who serve our community. This year we were able to record our program through the assistance of Texas Legal services Center and especially Bruce Bower and Melissa Deutsch their videographer. By recording our CLE we are now able to provide to the Legal Service Community an opportunity to view our CLE for those Legal Aid Lawyers who were unable to attend our live CLE in Austin. As a secondary benefit we will be able to provide you as members of the Computer and Technology Section access to the CLE on our website, https://sbot.org. Currently the recording is being edited and should be available in early 2024.
In the spirit of this holiday season, I want to express my thanks to the officers and council and ex-officio members of our Section. They continued work and relentless efforts on behalf of the Section make the “Magic Happen”! Behind the scenes the work of the Section appears effortless but without their support and guidance we would not be able to provide our services to you as Section members and to our State Bar. A special thanks also to our Administrative Assistant, Erica Anderson, who never fails to anticipate an issue and provides guidance to our Executive Committee and Council. Thank you, Erica.
I also want to thank the State Bar Sections Department who so ably support our Sections. As many of you who work with the State Bar and attend various CLEs throughout the State it requires an enormous effort to coordinate Section activities, publications, and programming. This year after many years of service to the State Bar, Tracy Nuckols. Tracy over the years has provided many untold hours in support and guidance for our Section and we wish you well in your new future. Lyndsey Jackson is our new Sections Department Director, and we are excited to work with Lyndsey and her great team and we congratulate her and thank her as she continues to support our Sections. Also, I would like to thank Paul Burke and Jake Stoffle with the State Bar, who help make the “Magic Happen”.
The December 2023 Issue of Circuits is an outstanding issue for our members. The variety of articles and material will reward our members with scholarly and practical articles to be utilized in their everyday practice. We have articles and tips including, AI Discovery Issues, 4th Amendment cases dealing with iPhones, 3rd Party Rights and DNA Consent, Kid influencers, Preparing and Responding to Cyber Incidents, ADR Technology, Presenting Science Evidence, and Review of State and Federal laws regarding Privacy, Security and Wiretapping. To our great authors we appreciate your contributions to Circuits and thank you.
I would like to thank Sally Pretorius our editor of Circuits and Katie Stahl, associate editor. You both knocked it out of the park.
This year the State Bar of Texas honored our Section with a request to take over the programming for the “Adaptable Lawyer Tract” held annually at the State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting. This year’s meeting will be held at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas Texas on June 20-21,2024. The “Adaptable Lawyer” tract will be on June 20,2024 and will be a full day CLE. With the guidance of our CLE Chair, Grecia Martinez and our CLE subcommittee I can assure you that this will be an outstanding CLE and we look forward to seeing you at the Annual Meeting.
Cindy Tisdale, President of the State Bar of Texas in her recommendation to the State Bar was to create a Working Group, now a Taskforce to examine issues surrounding Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Law and to make recommendations to the State Bar. Currently the Chair of this Taskforce is John Browning and several of the appointed members of this Section serve on the Taskforce. The issue of AI and the practice of law has and will be a continuing issue for lawyers currently and into the future. The Computer and Technology Section has and will continue to monitor, write, and speak on these issues. AI platforms like ChatGPT and others will need to be evaluated for transparency, accountability, and accuracy. As Texas lawyers we have an ethical obligation under our Professional Code of Conduct to maintain “technical proficiency”. Our Section has and will continue to examine these issues regarding AI and its usage by lawyers and provide information, resources, and guidance. We as a Section strive to assist Texas lawyers in maintaining their “technical proficiency” and to respond with knowledge and resources regarding these every evolving changes.
Finally, our behalf of the Section we wish you and your family the happiest of holidays and a happy New Year.
Reginald A. Hirsch 2023–2024 Chair Computer & Technology Section State Bar of Texas
Without further ado, the latest version of our e-Journal Circuits for December, 2023 is here.
With Summer comes the ‘fall.’ Every year I fall, even more into the fanboy network. It’s expensive. It’s painful. It’s a problem. It’s also, like summer, an opener into amazement. While I’m not sure I can really afford any of these new toys, my mind starts to swim w/ ideas for use cases, as it does every year around spring and again at WWDC. Here are some highlights and links.
Apple Vision Pro – The long-awaited Apple version of virtual and augmented reality headsets, this makes me think “You idiot…why haven’t you really been playing games like you did when you were a kid, with that other virtual reality headset you asked for, for your birthday a year or so ago.” This thing is a monstrous $3,500.00 and has the ability to operate like a gaming platform, as well as a TV screen and laptop, replete with something I’ve tried but never really grabbed onto in past devices – that of gesture controls (think of the weatherman each night talking about ‘our overall weather pattern,’ with the flick of wrist and pointer-finger, moving swirls as he/she stands in suspended reality). What I don’t think I like is that you have to connect it to a battery pack by wire. Meh. It also has “Eyesight” (control of transparency or opaqueness changed by an attached crown, so that you can control what you see in virtual v. real environment), claimed more interactive meetings (I’m skeptical anything can make meetings truly interactive w/o virtual jousting; think about how attorneys and parties have become more brazen when protected by the zoom screen); Gesture control by hand gestures is what I’ve waited for, for years, is complemented by eye movements and voice control. They call this “spatial computing.”
When setting up Vision Pro initially, it creates your own ‘persona’ a 3D image of your likeness, which seems to allude to the creation of something I’d thought of many years ago when I had the great (pre-Facetime/Skype) idea for “virtual visitation,” specifically potentially holographic appearances, currently being tested at a very high cost elsewhere. There’s more including more of the five senses, but I’ll hold back for the moment, lest you think I’ve gone off the edge more than already.
14” M2 MacBook Air – A new bigger addition compared to the 13” MBA, with 2 USB-C ports, MagSafe port for charging, and a headphone jack). This will start at $1300.00.
The regular MacBook Air will get discounted to $1100.00 starting point.
Mac StudioandMac Pro – Standalone boxes with massive memory and that can support up to 6 Pro Display XDR displays. The Studio starts at $2,000.00 but the Mac Pro, starting at $7,000.00 will have the M2 Ultra chip, which claims to support 24 separate 4k camera feeds, 8 Thunderbolt 4 ports and 6 expansion slots.
Also available is the available to leave FaceTime voicemails in the form of short video clips. In theory, this is not new because you could always record yourself, it’s just baked into the process of the FT call now, like leaving a message. This, however, could be awkward, especially in those late-night calls that we know are coming in some of our cases. Every day I thank the good lord that none of this existed back when I was twenty-something, though I still have that Peter Pan complex and dream of going back. But that’s another story.
There is also a new safety feature called “Check In,” for notification of family, etc. when you safely arrive at your destination. You’re invited people can track your route, cell levels, and battery and alert them if you veer off course from your landing place. Not to be negative, but I wonder if there will possibly be bad actors stalking or tracking others with this technology, as Apple had happen with Airtags over the last year or so, causing Apple and Google to work together against this type of harassment and abuse.
NameDrop, a new way of sharing contact info with others, allows you to customize the Contact Poster and info you share. I did notice this functionality, however over the last several months in iOS 16. I now have the ability to pick what information in a contact card I can share with people, including info in notes (previously notes would not transfer with the sharing of info).
In my tests, the note info is turned off by default and all numbers, emails, etc. are turned on, though I can share a contact’s info with someone else now without disclosing their Cell number. This is significant, given the conflicting intersections of mass cell use as ‘only number,’ as well as cell phone spam and people (me) wanting to be able to control who has this cell number or that cell number.
In addition, there will be a Journal, which is the ‘Sherlocking’ or mashup of various technologies such as what we’ve seen with apps like Day One Journal. It will provide a multimedia way to preserve memories in a more structured way. Think of it as digital scrapbooking, taking words, pictures, etc., and creating a slideshow but in a journal format. For family law attorneys (or even others), the most obvious use case would be for the client to have a simpler way to pull together screenshots, pictures, texts, etc., to create a timeline for you and/or for the Court.
Look for additional movement towards gaming, widgets (making Mac more like iPhone), increased video conferencing presentation effects (‘news anchoring’), Profiles in Safari similar to Chrome, Safari ‘pw-sharing’ and editing, as well as Apple Watch tweaks for health (especially mental) and exercise/activity; Also, just like the dichotomy b/w Frankenberry and Count Chocula, when we were kids, there will now be a Snoopy watch face for those that didn’t exactly cuddle up to Micky or Minnie Mouse. I love Snoopy.
I live on the iPad and iOS 17 is to make it cooler even with interactive widgets (v. static buttons), more seamless handling of PDFs, though I already handle these with Goodreader and other Apps, I presume this is to attempt to out MS Microsoft in the sandboxing arena by trying to get people to use Files more. The ability however of live editing over a Facetime call b/w two Apple devices sounds pretty cool and provide me with a nod towards the still-best true collaboration on documents of Google Drive.
“Adaptive Audio” and “Conversation Awareness” might force me to splurge on the new AirPods Pro, enabling auto lowering of music (translation: ironic-mom won’t complain about my TV being on too loud) and reduction of low-frequency noises like an airplane engine while allowing better speech recognition at higher frequencies (translation: Mark is getting older and nothing works as well, including these damn ears). Claims of improved background-noise reduction over phone calls would be awesome if true, especially if it makes it a better user interaction for the other person (there has always been an issue with noise reduction being a selfish functionality, more for me than for them).
AirPlay and SharePlay improvements are going to be something, when the parents catch on, as they will increase the ability to stream audio and video from iPhones and iPads to another compatible devices, such as TVs in hotels by scanning a QR Code and sharing of a car’s music with iPhone users (although this does not defeat the purpose of teenagers – to get you to listen their teen crap via Bluetooth hijacking of the car speakers).
All in all, aside from the augmented and virtual reality moves, it may not be earth-shattering but, as time keeps strolling along, this integration, convergence, and mashup of functions hums just as fast. For us strollers and hummers, it’s gas on the fire; something that reminds us of summer, and the ‘fall’ embedded first in my adolescence.
And as we creep up, all we want more and more, is more of our lost youth. This is not a bad summer start.
Mark I. Unger is a former Chair of the State Bar of Texas, Computer & Technology section and sits on a number of volunteer boards and committees related to law and/or technology.
Disclaimer or Reclaimer:
No Chat-GPT-faux-neuron-LLMs were used or harmed in the writing of words in this piece.
It’s been 3 years since I last had the physical ability to last see the many techie lawyers, consultants, entrepreneurs and vendors at ABA TECHSHOW in Chicago and drink in the elixirs of TECHSHOW.
It’s been a long three years. That drought came to an end this past March 1-4, 2023
and the water did not disappoint the thirsty.
The presentations were very fluid, so much so that it was difficult to spend any significant time in the Expo Hall. The fast and furious meetups with the vendors of legal tech that we could get to highlight the many acquisitions and mergers that occurred in the legal tech space over the last several years.
Several announcements preceded TECHSHOW, the majority of which appeared to come from Bob Ambrogi, the veteran impresario who was presented at the opening startup pitch competition with the very deserving award for a lifetime of achievement and promotion of the legal tech industry and TECHSHOW.
This trend of acquisition is somewhat ironic as compared to the pre-2008 crash period in legal tech; during which economic depression gave way to a super-infusion of startups in the practice management space (Clio, Rocket Matter, MyCase, etc.). Much of what seems to be occurring is the buy-up of players in sub-markets, which was a part of the pre-2008 ‘big-law-vendors’ playbook, where the two biggest law vendors would buy up software companies for their market share. However, to counter this irony, the new buyouts tend to be more in line with folding the tech into existing platforms.
Several of the biggest splashes over the last three to four years came after massive cash infusions of VC money into the existing Practice Management System coffers.
In addition, the infusions now appear to be two-fold–with companies being bought not just for their tech but also for the re-branding of some to create umbrella companies and the buy-up of brands within those brands. Thus, there are now several companies that own and/or are positioned to own different Apps within the penumbra of their ‘rights,’ so to speak.
If this trend holds, look for the top 4 or 5 (in my opinion at least) in the startup pitch competition to possibly come into play, something that is not lost on those seeking the winning ticket. In another twist of irony, the winner of the startup pitch competition was Universal Migrator, which claims to be able to move a law firm’s data from any of approximately 60 different case and practice management systems to any other system.
If these companies and vendors represent the process, the large number of speakers certainly stepped up with the substance. While there were many I didn’t get to see but have certainly followed, including Regina Edwards of Facebook’s Lawyer On The Beach (LOTB) fame, there were many others that competed in sometimes overlapping manners for our attention. This is perhaps a problem that TECHSHOW organizers faced in the past and that had subsided but seemed to make a reappearance, along with the continued problem of materials being relatively unavailable ‘en masse.’ This for me is perhaps like dancing on the head of a needle as TS continues to be a re-education of both my right and left brains.
The first keynote featured Jack Newton (celebrating 15 years of Clio’s launch) doing a Q and A with a number of very visible startup leaders in the recent three years. Those included several startup pitch competitors of past years, all of whom have dynamic personalities with a very high degree of integrity with regard to their products. Erin Levine (a prior James Keane award winner) launched Hello Divorce several years ago and was one of the first to really propel DIY divorce forward. There are now numerous competitors in the space and I’d expect more, if not hybrids of some lawyers seeking to optimize their efficiency. This optimization is no more apparent that with Kimberly Bennett, who co-founded Fidu, one of my top 4 in the startup alley/pitch competition this year and the third-place winner in the competition. Fidu is a platform created to allow attorneys to focus on flat fee arrangements by taking advantage of automation within the practice of law.
In addition, Jazz Hampton completed the trifecta of keynote panelists, having also come from a law practice background and also with very personal reasons for doing what he does. He created Turn Signal, which is an app that anyone can have on their phone, and if pulled over in a traffic stop, with the click of a button call up an attorney for advice on what to say and do or more importantly what not to say and do. The price point is approximately $60.00 per year but they will not charge anyone making less than $40k and have marketed to companies as an employee benefit.
While the call for speakers and decisions on the same are typically finalized in the summer for the following spring, the unexpected and massive infusion of Chat GPT, reignited the AI in legal discussion but this time in a way that could be obtained by the masses (intermittently unless you’re on a paid account). There are probably several hundred integrations not the least of which is Google’s Bard and Microsoft (into Bing), though many of these are just really smart people trying to figure out how to add automation into their own products by the AI within ‘chat’ (Open AI).
One of the speakers was Pablo Arredondo, Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Casetext, which I believe could be positioned with their new product CoCounsel to counter what I expect to be a massive amount of Chat GPT generated legal work product, either by attorneys simply sending a query and then dumping the output into their documents; or by pro se/self-represented litigants doing something similar. The ability of Judges and even attorneys attempting to counter this will be significantly tested. I write this, one word at a time while on my first of two flights to get home but I intend to run a query in ‘Paul Bunyan’ fashion and see which indicates a better woodchopper. Arredondo was shepherded into this role and presentation by Steve Embry, Chair of the LPM Section of the ABA, who humbly lauded his efforts and highlighted Arredondo’s theoretical jump. Arredondo spoke in historical terms of Walter Pitts of the1940s and early theories of neuron mapping, at one point analogizing “if you want to be smart, do what the smart thing does.”
When transitioning the argument to lawyers’ space he mused “ours is a castle built with language.” By several analogies, he brilliantly wove a pathway (neurons and all) to show us that contextual search will perhaps be everything down the road. When explaining that perhaps Chat GPT shouldn’t be used for anything important right now, he offered “I’m from northern California so there’s a place for hallucinations but it’s not really for litigation”
One of my favorite people (and perhaps the most knowledgeable legal tech presenter I know), Chelsea Lambert, reappeared this year again and presented on a very hot topic as demographics change— that being a guide to succession planning, alongside the very knowledgeable Texas family lawyer, Jordan Turk. This topic is incredibly relevant right now and is the focus of our Texas State Bar President and LPM committee, planning multiple presentations for the State Bar Annual Meeting coming up in June. Their presentation was a great mix of rules, laws (mostly California and Texas, though applicability could cut a wide swath), and practicality, touching on the four C’s of client management and three options for planned transitions and exits from practice. Hit up one of them or me for materials, if desired. I’m sure it would be obliged.
In the vein of seeing presenters close to home, I was thrilled to be able to attend “No Code, No Problem, with Austin, Texas attorney Alex Shahrestani and Tulsa, Oklahoma attorney Trevor Riddle
In what I previously termed a ‘mind-bending creation’ of spreadsheet backups while pulling via keywords from Gmail using Chat GPT, Alex and Trevor walked the entire audience through a how-to workshop; they combined the use of Zapier with Gmail and Chat GPT to create a Zapin this fashion. While much was above some of our heads, the concept was analogous to all kinds of use-case workflows, and its practicality after the front-end work was illuminating. While Alex focused on the Google steps, Trevor complimented the same workflow on the Microsoft side.
In a heartwarming twist, Nefra Macdonald, expanded the “Client Centered Law Firm” approach by adding some additional more human-centric accents, citing Julia Cameron’s book “The Artist’s Way, A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity,” something that I think ought to be more widely implemented in our business space.
She went on to talk about first order thinking (a more knee jerk reaction) and second order thinking (where one would consider a more deliberate range of options and ask us about the longer-term cause and effect of decisions). She referenced getting to the root cause of problems as they come up and how flexibility is not a luxury. She then continues on with the extension that flexibility and sustainability might also be in conflict; where being too rigid might prevent you from solving problems and being too flexible might result in too many single points of failure.
She rests on the philosophy that one should diversify to eliminate single points of failure (i.e. one place in your law firm that could end you). She goes on to liken anti-fragile law firms as being ones that think about creating good environments, where fewer people would leave for the work-life balance that has recently become more significant in the last several years.
All of these enlightened points are clarity waiting to happen in our minds. While I question whether this is an actual extension of the original client-centered theory or more of a self-fulfilling and holistic approach of her own, the effect is a warm wrap in an ever-increasing cool business world where too rigid decisions increasingly appear to be in potential conflict with the bottom line. Either way, I’m grateful she stands apart among the crowd.
Please note that there were approximately 80 sessions/talks and the few referenced above are not even a smattering of the knowledge that was presented. But, if you are interested in what else was covered, see www.techshow.com for the complete schedule.
And remember, ABA TECHSHOW will be back again next year, starting on February 14th. You might even be able to make it a valentine’s weekend, replete with legal tech presents for your significant other if you’re like some of us and legal tech makes your heart throb.
