Upcoming ABA Techshow 2023

Join us at the ABA Techshow on March 1-4th in Chicago, Illinois. It is an excellent opportunity to expand your knowledge bank and network with top legal professionals.

The ABA Techshow is an annual event focused on legal technology. It's an opportunity to test over one-hundred different vendor products, listen to keynote speakers, and connect with others in the legal community.

Attending the ABA Techshow will benefit anyone who works at a law firm by educating them on the newest technology and empowering them to use it to its full potential.

Even if you already have a few legal tech products you love, there is bound to be valuable information you will only find where you find. You can choose your path and explore topics like the Metaverse, Chat GTP, marketing and intake automation, financial management, and more.

In this day and age, practicing law is about more than just being a great lawyer. It's also about marketing and continuing education to remain compliant and competitive.

Photo of the Intaker team from 2022 ABA Techshow

What are some of the events and activities taking place?

March 1st is the day of arrival. There's a startup pitch competition and welcome reception to kick off the event. The first full day is March 2nd, which starts with the Legal Tech Visionaries panel hosted by some of the industry's brightest minds.

After this, you get to choose your track. The options include financial management, marketing, core concepts, operations, futures, client experience, and transactional.

Financial management will focus on tech that can help you recession-proof your firm. It will dive into billing, cryptos, NFTs, tax strategies, and more money-related topics.

The marketing track concerns ethical and effective ways to market lawyers and their firms. It will teach you how to attract and convert your ideal clients.

The Core Concepts track will focus on technology competence by brushing up on using Mac, PC, Word, PDFs, and other technologies. The Operations track provides education on scaling and optimizing your firm by implementing more efficient processes.

Futures discusses the implications of emerging technologies such as the metaverse, NFTs, and Web3 projects. It discusses practical and ethical considerations for lawyers and what these innovations mean for the legal industry.

The Client Experience track is about making the client journey exceed expectations from intake to offboarding. Finally, transactional explores topics including legal ops, contract management systems, and more, with world-class speakers and workshops included.

How to decide which track to participate in?

These tracks are meant to provide you with the most valuable experience possible. If you are still uncomfortable using technology at your firm, the Core Concepts track would be a great option. If you're a tech buff and love to keep up with all emerging trends, you might find the most value in the Futures.

If your primary concern this year is managing money to recession-proof your firm, Financial Management is the right choice. Marketing is also an invaluable tool for lawyers. Knowing the basics is beneficial whether you're doing marketing in-house or hiring out.

If you have been focused on lead generation, the next step is to hone in on the client experience. The Client Experience track is excellent for improving your conversion rate. Lastly, the Transactional track is for anyone interested in document management, compliance, and other higher-level legal tech topics.

What else is happening at ABA?

The day of arrival begins with a startup pitch competition hosted by Robert Ambrogi, founder of popular legal tech blog LawNext, followed by a welcome reception. There will also be a yoga class and 5k for those who want to be active in the following days. Other events include happy hours and shared meals, doubling as excellent networking opportunities.

Who should attend?

ABA is for anyone involved in the legal tech industry, including lawyers, entrepreneurs, litigators, and in-house and outside counsel. All are welcome; you'll want to be there if you work in law or legal marketing.

Conclusion

Legal work has become dependent on technology as it helps lawyers service their clients more efficiently. The ABA Techshow empowers attendees by teaching them all about existing and emerging technologies and what they mean for the future of law. Vendors are available to answer questions and provide product testing.

ABA only happens once a year, if you're looking to improve your firm's operational, financial, and technological resilience in a rapid changing landscape of the legal industry, then attending is worthwhile.