On the floor, ILTACON 2025, the Worldwide Authorized Know-how Affiliation’s largest annual authorized know-how occasion, had all of the makings of an excellent convention. However regardless of the thought-provoking periods and keynotes, networking alternatives and PR fanfare, I couldn’t shake the sense that we have been within the midst of a seismic shift in authorized tech, surrounded by the stressed power of a boomtown.
The convention was held final week, and its venue wasn’t the issue. It was fairly pretty, all issues thought of. Out of all of the Gaylord’s and their post-apocalyptic dome environs, the Maryland facility is essentially the most navigable and conference-goer pleasant. It doesn’t take lengthy to get the place you must go, and issues are sometimes proper the place you’d count on them to be.
And it wasn’t the convention itself both. So far as authorized tech conferences go, this one was well-planned, with many participating actions, networking occasions and seminars. There have been loads of alternatives to community. The wine choice wasn’t dangerous—one thing that’s notably necessary to me—and a spotlight to element was evident. There have been data cubicles, rigorously positioned drop containers for the Klik SmartBadges post-conference, and ILTAcon representatives have been conveniently situated all through the ability, prepared to help with instructions and extra.
The gold rush
It wasn’t ILTACON that bothered me; it was the heady, gold-rushed, “something goes and no matter sticks works” surroundings that was unsettling. Whereas this 12 months’s convention was pirate-themed, it felt extra just like the Wild West to me.
This perspective permeated the convention, pushed largely by the frenzied, frontier-style synthetic intelligence revolution. The AI practice is hurtling ahead at lightning pace, vacation spot unknown, and everyone seems to be attempting to money in earlier than it derails.
AI roadmaps and merchandise shared mere months in the past have already been deserted. Firms introduced new AI instrument names, new improvement approaches, and new developments, whereas acknowledging that AI deployment is an imperfect, shifting goal, as a result of the foundational instruments relied upon at this time could very properly change tomorrow.
In the meantime, authorized AI startups are multiplying quicker than anybody can observe, which is simply as properly, since there’s little motive to strive. Many will vanish in a single day, both burning by their funding or getting swallowed up within the acquisition abyss.
Off the rails
In the end, nevertheless, my unease was pushed by greater than the free-wheeling abandon of the AI period. There was additionally a way that the reins, each technological {and professional}, had been tossed apart altogether, a gleeful abandonment of restrictive expectations. It’s the Wild Wild West yet again, prior constraints be damned. The environment carried a well-recognized bravado—a chest-thumping, disruption-at-all-costs power that celebrated extra as a lot as innovation.
From the questionable option to characteristic a scantily clad lady contortionist in an absurdly outsized champagne glass throughout an organization’s after-hours occasion, to the informal conversational invocation of final 12 months’s Legalweek sexual assault controversies as little greater than a passing punchline, it felt like one thing had shifted. The trade’s bombast and showmanship have been changing into unattainable to disregard, at instances overshadowing its substance.
The lay of the land
Even so, not all the pieces was runaway trains and desperado techniques. Beneath the noise, the press briefings supplied actual perception into the place distributors are inserting their bets on this AI frontier. Within the face of extreme bluster, some press briefings supplied a balanced perspective, with distributors desperate to show they weren’t merely leaping on the gold rush bandwagon however as a substitute have been providing worthwhile developments and updates to their clients.
Two themes emerged from my discussions. First, regardless of who you spoke to, “agentic AI,” that means AI that autonomously takes purposeful actions, was a buzzword that cropped up usually, whether or not throughout press briefings or over drinks. One other key development was the race to develop into the generative AI residence base for authorized professionals.
For instance, LexisNexis staked its declare on its new customized AI-guided authorized analysis instrument supported by agentic workflows, Protégé. This instrument features a characteristic permitting its clients to entry shopper LLMs like GPT-5 and Claude contained in the Lexis+ AI platform. LexisNexis’ method was each distinctive and sensible. As an alternative of pretending legal professionals will hand over OpenAI, they’ve constructed round it, betting that safety and comfort will preserve customers squarely of their ecosystem.
Equally, Thomson Reuters introduced its newest and last model of Westlaw, Westlaw Benefit. It additionally introduced the newest launch of its generative AI authorized analysis platform, CoCounsel Authorized, which options deep analysis and agentic-guided workflows. Throughout a press briefing at ILTACON, Steve Hasker, Thomson Reuters president and CEO, defined why the corporate was investing so closely in AI integration, emphasizing the numerous impression generative and agentic AI could have on the follow of legislation: “We’re initially of the largest disruption to the authorized career in its historical past.”
The house base platform development was additionally evident in e-discovery platform bulletins, with distributors persevering with to broaden performance inside their platforms past what was initially meant. This method is basically pushed by the datasets that generative and agentic AI instruments can leverage.
To that finish, Everlaw introduced its Deep Dive instrument, which permits customers to question whole doc databases and procure focused responses. The corporate additionally introduced that it had obtained FedRAMP authorization, thus enabling governmental use of its software program.
DISCO’s bulletins additionally highlighted an AI-enabled enlargement of its platform’s authentic use instances past conventional duties reminiscent of e-discovery and doc administration. Current options added to the platform included the launch of Auto Overview within the UK and AI-powered doc summarization and translation options.
NetDocuments additionally targeted on how AI is reshaping the position of doc administration platforms in legislation corporations. A key level that got here out in the course of the product briefing was the combination of AI-powered workflow automation into the software program has resulted in a shift the place DMS platforms can now function the house base for generative AI-powered document-related duties in legislation corporations.
In the meantime, the generative AI authorized platform Legora is targeted on offering a system that allows authorized professionals to perform an array of authorized duties, from authorized analysis and complicated authorized workflows to doc drafting and doc evaluation. Legora continues to concentrate on increasing its more and more common platform’s buyer base past Europe and has been gaining vital floor within the U.S., notably with bigger legislation corporations.
Throughout different briefings, extra narrowly targeted AI performance was highlighted, that includes instruments that harnessed the ability of generative and agentic AI by addressing very particular authorized use instances. One instance is Chronotracer, a authorized AI platform that was launched publicly earlier this month and is designed to course of and analyze giant datasets in litigation instances. It handles a variety of proof varieties, from telephone information, emails and social media posts, enabling the consumer to create a complete chronology that may be simply filtered and analyzed.
Likewise, Descrybe.ai is one other instrument that depends on generative AI for a targeted objective, particularly, superior authorized analysis. Launched in 2023, it gives entry to user-friendly authorized analysis capabilities at an inexpensive worth level. To additional its footprint, the group is now exploring the potential of permitting different authorized AI instruments to leverage its intensive dataset, prospecting for brand spanking new methods to broaden its attain.
There’s no sheriff on the town
Whereas the nuts and bolts of the information popping out of ILTACON felt like enterprise as traditional, strip away the sensible bulletins and demos, and the larger image is more durable to disregard: The gold rush is in full throttle, and the city feels lawless. There’s actual promise in these instruments, but in addition vital hazard lurking within the unchecked bravado. Popping out of ILTACON, I can’t assist however surprise—who’s the sheriff on this story, and what occurs if nobody rises to the event?
Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York-based lawyer, creator and journalist. She is the principal authorized perception strategist at 8am, dad or mum firm of LawPay, MyCase, CasePeer and DocketWise. She is the nationally acknowledged creator of Cloud Computing for Attorneys and is a co-author of Social Media for Attorneys: The Subsequent Frontier, each printed by the American Bar Affiliation. She writes common columns for ABAJournal.com and Above the Legislation, has authored a whole lot of articles for different publications, and he or she usually speaks at conferences concerning the intersection of legislation and rising applied sciences. Observe her on LinkedIn, or she may be reached at [email protected].
