For legal professionals, attending law-related conferences can be extremely rewarding. They offer significant opportunities for professional development, continuing legal education, networking, interacting with experts, and discovering new technology in the legal space.
But with so many conferences happening each year, and new ones popping up all the time, it can be hard to know which conference is right for you. While we won’t be able to cover all of them, we’ve tried our best to summarize the major ones and share our thoughts on who they are best for.
Legalweek
Organized by: www.law.com
When: February, usually in the first week for 4 days
Where: New York
About: This is a pretty well-established legaltech conference that gained quite a bit of traction as e-discovery started to become the norm. While Legalweek used to be relevant only for e-discovery related tools and processes – and this continues to be a focus – there is now growing emphasis on general legal technology as well.
Best for: Anyone interested in processes linked to e-discovery. Historically, this conference has been great for vendors in the e-discovery space to network with lawyers and law firms, and this is still the case. But the conference is expanding to cover other tools as well.
CLOC
Organized by: Corporate Legal Operations Consortium
When: May, for 3 days
Where: US
About: CLOC was founded by senior legal operations executives from major technology companies, including Google, Adobe, NetApp, and Cisco, as an organization for legal operations professionals. 2020 will be the fifth year of the CLOC conference. This conference focuses specifically on a new area of large companies called legal operations, which is different from in-house counsel who are more of a cover-all for all legal functions. Legal ops specialize in the operational aspects of running a business, and is often a function of large tech companies.
Best for: Since this was founded by tech majors, there is a big tech presence, making it a good place for vendors who want to get in front of large enterprise customers. It is also good for companies in the tech space who want to improve or understand about legal operations for their business.
Learn more about CLOC 2020 Vegas Institute
ILTACON
Organized by: International Legal Technology Association
When: August, for 4 days
Where: US, in different cities each year; the 2020 conference will be held in Nashville, Tennessee
About: ILTA is a longstanding institution and its primary focus is law firms. This conference is for members of law firms who want to learn about the legaltech that could be used in their business. The conference has started to expand into the corporate legal space as well, but are still mainly an event for large law firms.
Best for: Vendors who want to sell to law firms; the conference usually accommodates over 100 vendors. The conference is also attended by legal technologists from small and large law firm as well as lawyers looking to better understand tech initiatives that support legal practices.
Learn more about International Legal Technology Association
ACC Annual Meeting
Organized by: Association of Corporate Counsel
When: October, usually for 4 days
Where: US, in a different city each year; the 2020 meeting is to be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
About: This conference is perhaps less focused on legal technology. It is more geared towards in-house corporate counsel so that they may stay up-to-date on the latest developments and best practices in their field as well as pursue professional development. It tends to be for legal professionals across a variety of businesses.
Best for: In-house counsel looking to meet and learn from others in their field; service providers who exhibit their solutions aimed at corporate legal businesses
Learn more about Association of Corporate Counsel
Legal Geek Conference London
Organized by: Legal Geek
When: October, for 2 days
Where: London
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Legal Geek North America Conference
When: June, for one day
Where: New York (2020)
About: Legal Geek is heavily focused on tech startups for the legal profession. The London conference used to be for just a day, but now spans two days combining speaking events and workshops. The presentations are in the form of short TED-style talks and offer a broad-brush overview of topics. This is a good conference to learn about new and emerging legal tech companies, and so the organizers encourage even very small legaltech startups to attend.
Best for: People who want a more high-level understanding of trends in the market, but may not be too interested in doing a deep-dive into the subject; new startups looking to learn and network as well as showcase their platforms
Learn more about Legal Geek Conference
Legal Innovators
Organized by: Cosmonauts (and created by Artificial Lawyer)
When: October, for 2 days
Where: London
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Legal Innovators California
When: June, for 1 day
Where: San Francisco
About: This conference brings together technology, innovation and the business of law. Like Legal Geek, it’s focus is on legaltech innovation, but it takes a much deeper look into the technology and its implications for the legal space. The conference features a number of speakers who are experts in their fields.
Best for: Legal tech enthusiasts who want to get into the nitty-gritties of the technology, but has only limited space for vendors.
Learn more about Legal Innovators
IACCM Europe Conference
Organized by: The International Association for Contract & Commercial Management
When: October, for 3 days (this is for 2020; the schedule has changed due to the impact of COVID-19)
Where: UK
About: The IACCM is based out of Europe, but they also have events in the US. This conference in Europe is mainly aimed at contract managers, who attend this for sessions in the latest developments in the contract management space.
Best for: Contract managers; doesn’t have a huge vendor presence.
Learn more about he International Association for Contract & Commercial Management
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