{"id":161728,"date":"2026-08-28T14:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T22:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/08\/28\/iltacon-confirms-gradually-then-suddenly-legal-tech-became-a-big-business\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T14:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T22:06:16","slug":"iltacon-confirms-gradually-then-suddenly-legal-tech-became-a-big-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/08\/28\/iltacon-confirms-gradually-then-suddenly-legal-tech-became-a-big-business\/","title":{"rendered":"ILTACON Confirms:\u00a0Gradually, Then Suddenly\u00a0Legal Tech\u00a0Became A Big Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

How did you go bankrupt? Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.<\/em> \u2014 The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway, 1926<\/p>\n

When I started\u00a0writing\u00a0about legal tech a\u00a0decade or so ago, it was a sleepy business.\u00a0Most of the time not all that much\u00a0happened\u2026 which\u00a0made\u00a0it\u00a0pretty\u00a0easy\u00a0to keep up with what was going on. The\u00a0legal tech conferences\u00a0were subdued little affairs. The smaller vendors and\u00a0startups scraped by and\u00a0tried\u00a0to find\u00a0enough\u00a0money to keep the\u00a0lights\u00a0on. The bigger ones\u00a0moseyed\u00a0along,\u00a0not\u00a0terribly concerned about competition or being\u00a0overtaken by smaller players.\u00a0As you might imagine,\u00a0real\u00a0innovation was rare and slow.<\/p>\n

Real change occurred\u00a0slowly\u00a0and\u00a0almost\u00a0imperceptibly, if it occurred at all.\u00a0Then\u00a0on\u00a0November 30,\u00a02022, ChatGPT was announced and\u00a0the legal tech world\u00a0exploded.\u00a0Shortly thereafter,\u00a0big money\u00a0began\u00a0to pour\u00a0into legal tech\u00a0as\u00a0equity\u00a0capital\u00a0and venture investors\u00a0realized\u00a0there\u00a0could be money to be made.\u00a0Lots of money.\u00a0Nonlegal giants like Microsoft and Google began to get\u00a0more heavily\u00a0involved.\u00a0And of late,\u00a0even the giant\u00a0general\u00a0purpose LLM\u00a0providers like OpenAI and Anthropic started to\u00a0jump\u00a0into\u00a0legal.<\/p>\n

And the vendors jacked up the development of platforms to take advantage of LLMs and what they could do.\u00a0Startups like Harvey went from $0 to\u00a0raising\u00a0$1\u00a0billion virtually\u00a0overnight. IPOs took off. And many of those vendors who\u00a0had been\u00a0scraping\u00a0by\u00a0suddenly\u00a0found themselves with more investor money than they knew what to do with.\u00a0Literally<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then came the celebrities.\u00a0Some even hired\u00a0well-know actors like\u00a0Gabriel Macht<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Jude Law<\/a>\u00a0as \u201cspokesmen.\u201d One even\u00a0partnered<\/a>\u00a0with Aaron Judge and,\u00a0appropriately,\u00a0the New York Yankees.\u00a0Others sponsored\u00a0professional sports teams and golf tournaments.\u00a0Legal tech has gone prime time.<\/p>\n

To say the change in the legal tech world happened gradually, then suddenly is\u00a0an understatement. \u00a0Ironically,\u00a0today it feels\u00a0like\u00a0the Roaring Twenties.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s one thing to read about the\u00a0tsunami that\u2019s altered the legal tech universe.\u00a0It\u2019s quite another to see it and hear it in person. But that\u2019s exactly what happened at this year\u2019s ILTACON. Legal tech is now big business. It\u2019s arrived.\u00a0For better or worse.<\/p>\n

The Presser<\/strong><\/p>\n

All this became apparent at the\u00a0initial\u00a0ILTACON presser.\u00a0Gone\u00a0was a\u00a0press room\u00a0located\u00a0miles away from the\u00a0action. Gone was the lack of\u00a0refreshments.\u00a0Gone was the early morning briefing where ILTA reps\u00a0said\u00a0as little as possible.\u00a0Gone was a press corps\u00a0of four, maybe five people.<\/p>\n

Instead,\u00a0it\u00a0was standing room only.\u00a0And\u00a0we now\u00a0get tasty\u00a0hors d\u2019oeuvres\u00a0and a bar. An\u00a0open\u00a0<\/strong>bar<\/strong>!\u00a0Now we\u2019re talking.<\/p>\n

More importantly,\u00a0we got a\u00a0remarkably\u00a0candid, transparent,\u00a0and energetic presentation that lasted over an hour.\u00a0That got a round of applause at the end.<\/p>\n

And what\u00a0ILTA\u00a0representatives\u00a0told us\u00a0in the presser\u00a0tells you everything you want to know about the business of legal tech\u00a0today:<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Last year,\u00a0the closing overall\u00a0ILTACON\u00a0attendance was\u00a04,606. This year, first-day attendance\u00a0stood at 5,625.\u00a0That\u2019s an increase of over 22% over last year.\u00a0And by\u00a0day\u00a0three, it was\u00a05,700.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0ILTA now takes up\u00a0every square inch of\u00a0the giant Gaylord Convention space.\u00a0Every square inch\u00a0of more than\u00a0700,000 square feet.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0By May,\u00a0all\u00a0the\u00a02,888\u00a0rooms\u00a0in the Gaylord hotel were snatched up,\u00a0requiring the use of nine overflow hotel sites.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0There\u00a0are\u00a0a record 241 exhibitor booths in the exhibit hall, weighing a collective\u00a03 tons.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0International attendance is up substantially.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0CIOs and, says ILTA, managing partners\u2019 attendance\u00a0is up substantially.\u00a0Imagine. Managing partners. At a legal tech conference.<\/p>\n

If this doesn\u2019t tell you legal tech is\u00a0in a\u00a0brave\u00a0new world, nothing will.<\/p>\n

And,\u00a0by\u00a0necessity,\u00a0ILTA\u00a0is upping its game and assuming\u00a0even more\u00a0growth and demand. It\u2019s now\u00a0partnering\u00a0with the\u00a0consulting company,\u00a0Cosmonaut<\/a>, to help with future event planning,\u00a0among other things.\u00a0That\u2019s a clear signal that the conference has\u00a0reached a size where\u00a0more\u00a0professional\u00a0expertise is\u00a0necessary.<\/p>\n

ILTA is also\u00a0partnering with\u00a0ACEDS<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0BARBRI<\/a>\u00a0to offer more content in the future.\u00a0It\u2019s talking\u00a0about\u00a0more\u00a0international-\u00a0and niche-directed\u00a0programming.\u00a0And\u00a0It\u2019s even\u00a0openly\u00a0hinting at\u00a0the possibility and need of moving out of\u00a0convention\u00a0spaces attached to hotels and into\u00a0stand-alone\u00a0convention spaces, much like\u00a0LegalWeek<\/a>\u00a0did this year. (And\u00a0already\u00a0incurring\u00a0the\u00a0expected\u00a0crumbling along the way.) They didn\u2019t say it, but\u00a0if business keeps going like it is, that move is inevitable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Clearly ILTA, the\u00a0premier\u00a0legal tech organization,\u00a0has taken notice of\u00a0not only\u00a0where the industry is\u00a0but also\u00a0where it is going.<\/p>\n

The Exhibit Space<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ILTA folks mentioned the exhibit hall several times in the\u00a0presser. They talked about how it had\u00a0grown and took on a more sophisticated\u00a0and energetic\u00a0atmosphere. But that didn\u2019t prepare us for what we saw\u00a0when it opened. An Exhibit Hall that looked and sounded like it belonged at CES. Exhibitor\u00a0spaces\u00a0that looked less like sales booths and more like attractions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Big players taking so much\u00a0exhibit\u00a0space that ILTA talked openly\u00a0in the presser\u00a0about\u00a0limiting\u00a0the space a single\u00a0exhibitor\u00a0could take in the future. Of course, it won\u2019t; the more space taken,\u00a0the more money. And if\u00a0you are thinking you will need to move to a bigger space anyway,\u00a0you\u00a0of course want to sell all the square footage you can.<\/p>\n

And exhibitors\u00a0were\u00a0spending\u00a0money in the space like there is no tomorrow.\u00a0Swanky\u00a0coffee bars. Fancy cocktail bars.\u00a0Elaborate displays.\u00a0A Lamborghini on the floor. (You couldn\u2019t drive it.) <\/p>\n

No puppies at this show. It\u2019s the big time.<\/p>\n

The Parties<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking of spending\u00a0money.\u00a0Vendor\u00a0parties\u00a0used to mean a\u00a0drab\u00a0bar, little to\u00a0no\u00a0entertainment,\u00a0and a few skimpy eats.\u00a0No more. Now they are in exotic\u00a0and swanky locations.\u00a0Locations that are\u00a0substantially\u00a0redone by vendors\u00a0to\u00a0make them Taj Mahals\u00a0for the party.<\/p>\n

But the biggest\u00a0indication\u00a0that legal tech is now big business is the entertainment.\u00a0Groups and performers like Little Big Town,\u00a0Laura Bell Bundy,\u00a0Sheryl Crow,\u00a0and Lady A.\u00a0All appeared at\u00a0this year\u2019s ILTACON\u00a0vendor parties.\u00a0Other recent conferences included performers like\u00a0Nelly, Flo Rida, and\u00a0Flavor Flav.<\/p>\n

Dorothy,\u00a0we\u2019re not in Kansas anymore.<\/p>\n

The Keynotes<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can\u00a0also\u00a0get a sense of the change by looking at the keynote speakers at tech\u00a0conferences. ILTACON included well-known and presumably expensive speakers like Jim Abbott and\u00a0Dr.\u00a0Kevin\u00a0Fong. Other\u00a0conferences\u00a0have\u00a0featured\u00a0sports\u00a0figures\u00a0like Eli Manning,\u00a0actors like Rob Lowe and\u00a0Jake Gyllenhaal.\u00a0The\u00a0message\u00a0is that legal tech is so big that only big names will do.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0<\/strong>Why<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

So\u00a0what changed? How did legal tech go\u00a0overnight\u00a0from an ignored\u00a0backwater\u00a0to\u00a0Sheryl\u00a0and Lady A?\u00a0In a word, AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

AI made investors\u00a0and vendors take notice of\u00a0an\u00a0industry that could be\u00a0completely disrupted by a\u00a0revolutionary\u00a0tool. A tool that\u00a0could\u00a0upend\u00a0an\u00a0estimated<\/a>\u00a0over\u00a0$1\u00a0trillion industry.\u00a0If you believe a new technology can fundamentally remake even part of a trillion-dollar market that hasn\u2019t changed all that much in decades, it\u2019s not hard to start seeing dollar\u00a0signs. Big dollar signs.\u00a0And that\u2019s exactly what has happened.<\/p>\n

I talked with the CEO of ILTA, Joy Heath Rush,\u00a0about this very thing.\u00a0\u201cAI was the trigger,\u201d Rush told me. \u201cCertain\u00a0technologies\u00a0can disrupt an entire industry.\u00a0And the law is\u00a0now seen as\u00a0a big industry\u00a0that can be disrupted.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the FOMO\u00a0effect. Venture capital and private equity money is\u00a0rushing\u00a0to AI. Anything AI.\u00a0It\u2019s a feeding frenzy.\u00a0Better get it while the getting is good.<\/p>\n

Deja V<\/strong>u<\/strong>\u00a0All Over Again?<\/strong><\/p>\n

But in the midst of all the glitz, glamor,\u00a0and money, it\u2019s good to recall\u00a0what\u00a0George Santayana<\/a>\u00a0once said:\u00a0\u201cThose who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In many ways, it feels like we are\u00a0in the midst of\u00a0the\u00a0legal tech\u00a0Roaring Twenties. (Don\u2019t get any ideas, I was not yet alive\u00a0for the real Roaring Twenties. I\u2019m not\u00a0that<\/strong>\u00a0old).\u00a0But the years of the Great Gatsby were followed by\u00a0the crash. The\u00a0Dust\u00a0Bowl. Failed\u00a0businesses.\u00a0Lost fortunes.\u00a0Devastated\u00a0individuals.\u00a0The drunken party was over.<\/p>\n

So\u00a0while we may be\u00a0astounded\u00a0and\u00a0amazed\u00a0by where legal tech is today, it can change just as quickly to a\u00a0burst bubble.\u00a0The change\u00a0from the Roaring Twenties to bankruptcy can happen just as suddenly.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to\u00a0remember\u00a0that\u00a0the practice of law, for all the technology and money now swirling around it, remains fundamentally about people, judgment, communication, and persuasion.<\/p>\n

AI may change\u00a0some\u00a0things. But\u00a0not\u00a0what\u00a0the practice\u00a0is\u00a0really about.\u00a0Even if\u00a0some things change gradually, then suddenly.<\/p>\n

\n

Stephen Embry is a lawyer, speaker, blogger, and writer. He publishes\u00a0TechLaw Crossroads<\/a>, a blog devoted to the examination of the tension between technology, the law, and the practice of law.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post ILTACON Confirms:\u00a0Gradually, Then Suddenly\u00a0Legal Tech\u00a0Became A Big Business<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How did you go bankrupt? Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.<\/em> \u2014 The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway, 1926<\/p>\n

When I started\u00a0writing\u00a0about legal tech a\u00a0decade or so ago, it was a sleepy business.\u00a0Most of the time not all that much\u00a0happened\u2026 which\u00a0made\u00a0it\u00a0pretty\u00a0easy\u00a0to keep up with what was going on. The\u00a0legal tech conferences\u00a0were subdued little affairs. The smaller vendors and\u00a0startups scraped by and\u00a0tried\u00a0to find\u00a0enough\u00a0money to keep the\u00a0lights\u00a0on. The bigger ones\u00a0moseyed\u00a0along,\u00a0not\u00a0terribly concerned about competition or being\u00a0overtaken by smaller players.\u00a0As you might imagine,\u00a0real\u00a0innovation was rare and slow.<\/p>\n

Real change occurred\u00a0slowly\u00a0and\u00a0almost\u00a0imperceptibly, if it occurred at all.\u00a0Then\u00a0on\u00a0November 30,\u00a02022, ChatGPT was announced and\u00a0the legal tech world\u00a0exploded.\u00a0Shortly thereafter,\u00a0big money\u00a0began\u00a0to pour\u00a0into legal tech\u00a0as\u00a0equity\u00a0capital\u00a0and venture investors\u00a0realized\u00a0there\u00a0could be money to be made.\u00a0Lots of money.\u00a0Nonlegal giants like Microsoft and Google began to get\u00a0more heavily\u00a0involved.\u00a0And of late,\u00a0even the giant\u00a0general\u00a0purpose LLM\u00a0providers like OpenAI and Anthropic started to\u00a0jump\u00a0into\u00a0legal.<\/p>\n

And the vendors jacked up the development of platforms to take advantage of LLMs and what they could do.\u00a0Startups like Harvey went from $0 to\u00a0raising\u00a0$1\u00a0billion virtually\u00a0overnight. IPOs took off. And many of those vendors who\u00a0had been\u00a0scraping\u00a0by\u00a0suddenly\u00a0found themselves with more investor money than they knew what to do with.\u00a0Literally<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then came the celebrities.\u00a0Some even hired\u00a0well-know actors like\u00a0Gabriel Macht<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Jude Law<\/a>\u00a0as \u201cspokesmen.\u201d One even\u00a0partnered<\/a>\u00a0with Aaron Judge and,\u00a0appropriately,\u00a0the New York Yankees.\u00a0Others sponsored\u00a0professional sports teams and golf tournaments.\u00a0Legal tech has gone prime time.<\/p>\n

To say the change in the legal tech world happened gradually, then suddenly is\u00a0an understatement. \u00a0Ironically,\u00a0today it feels\u00a0like\u00a0the Roaring Twenties.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s one thing to read about the\u00a0tsunami that\u2019s altered the legal tech universe.\u00a0It\u2019s quite another to see it and hear it in person. But that\u2019s exactly what happened at this year\u2019s ILTACON. Legal tech is now big business. It\u2019s arrived.\u00a0For better or worse.<\/p>\n

The Presser<\/strong><\/p>\n

All this became apparent at the\u00a0initial\u00a0ILTACON presser.\u00a0Gone\u00a0was a\u00a0press room\u00a0located\u00a0miles away from the\u00a0action. Gone was the lack of\u00a0refreshments.\u00a0Gone was the early morning briefing where ILTA reps\u00a0said\u00a0as little as possible.\u00a0Gone was a press corps\u00a0of four, maybe five people.<\/p>\n

Instead,\u00a0it\u00a0was standing room only.\u00a0And\u00a0we now\u00a0get tasty\u00a0hors d\u2019oeuvres\u00a0and a bar. An\u00a0open\u00a0<\/strong>bar<\/strong>!\u00a0Now we\u2019re talking.<\/p>\n

More importantly,\u00a0we got a\u00a0remarkably\u00a0candid, transparent,\u00a0and energetic presentation that lasted over an hour.\u00a0That got a round of applause at the end.<\/p>\n

And what\u00a0ILTA\u00a0representatives\u00a0told us\u00a0in the presser\u00a0tells you everything you want to know about the business of legal tech\u00a0today:<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Last year,\u00a0the closing overall\u00a0ILTACON\u00a0attendance was\u00a04,606. This year, first-day attendance\u00a0stood at 5,625.\u00a0That\u2019s an increase of over 22% over last year.\u00a0And by\u00a0day\u00a0three, it was\u00a05,700.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0ILTA now takes up\u00a0every square inch of\u00a0the giant Gaylord Convention space.\u00a0Every square inch\u00a0of more than\u00a0700,000 square feet.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0By May,\u00a0all\u00a0the\u00a02,888\u00a0rooms\u00a0in the Gaylord hotel were snatched up,\u00a0requiring the use of nine overflow hotel sites.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0There\u00a0are\u00a0a record 241 exhibitor booths in the exhibit hall, weighing a collective\u00a03 tons.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0International attendance is up substantially.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0CIOs and, says ILTA, managing partners\u2019 attendance\u00a0is up substantially.\u00a0Imagine. Managing partners. At a legal tech conference.<\/p>\n

If this doesn\u2019t tell you legal tech is\u00a0in a\u00a0brave\u00a0new world, nothing will.<\/p>\n

And,\u00a0by\u00a0necessity,\u00a0ILTA\u00a0is upping its game and assuming\u00a0even more\u00a0growth and demand. It\u2019s now\u00a0partnering\u00a0with the\u00a0consulting company,\u00a0Cosmonaut<\/a>, to help with future event planning,\u00a0among other things.\u00a0That\u2019s a clear signal that the conference has\u00a0reached a size where\u00a0more\u00a0professional\u00a0expertise is\u00a0necessary.<\/p>\n

ILTA is also\u00a0partnering with\u00a0ACEDS<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0BARBRI<\/a>\u00a0to offer more content in the future.\u00a0It\u2019s talking\u00a0about\u00a0more\u00a0international-\u00a0and niche-directed\u00a0programming.\u00a0And\u00a0It\u2019s even\u00a0openly\u00a0hinting at\u00a0the possibility and need of moving out of\u00a0convention\u00a0spaces attached to hotels and into\u00a0stand-alone\u00a0convention spaces, much like\u00a0LegalWeek<\/a>\u00a0did this year. (And\u00a0already\u00a0incurring\u00a0the\u00a0expected\u00a0crumbling along the way.) They didn\u2019t say it, but\u00a0if business keeps going like it is, that move is inevitable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Clearly ILTA, the\u00a0premier\u00a0legal tech organization,\u00a0has taken notice of\u00a0not only\u00a0where the industry is\u00a0but also\u00a0where it is going.<\/p>\n

The Exhibit Space<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ILTA folks mentioned the exhibit hall several times in the\u00a0presser. They talked about how it had\u00a0grown and took on a more sophisticated\u00a0and energetic\u00a0atmosphere. But that didn\u2019t prepare us for what we saw\u00a0when it opened. An Exhibit Hall that looked and sounded like it belonged at CES. Exhibitor\u00a0spaces\u00a0that looked less like sales booths and more like attractions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Big players taking so much\u00a0exhibit\u00a0space that ILTA talked openly\u00a0in the presser\u00a0about\u00a0limiting\u00a0the space a single\u00a0exhibitor\u00a0could take in the future. Of course, it won\u2019t; the more space taken,\u00a0the more money. And if\u00a0you are thinking you will need to move to a bigger space anyway,\u00a0you\u00a0of course want to sell all the square footage you can.<\/p>\n

And exhibitors\u00a0were\u00a0spending\u00a0money in the space like there is no tomorrow.\u00a0Swanky\u00a0coffee bars. Fancy cocktail bars.\u00a0Elaborate displays.\u00a0A Lamborghini on the floor. (You couldn\u2019t drive it.) <\/p>\n

No puppies at this show. It\u2019s the big time.<\/p>\n

The Parties<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking of spending\u00a0money.\u00a0Vendor\u00a0parties\u00a0used to mean a\u00a0drab\u00a0bar, little to\u00a0no\u00a0entertainment,\u00a0and a few skimpy eats.\u00a0No more. Now they are in exotic\u00a0and swanky locations.\u00a0Locations that are\u00a0substantially\u00a0redone by vendors\u00a0to\u00a0make them Taj Mahals\u00a0for the party.<\/p>\n

But the biggest\u00a0indication\u00a0that legal tech is now big business is the entertainment.\u00a0Groups and performers like Little Big Town,\u00a0Laura Bell Bundy,\u00a0Sheryl Crow,\u00a0and Lady A.\u00a0All appeared at\u00a0this year\u2019s ILTACON\u00a0vendor parties.\u00a0Other recent conferences included performers like\u00a0Nelly, Flo Rida, and\u00a0Flavor Flav.<\/p>\n

Dorothy,\u00a0we\u2019re not in Kansas anymore.<\/p>\n

The Keynotes<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can\u00a0also\u00a0get a sense of the change by looking at the keynote speakers at tech\u00a0conferences. ILTACON included well-known and presumably expensive speakers like Jim Abbott and\u00a0Dr.\u00a0Kevin\u00a0Fong. Other\u00a0conferences\u00a0have\u00a0featured\u00a0sports\u00a0figures\u00a0like Eli Manning,\u00a0actors like Rob Lowe and\u00a0Jake Gyllenhaal.\u00a0The\u00a0message\u00a0is that legal tech is so big that only big names will do.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0<\/strong>Why<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

So\u00a0what changed? How did legal tech go\u00a0overnight\u00a0from an ignored\u00a0backwater\u00a0to\u00a0Sheryl\u00a0and Lady A?\u00a0In a word, AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

AI made investors\u00a0and vendors take notice of\u00a0an\u00a0industry that could be\u00a0completely disrupted by a\u00a0revolutionary\u00a0tool. A tool that\u00a0could\u00a0upend\u00a0an\u00a0estimated<\/a>\u00a0over\u00a0$1\u00a0trillion industry.\u00a0If you believe a new technology can fundamentally remake even part of a trillion-dollar market that hasn\u2019t changed all that much in decades, it\u2019s not hard to start seeing dollar\u00a0signs. Big dollar signs.\u00a0And that\u2019s exactly what has happened.<\/p>\n

I talked with the CEO of ILTA, Joy Heath Rush,\u00a0about this very thing.\u00a0\u201cAI was the trigger,\u201d Rush told me. \u201cCertain\u00a0technologies\u00a0can disrupt an entire industry.\u00a0And the law is\u00a0now seen as\u00a0a big industry\u00a0that can be disrupted.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the FOMO\u00a0effect. Venture capital and private equity money is\u00a0rushing\u00a0to AI. Anything AI.\u00a0It\u2019s a feeding frenzy.\u00a0Better get it while the getting is good.<\/p>\n

Deja V<\/strong>u<\/strong>\u00a0All Over Again?<\/strong><\/p>\n

But in the midst of all the glitz, glamor,\u00a0and money, it\u2019s good to recall\u00a0what\u00a0George Santayana<\/a>\u00a0once said:\u00a0\u201cThose who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In many ways, it feels like we are\u00a0in the midst of\u00a0the\u00a0legal tech\u00a0Roaring Twenties. (Don\u2019t get any ideas, I was not yet alive\u00a0for the real Roaring Twenties. I\u2019m not\u00a0that<\/strong>\u00a0old).\u00a0But the years of the Great Gatsby were followed by\u00a0the crash. The\u00a0Dust\u00a0Bowl. Failed\u00a0businesses.\u00a0Lost fortunes.\u00a0Devastated\u00a0individuals.\u00a0The drunken party was over.<\/p>\n

So\u00a0while we may be\u00a0astounded\u00a0and\u00a0amazed\u00a0by where legal tech is today, it can change just as quickly to a\u00a0burst bubble.\u00a0The change\u00a0from the Roaring Twenties to bankruptcy can happen just as suddenly.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to\u00a0remember\u00a0that\u00a0the practice of law, for all the technology and money now swirling around it, remains fundamentally about people, judgment, communication, and persuasion.<\/p>\n

AI may change\u00a0some\u00a0things. But\u00a0not\u00a0what\u00a0the practice\u00a0is\u00a0really about.\u00a0Even if\u00a0some things change gradually, then suddenly.<\/p>\n

\n

Stephen Embry is a lawyer, speaker, blogger, and writer. He publishes\u00a0TechLaw Crossroads<\/a>, a blog devoted to the examination of the tension between technology, the law, and the practice of law.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post ILTACON Confirms:\u00a0Gradually, Then Suddenly\u00a0Legal Tech\u00a0Became A Big Business<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How did you go bankrupt? Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly. \u2014 The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway, 1926 When I started\u00a0writing\u00a0about legal tech a\u00a0decade or so ago, it was a sleepy business.\u00a0Most of the time not all that much\u00a0happened\u2026 which\u00a0made\u00a0it\u00a0pretty\u00a0easy\u00a0to keep up with what was going on. The\u00a0legal tech conferences\u00a0were subdued little affairs. The smaller […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161728\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}