The Filevine User Conference took place September 29^th through October 2^nd in Salt Lake City. I was interested in the conference in part because Filevine recently got a $400 million infusion and I wanted to see what the atmosphere was as compared to last year’s conference, also in Salt Lake.

Last year, Filevine more or less threw down the gauntlet on extravagant vendor conferences. It featured a keynote with the actor Jake Gyllenhaal and a concert by well-known rap artist, Nelly. There was a lot of excitement and major announcements.

Like last year, this year’s conference featured a well-known actor, Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul), and a concert apparently by a well-known country music group, the Turnpike Troubadours. (I’m not a country fan so it was a little lost on me.) The energy and passion seemed the same, as exemplified by its CEO Ryan Anderson. I enjoy talking to the Filevine folks and, like last year, found them interesting and knowledgeable.

And perhaps in keeping with a company just getting a $400 million infusion, Filevine gave every attendee $200 in coupons to spend in the Filevine Pro Shop (more on that later).

Key Take Aways

After being there for the three days, three trends are obvious. First, like some other vendors, Filevine sees the value in providing one singular AI and tech source for all its customers. It is expanding what its various AI tools can do so that customers stay in the Filevine campground for as many tasks as possible.

All well and good but if you follow Cory Doctorow’s enshitification theme (where a company offers a great product at a great price but as it grows it offers less service at a higher price), it ties up customers and makes it difficult for them to switch if Filevine decides in the future to raise the fees and provide less service. It’s good for customers in the short run. How good in the long run remains to be seen.

Secondly, many of Filevine’s tools reduce the amount of time needed by lawyers and legal professionals to spend doing case and matter activities. As I have discussed before, this means, for example, that plaintiffs’ lawyers who take cases on a contingency basis may be able to profitably handle cases that they previously could not. These are cases with lower exposure. Without AI and automation tools, the amount of time needed to handle the case would exceed what could likely be recovered. Not coincidentally, many of Filevine’s customers are personal injury lawyers.

Finally, like some other providers, Filevine looks hard at the practice pain points and sees the value in providing AI tools that work and address those points.

The Opening Keynote

Like last year, the opening Keynote was given by the CEO and founder, Ryan Anderson. He’s one of those tech entrepreneurs who bounds on the stage full of energy and passion, lots of fast talking (meaning he talked fast, not necessarily that he was full of BS, although I’m sure there was some of that). His Keynote sets the stage for what’s to come.

Interestingly, Anderson opened his Keynote by talking about the possibility of tech companies becoming competitors of law firms instead of suppliers of products to them. I say interesting because recently I posed the same question in connection with the purchase by the tech company Lawhive of a UK law firm.

As might be expected, Anderson offered a stirring defense of law firms and expressed the idea that there are things human lawyers can and always will do better. Like persuasion, empathy, and legal strategy. I say expected since Filevine is a big seller of tech to law firms (at least for now).

Anderson’s big news in terms of products was the notion of a concept he called LOIS (Legal Operating Intelligence Solution). The idea is that LOIS will be the hub to unify all Filevine’s AI tools and case management software. Anderson said the platform will be a connected environment for these tools to work together in an orchestrated fashion.

After the Keynote, I talked with Keegan Chapman, Filevine’s Chief Marketing Officer, about LOIS. I got the sense that LOIS is more of a concept and way of thinking than an actual product. I also got the idea that it’s a way to refer to the slew of different products Filevine offers in a unified way. Says Chapman, “All these products scattered throughout Filevine felt very disjointed. We realized that the true power is not when you have one but when you have AI in each step of your process. And that’s what we started naming LOIS for.”

Good idea. I have written before about the confusion that arises when a legal tech vendor offers a bunch of products with different names that do slightly different things.

Beyond LOIS, there were lots of user sessions, often devoted to use by plaintiffs’ and smaller law firms who seem to constitute the bulk of Filevine’s customer base and the actual use of the various tools.

New Products and Enhancements

At the conclusion of the first full day, Filevine’s Chief Product Officer, Michael Anderson, along with several others took the stage to discuss Filevine’s new products and enhancements. As with most vendors these days, most of these aren’t released yet and will be in beta starting later this year.

The two important were the enhancements to the deposition tool and the entry of Filevine in the legal research field which I previously addressed.

Here are some of the other announcements.

1. Filevine’s major flagship AI tool, Chat with Your Case, now looks more like a full AI-powered case analysis and drafting assistant. Key enhancements include:

The sidebar chat has been redesigned with a full-screen mode and a history map.
The exact words and pages the AI relies on are displayed.
A new AI classifier now routes queries to the correct agent, distinguishing between fact-finding, procedural, and generative tasks.

Key upcoming features will add the ability to automatically produce slide decks or PDFs summarizing case strengths and weaknesses and the ability for users to be able to choose which datasets the AI draws from.

2. Draft AI is a new embedded drafting assistant integrated into Filevine’s document assembly system. Features include:

A hybrid drafting enginethat combines traditional templates with generative AI for unique sections like recitals and factual backgrounds.
Direct Filevine data access that draws directly from the case file leading to accuracy and formatting consistency.
The ability to chat with the document itself to edit, query, or insert sections.

3. Filevine’s Timely product, an AI-driven deadline calculation tool, has been completely rebuilt using AI. The enhancements include:

Coverage of cases in all 50 state and federal jurisdictions.
An AI-enhanced local rule detection feature.
Synced deadlines that appear automatically in Filevine projects, Outlook, and Google calendars.

4. Filevine’s Medical Chronology tool is a medical record summarization system that now automatically updates as new medical records are uploaded. It can also now be narrowed for specific types of records. In the future, the tool will include automatic deduplication, and the ability to combine medical records and bills into a unified view, cross-comparison of bills and records to find missing documents, and the ability for the user to approve or exclude documents before inclusion.

The Proverbial Vibe

In addition to content and announcements, every conference should be assessed on its vibe, energy, and feel. On this point, I give Filevine a B+ for the reasons below. Lots of excitement and passion. Lots of talk about AI and what I could do. The Filevine people went out of their way to be helpful and courteous. The sessions were good and informative. The keynotes were solid. The exhibit hall was energized.

But…

Despite all this, on some things Filevine was, well, a little tone deaf.

Take LOIS. Conceptually sounds like a good idea. But why introduce it with a video showing two attractive women who presumably gave a look and voice to LOIS. And for that matter, why name it for a woman at all? Whether intentional or not, the choice to anthropomorphize an AI assistant as female and have it represented by attractive women in promotional materials reinforces old stereotypes about whose work matters less.

Minor point? Maybe. And by itself it might not have been noticeable. But a couple of other things suggested a bro atmosphere. Throughout the venue there were all sorts of references to sports, primarily golf. Pictures of well-known male golfers. Trophies displayed to suggest a country club atmosphere. References to club membership. Even the swag was offered in a “Pro Shop.” Most of it had “Member” displayed on it. Yes, women play golf; but I didn’t see any pictures of women golfers anyplace.

Nothing wrong with golf references per se, but when the entire aesthetic skews heavily toward one demographic’s leisure activities, it sends a message about who the “default” customer is imagined to be.

Then there was the opening night party. The theme was Kentucky Derby, replete with mint juleps, cigar rolling, and simulated betting. Now I’m happy my state’s biggest event got some notice, but it seemed jarring to have a Derby party in late September in Salt Lake City. Beyond the odd timing, it could be seen as doubling down on the exclusive country and boys club image.

Putting all this together, it gave an impression that could be off putting and detract, rather than enhance, the goal of the conference: show off products while letting everyone have fun and feel comfortable. In a male-dominated industry known for the opposite kind of atmosphere, it was a distraction.

But At Least No Woman in a Champagne Glass

But that shouldn’t take anything away from the fact that overall, the conference was really good. And unlike another well-known legal tech conference this year, at least there was no scantily clad woman in a large champagne glass at the main party.

Stephen Embry is a lawyer, speaker, blogger, and writer. He publishes TechLaw Crossroads, a blog devoted to the examination of the tension between technology, the law, and the practice of law.

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