For the second time in a month, I attended a first-time convention. And, as soon as once more, the inaugural convention exceeded my expectations.
A number of weeks in the past, I wrote about Kaleidoscope, the debut convention produced by 8am. This time, I discovered myself on the Client Experience Summit, the inaugural convention of the authorized know-how firm Case Status, held in its hometown of Charleston, S.C., Sept. 24-26.
Because the authorized tech convention panorama turns into more and more crowded – on this month alone, there are a number of conferences each single week – a counterintuitive pattern is rising: smaller, customer-focused conferences are additionally delivering worth, however in a extra focused method.
The Energy of Focus
The 2-day summit centered on a single, important query: How can legislation corporations enhance their purchasers’ expertise? As cofounder and CEO Andy Seavers (pictured above) stated in his opening keynote, “With out the shopper, there isn’t a case. With out the shopper, there isn’t a agency. This can be a shopper enterprise and we have to put an emphasis on the shopper.”
This was not a sprawling occasion attempting to be every part to everybody. As an alternative, it introduced collectively practitioners from small and medium-sized corporations – principally centered on private damage, immigration, household, and employment legislation, and all united of their curiosity in higher serving their purchasers.
Employment lawyer Christy Granieri stated her “technology-first” agency won’t settle for purchasers unwilling to make use of the Case Standing app.
This focused strategy created one thing you don’t at all times discover at bigger authorized tech conferences: alternatives for peer-to-peer studying and sharing. When one speaker, the chief of a California employment agency, described her observe as “a Case Standing agency” – going as far as to say she won’t take purchasers unwilling to make use of the app – you may nearly sense it resonate with others within the room.
What Made It Work
Very similar to the Kaleidoscope convention, this first-time summit felt polished {and professional}. Among the many components that made it so:
- Sensible information from practitioners. The speaker lineup featured attorneys and agency leaders who’re actively concerned in working their very own practices. That meant that the applications supplied battle-tested insights from individuals who do that stuff each day. Periods lined shopper expertise, shopper service, know-how integration, and sustainable agency progress, all grounded in precise expertise.
- Two complementary tracks. The summit supplied two complementary tracks. The “Future-Targeted” observe examined shopper expertise as a long-term progress engine and strategic differentiator, whereas the “Tech-Ahead” observe explored how knowledge, AI, automation and built-in authorized know-how can modernize shopper interactions.
- The Charleston benefit. Let’s face it: location issues for a convention. The summit passed off at Lodge Emeline, a superbly up to date historic lodge within the coronary heart of downtown Charleston, an attractive and historic metropolis. With almost all applications and meals held on-site, attendees have been simply steps away from the summit’s studying and networking alternatives.
- Common CLE credit score. In a element that issues to practising attorneys, each program supplied CLE credit score for each state. That detailed remodeled the convention from merely good to take care of a sound funding in skilled growth.
The Buyer Convention Benefit
The CX Summit mirrored a rising pattern amongst authorized tech firms, together with smaller ones, to host their very own buyer conferences. Whereas that makes the authorized tech convention calendar more and more crowded, the proliferation of occasions is definitely a optimistic for the authorized group.
Quite than forcing everybody into one-size-fits-all mega-conferences, this increasing array of smaller conferences gives occasions tailor-made to particular pursuits, observe areas and know-how ecosystems.
A dwell recording of the Moral-ish podcast centered on the ethics of AI, with Brian Web page, chief authorized officer, Belief Guss Damage Attorneys; Constance Anastopoulo, president, Charleston Regulation Faculty; Ty Robinson, founding legal professional, Ty Robinson Regulation Agency; Marina Bradley, government director, Ostroff Godshall; and Angel Evan, AI ethicist and observe lead, AG Consulting Companions.
For a Case Standing buyer, spending two days with fellow customers and the corporate’s staff arguably delivers extra actionable worth than a generic authorized innovation convention ever may.
It’s value noting that not everybody on the CX Summit was a Case Standing buyer, they usually needn’t have been to have benefitted from it. Some attendees got here merely to learn to higher serve their very own purchasers, and there was loads of programming for them.
Sure, some panels centered particularly on utilizing – and maximizing – the Case Standing platform. However many others addressed ethics, know-how, knowledge, AI and shopper expertise ideas relevant to any legislation observe.
Charleston’s Church and Union restaurant was a fantastic setting for the summit’s feast.
To my thoughts, such a stability is essential. To achieve success, a buyer convention can’t be simply an insular product coaching session.
‘A Big Alternative’
The CX Summit achieved one thing extra by bringing collectively a group of authorized professionals united by their shared values and challenges, with the product serving as a catalyst somewhat than the only focus.
The summit demonstrated how smaller, focused conferences can ship outsized worth. By bringing collectively a particular group round a centered mission, it was in a position to foster the form of real studying and relationship-building that bigger conferences typically battle to realize.
If this inaugural CX Summit is any indication, Case Standing has created one thing priceless not only for its clients, however for anybody severe about remodeling how legislation corporations serve their purchasers. In a crowded convention panorama, possibly that form of focus is one thing the authorized occupation wants extra of.
To not point out, for legislation corporations, the chance is large. To cite Seavers once more:
“Eighty % of legislation agency purchasers really feel neglected. Once we take into consideration an business that has an moral obligation to take care of purchasers, and that’s the usual we’re at, we’ve got an enormous alternative to actually change and actually develop and actually begin placing concentrate on the shopper in a singular method.”
