ILTA - Past Reflection & New Direction

As I prepared for my first “ILTACON” in 1982 or 1983, I was only three or four years into my LegalTech journey. I was excited about collaborating with new friends (I didn’t have many old friends yet), learning new tips and tricks and having first-hand discussions with the vendors. Back then, we weren’t even called ILTA yet, or even LawNet; we were VSLUG: The VS Legal User’s Group. Wang was really the only platform in use at law firms and the VS was their premium product, combining both hardware and software to deliver word processing, calendar, and email. We all ran WANG and LTMS, an automated time, billing, and accounting system from Informatics. This was really the first legal tech tool used to capture time, prepare bills, calculate realizations, and produce financial statements along with detailed reports. Wang eventually yielded to the PC and Informatics yielded to Elite and CMS, which moved firms to SQL platforms and greatly extended the feature set. 

With the technology changes, VSLUG became LawNet, and the group grew as more law firms and corporate legal departments became interested in technology. Going International (I was at the first event in the U.K.), LawNet became ILTA, which continues strong today!

I’m more excited about attending this, my thirty-something-eth ITLACON than I have been in years. It’s going to be a Joyful time.

I’ve spent my entire career, now 40 years, at law firms, legal consultancies, and legal tech companies. ILTA has been critical to me during this entire time.  

I’ve met life-long friends, solved problems, become educated on new products and concepts, and been part of changing how law firms use technology. Most of the early ILTA staff worked with me prior to joining ILTA, and I’m proud to say that others I’ve worked with are now law firm CIOs and vendor CEOs.

ILTA is more than just ILTACON’s great sessions and knowledge sharing. It’s about the connections, the networking, and the live in-person social interactions. It's about learning what other firms are doing, what has been tried in the past, and how innovations are being thought about. It's about seeing things in action and use; experimenting about what should (and can) be accomplished. It's about hearing vendor ideas—and giving them ideas on how to solve big problems. It’s a journey through other firms’ challenges, successes, and failures. It’s about career development and hearing about others’ journeys, too.

Suffice it to say, I love ILTA, which is why I’m taking time on this long plane ride to write my third annual pre-ILTACON missive.

Two years ago, my open letter to the ILTA Board called into question some of ILTA’s decisions, lack of direction, and the degrading of its core values. It was met with loud support and was often referenced by others as the "Save ILTA campaign." This "campaign" took flight to help initiate important governance and structural changes. I’m thankful that I had a small part in putting ILTA back on the right track again.

I wrote my next letter wondering whether ILTA could regain its heart and soul.

This year, I want to offer a virtual toast to Joy Heath Rush.

I’ve known Joy since her early days at Sidley. I endorsed her the day she was named Interim CEO and again when Interim was dropped, as she became the rightful CEO.

Last fall on a cold day in Chicago, Joy and I had breakfast. We share an enthusiasm and similar ILTA journey. We both respect ILTA as an institution and want ILTA to grow and continue to serve long after we have retired from the community. We brainstormed on ideas and agreed that all organizations and associations should work together and, in that spirit, Joy joined us at the Association of Legal Technologists’ ALT’s second annual conference as my guest.

I want to raise a glass to Joy for her listening ear, for her quick action to align ILTA core values, and for putting the "Joy" back into ILTA, which our dear friend, Peggy Wechsler, always called “a labor of love.” To Joy Heath Rush, the hardest working person in our industry - and perhaps the kindest and most generous, too.

I’ve learned through my work as Board Director at the Valley of the Suns YMCA that an organization’s mission is always evolving as its members transform and their needs constantly change. As with most non-profits, the ILTA staff is augmented with volunteers, not only to minimize costs but to provide advice and services. These services are manifested in programs to meet the needs of the members.

Joy and her staff, along with the re-energized group of volunteers, have performed a Herculean job of developing and rolling out a variety of new programs in different formats, including new events, new groups, and new social gatherings. There is now something for everyone, no matter your tenure, your role, or your level of curiosity. If you are new to ILTA or looking to renew your ILTA journey, now is the time to get involved and stay involved. We have always learned from each other and together we will continue to accomplish great things.

On the heels of the return to ILTA’s core values and the amazing new programs, I would like to turn our attention to vendors. Call us what you’d like—Strategic Partners, Business Partners or, as ILTA does, Sponsors. Let's work together to adopt a Uniform Code of Conduct - not just for ILTACON, but at all events throughout our industry.  

It’s an open secret that vendors pay for events, yet we are often frustrated by the lack of exposure, quality of attendees, lead generation, expo hall placement and hours, and not being part of the planning process. We are looked upon as second-class citizens. And we need to do our part to change that.

Conference attendees avoid us because we are:

• Too aggressive to make our pitch
• Ask too many questions about their role in the firm
• Want to know what technology they are using
• Gain an understanding for timing of a decision
• Push to demo, demo, demo
• And, too many others to list!

At most shows, there are more of us (vendors) than there are of them (attendees). Think about that and run the math: if there are 2000 vendors, and each vendor asks five questions to 10% of the attendees, how many questions is each attendee being asked? Spoiler alert: it’s 1000! They must be exhausted.

It’s no wonder our name tag is a different color and that there are some attendee-only sessions. We overwhelm with our need to promote our product, which in turn shuts them down further, which leaves us frustrated and feeling like the events aren’t productive.

Let’s fix this by establishing a Vendor Code of Conduct. We know we will only benefit ourselves by behaving in a professional manner, but first we have to agree on what that should look like.

Through the Association of Legal Technologists (ALT), we will begin to work with vendors within our community to draft a Professional Code of Conduct for Legal Technology Providers. It will include: maintaining a basic knowledge of legal technology, having an understanding of how law firms and/or legal departments operate, professing a relevant vocabulary specific to our industry, and more. It will also address ethics in selling, both directly and electronically, during events. 

Adopting a Professional Code of Conduct will provide the vendor community with more credibility with associations, events, and buyers. It will put attendees at ease, which in turn will open them up to more interactions and discussions. It will also help recognize our expertise, and acknowledge that many of us who work for vendors have spent years working for law firms (and vice versa) and understand the industry as well as anyone. Living by this code will get us invited to be part of more conversations.  

Vendors have amazing experiences, both from their people having served within firms, and because we interface with firms of all sizes every day. We hear and solve their problems. Our people don’t just use technology - we design it, built it and support it. Along the way, we look for ways to make law firms more productive, more organized, more secure, and more profitable. We all should be full-fledged members of the community, but first we have to act like it.

Together we make the impossible, POSSIBLE!

I’m so looking forward to seeing all of my old colleagues this week and meeting as many new ones as possible. Please catch me speaking on Innovative Approaches to Document Scanning and Better Information Governance on Wednesday at 2:30p in the Education Hub. Or reach out and we can get together in our Boardroom—drinks are on me.

Long live ILTA!

#ILTACON19 #WeAreILTA #LegalIT #ITVendorStrong

@ILTANet @ALTLegalTech @VOSYMCA

www.iltanet.org www.altnets.org www.valleyymca.org