AI Takes Centre Stage again at Legal Geek 2024

3Kites consultants, Jenni, Luke and Anthony, recently attended the much-talked-about Legal Geek event. Here is a summary of their individual experiences:

Anthony's Legal Geek Experience

This was my first Legal Geek event, and it won’t be my last! The venue was bustling, I met a lot of old and new faces, and the list of talks and workshops was endless. Plus, as a foodie, I was well catered for!

One of the talks that stood out to me was Kristin Zmrhal’s presentation on embracing minimalism to drive change. Drawing from her personal experience of moving from Austin to London with excess baggage, she spoke about how overburdening projects with unnecessary features or complexities can hinder progress and adaptability. She also emphasised the importance of avoiding the pitfalls of focusing on the end goal and neglecting the journey. With my experience of so many projects and change initiatives in organisations over the years, I couldn’t agree more with Kristin. Collaborating to identify your project’s redline requirements and taking the time to consider the steps needed to get to your objectives is crucial.

Of course, GenAI was all the rage and never more than a sentence away at the event. It seemed like every vendor was either offering their existing product with a generous side dish of GenAI or bringing GenAI to the heart of their product. However, after talking to a few vendors, it was reassuring to walk away feeling like the industry was starting to put a lot of thought into the problem that needed solving and building (or at least training) a GenAI tool to solve those specific problems. Michael Grubbs from BRYTER summed it up well, “We need to stop building solutions that people don't need and instead focus on real-world challenges”.

Overall, it was a good experience that highlighted the evolving landscape of the legal profession. While technology is transforming how we work, the human element—collaboration and problem-solving—remains essential. Plus, I’ve now got enough notebooks for 2025!

Jenni's Legal Geek Experience

In contrast to Anthony’s first-time experience, I feel like a Legal Geek veteran but I always value the opportunity to see so many vendors and KM/Innovation folks all in one room. I felt like the focus at this year’s event on getting past the hype around GenAI to get deeper into the real-life experiences of those who have been piloting tools in earnest has been an important shift in the conversation. Though it is hard to get as geekily into the detail as one might like during the lightning talk format (and “speed dating” for products isn’t to everyone’s taste), as Luke says, there are always product developers at the vendor stands to probe for more details on the back end of how the products work.

In terms of the content at the event, some highlights for me were:

The exhortation from Susan Hackett (Legal Executive Leadership) for senior lawyers to get on board or “get out of the way” to ensure that the profession keeps innovating and juniors get what they need in terms of training and tools.
·The reassurance from Jennifer Poon of NetDocuments that GenAI was probably not going to take a lawyer’s job any time soon as she illustrated with her AI-generated slideshow images, one of which held the gold outside of the vault intended to secure it!
Nicola Shaver’s (Legaltech Hub) colleagues building a Jenga tower on a wobbly bench off to the side on stage during her talk to flag up the point about how the legal tech marketplace is increasingly complex and just “buying tech” could threaten to overwhelm firms who don’t have the right strategic focus to understand the problems they are trying to solve.
Dr Sue Black ( Computer Science professor from Durham University) who inspired me by talking about her #techmums and saving Bletchley Park initiatives.
The Start-up alley folks looking to introduce solutions to help barristers and in-house teams.
And, in true Legal Geek style, broadening the conversation beyond the technology to host the ever-immense Mel B who brought a welcome spotlight onto how workplaces can help spot the warning signs that people may be struggling with domestic abuse.

I’ll be back next year!

Luke’s Legal Geek Experience

This was my first Legal Geek experience and I came with the hope of gaining a greater understanding of established vendors and new challenger products in the market, and Legal Geek delivered that. The vendors were out in force and fortunately for me, each stand came with someone technical who could do a deep dive into the product with me. Thank you to all those people who took the time to patiently answer all my questions!

The legal technology market is facing one of the most disruptive periods in its history with Cloud and AI at the forefront of this disruption. Vendors are clearly backing this cloud first and AI era, with all the stands having cloud and AI as part of their demos. Some vendors gave me real cause for optimism as they seemed to have the foundations/people in place and an interesting product roadmap, others may be at the start of their journey but still share the same goal of embracing cloud and AI.

What impressed me the most was the shift from innovative solutions being solely an IT team pet project, to a clear business driver that is embraced throughout the whole business. I met lawyers who are now the head of innovation, lawyers who were leading knowledge management and lawyers at technology vendors who are shaping the products lawyers use. This has got to be a positive thing for seeing greater adoption of tech products on the ground and elevating technology to a key business differentiator.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience and I would recommend it anyone interested in Legal IT.

Top tips

Thinking of going in 2025? Here are some top tips:

Get the app. There is always a vast number of talks, workshops, vendor pitches and activities. Trying to scan the agenda for things you would like to see is a good way to help plan your day.
Use the dedicated workspaces. There were times during the two-day conference when we had to take some calls. Fortunately, this year there were some dedicated workspaces with power sockets for you to work and take calls.
Prepare a list of people you want to speak to in advance as it’s manic once you arrive at the venue. Flagging that you are attending the event on LinkedIn in the days leading up to Legal Geek is a good way of finding out who from your network will also be there.
Have your game face on as it’s a very busy day. Be prepared to tax your social battery, but in a good way!