ABA TECHSHOW to be held in April

The ABA TECHSHOW 2015 Conference and EXPO, which brings together lawyers, legal professionals and technology experts for three days to learn about the most useful and practical technologies available for the legal profession, will be held April 16-18 at the Hilton Chicago.

In addition to educational sessions designed to help legal professionals understand how to get work done more efficiently, saving time and money, the EXPO will showcase the latest services, software and hardware designed specifically for practicing lawyers.

Keynote presenters will be author Nick Carr, along with consultant and former in-house counsel Casey Flaherty and law professor Andrew Perlman.
Carr, who writes about technology and culture, will be the luncheon speaker on Friday, April 17, from 12:45-1:45 p.m. In addition to being a best-selling author, Carr has written for such publications as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. His latest book, “The Glass Cage: Automation and Us,” offers a rare and necessary look at the intersection of the machine and humanity.

Flaherty and Perlman will lead a Saturday morning (8:30-9:30) plenary panel titled, “I’m a Lawyer, Not a Techie! Examining the 21st Century Lawyer’s Evolving Ethical Duty of Competence,” in which they will discuss how much of today’s technology you really need to know from a practical and ethical standpoint. Casey was in-house counsel for Kia Motors America and is the creator of the Legal Technology Audit. Perlman is a professor at Suffolk University Law School and the director of the Institute on Law Practice Technology and Innovation there. They will also talk about how and why it was important for the Commission on Ethics 20/20 to include a requirement for technology.

Another highlight of ABA TECHSHOW will be the presentation of the James I. Keane Memorial Award to the law firm of Houghton Vandenack Williams of Omaha, Neb., for excellence in eLawyering. The award will presented to Mary Vandenack and Mark Williams during a luncheon on Thursday, April 16. The State of Legal Technology presentation will also take place during the luncheon, highlighting the major statistics of legal technology from the past year.