Highlights from Legalweek 2020: Trends, Technology and Networking

After much anticipation, the Legalweek Conference was back this year from February 4th to the 6th at the Hilton Midtown hotel in New York. After three packed days at the world’s largest and longest-running trade show for legal technology, one question remains: was it worth it, and should we be looking forward to next year? Let’s recap.
 

There were hundreds of exhibitors, dozens of workshops, and numerous speakers in the Hilton Midtown conference center. Every exhibitor brought amazing legal technology products and services and even had onsite demonstrations, including Onit. Our live demonstration of our enterprise legal management and contract lifecycle management software drew excellent crowds and sparked amazing conversations with countless industry professionals.

If you attended, you probably got a glimpse of our Mardi Gras parade on February 4th that led attendees to our happy hour located at the Dream Hotel.

Networking with the attendees provided us valuable insight into how the market was changing and adapting to new technologies such as AI. It is clear that most organizations and vendors are making the push towards incorporating AI technologies into their legal operations, which raised many questions and opinions on the best strategy for implementing and utilizing AI across not only legal but the entire enterprise. The Legalweek Conference also went far beyond just casual networking on the exhibit floor. There were countless sponsored happy hours including Onit’s Mardi Gras Happy Hour and exclusive in-house legal leaders’ dinner! I can guarantee that more business transactions took place during those private events than anywhere else.

But more importantly, the Legalweek Conference had a wealth of different sessions, speakers, and workshops. Onit’s own Account Manager Paige Edwards moderated the session, “Career Up! LegalOps for eDiscovery Professionals & Tech Wonky Attorneys” which was an enlightening discussion between Prudential, Toyota, and Purdue Pharma, that received an incredible turnout. There was also a keynote from blockchain and emerging technology researcher Bettina Warburg, co-founder and managing partner, Warburg Serress Investments and Animal Ventures, where she provided valuable insight into the future of blockchain technology within the legal industry.

So, should you be looking forward to attending Legalweek in 2021? Definitely! We cannot wait to see what new and exciting events, vendors, speakers, and knowledge next year will bring us.