David Snow, editor of Law.com Legal Technology, will report from LegalTech New York 2007. With his daily e-mail, registered participants won't miss any of the show's highlights. Watch for it in your e-mail inbox!

The usual roar of Manhattan's streets around Times Square is about to get a little louder, as legal technology's biggest trade show gets set to storm through the conference facilities at the Hilton Hotel New York, on 6th Avenue at 53rd Street. The 26th annual LegalTech, which runs Jan. 29 - 31, will feature three days of in-depth educational sessions in tracks ranging from Advanced Electronic Discovery to Corporate Legal IT to The Evolving Role of the Law Librarian.

LegalTech New York 2007 should surpass last year's mammoth 25th anniversary show in size, with more than 11,000 attendees expected, according to Kimberly Carcone, managing director for marketing in ALM Media's Conference and Trade Show Division. In addition to the educational sessions, she says, those folks will be flooding exhibit halls housing the wares of 285 companies.

"The theme, as usual, is to bring attendees the latest and greatest advances in legal technology," Carcone says. "It's the industry's benchmark event."

An event of this scope isn't just "an event," either. It's a lot of events, like the LTN Awards Dinner and CIO Forum, as you'll see in the coverage this newsletter offers each day of LegalTech. In this preview, we'll take a look at some of what's going on in and around the show. The newsletter will also appear as Web pages on Law.com.

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The winners of the 2007 Law Technology News Awards will be honored Monday night, at the fourth annual LTN Awards Dinner, to be held at the Hilton. The awards are divided into the "Vendor Awards," chosen by the readers of Law Technology News magazine, and six law firm/law department awards, which were selected by a three-person jury from LTN's Editorial Advisory Board.

Winners of the Vendor Awards will be revealed during the dinner. Winners of the Law Firm/Law Department awards include:

Most innovative use of technology in a law firm: Morrison & Foerster's Jo Haraf, chief information officer, Oz Benamram, knowledge management counsel from the New York office and James McKenna, firmwide litigation technology manager from the San Francisco office.

Haraf, Benamram and their team developed AnswerBase, an intelligent knowledge management system that allows users to find answers about documents, people and matters from across a rich array of MoFo data sources. McKenna created a user-friendly vendor database for the firm's litigation department, accessible from any of the firm's multinational offices.

The judges also awarded an Honorable Mention in this category to Dianna Case, senior trial consulting manager for Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, for her work in the design and technology build-out of the firm's Trial Practice Center.

Most innovative use of technology in a law department: John Theriault, vice president, and Mary Ann Sarao, director, global security of Pfizer Inc. They conceived and developed an antipiracy system. Their global security application improves communication and information sharing, helps bring criminals to justice, safeguards corporate revenues, protects consumer health and helps ensure that pharmaceutical companies continue to invest in research and development for future cures.

Most innovative use of technology in a trial: Pen Volkmann, director of graphics and video services of Holland & Hart. He led a team that used technology from Hollywood to translate complex testimony into artistically appealing visuals that persuaded a Miami jury to award $110 million in damages to the firm's clients. His team helped to present complex science and accounting data in a way that was understandable and engaging for a jury that ranged from eighth-grade graduates to professionals with advanced degrees.

Most innovative use of technology for a pro bono project: Chip Goodman, IT director, Cheryl Garrett, senior programmer/analyst, and the IT Department of Winston & Strawn. Over the course of the last three years, the IT department created a powerful in-house pro bono recruiting tool that allowed the national firm of nearly 900 attorneys to continually increase its pro bono capacity from nearly 26,000 hours in 2002 to nearly 40,000 hours in 2006.

Champion of Technology: John J. Kruse, director of records, imaging and conflicts at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. He lead the firm through many successful and innovative technology projects over the course of more than 30 years. His contributions have included assisting early adopters of technology, working with the team that eventually created LegalKEY, as well as creating a more user-friendly environment for integrating the firm's information management environment for document management, e-mail and client relationship management.

IT Director of the Year: The judges chose Judith Flournoy, Chief Information Officer of Loeb & Loeb, as the recipient of this year's "IT Director" award. She was recognized for her leadership in development of the firm's Dynamic Document Drafting, or "D3," program, allowing attorneys and staff to reuse the same content multiple times without document corruption. When a firm's client depends on a form specific to their industry, the D3 user can harvest the document format directly into the D3 system for repeated use.

For ticket information, contact Kevin Iredell at (800) 888-8300 or kiredell@alm.com.

Editor's note: A version of this report appeared previously on the blog The Common Scold, by Monica Bay, editor in chief of Law Technology News magazine.

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Law Technology News magazine's news editor, Claire Duffett, barely had time to learn what "e-discovery" meant before she was tossed into the legal technology inferno at the August ILTA conference in Orlando, Fla.

Duffett, who started with LTN in July after a stint as a reporter at a general interest business publication in upstate New York, expected a steep learning curve. She got one.

"In my first few conversations with vendors, I felt like I was trapped in a foreign country where they only speak 'Techie'," she says. "But I soon realized my opportunity. I finally had the chance to focus on one industry and learn its ins and outs with precision."

This time around, at LegalTech NY, Duffett looks forward to meeting with vendors and discussing the industry with newfound authority.

She'll be meeting with company executives and PR reps most afternoons, chatting about the three big trends LTN sees for 2007: growth in business intelligence and e-discovery, and the use of technology tools to increase productivity while being environmentally responsible.

None of these conversations (she hopes) will involve the use of "solutions," "robust," "mission-critical," or any of the other LTN-banned jargon. Duffett is still a legal tech neophyte, so you vendors can use her presence as an opportunity to sharpen your clarity skills. It will serve you well when it comes time to tell old-fashioned lawyers how your programs can save them time and money.

Duffett writes the product pages that appear in the front pages of LTN, so tell her what's newsworthy and different about your product or service.

She also took over writing LTN's "Technology on Trial" from her predecessor, John Bringardner, now a reporter with ALM's IP Law & Business. If your company has worked on an interesting case involving significant use of technology in the courtroom, let her know. It's a good way to show LTN readers how your complex programs operate in practice to help lawyers organize and present their arguments to a jury.

While it may be hard for the me and the LTN gang to get up early Tuesday morning, after the annual LTN Awards gala dinner Monday night, you can count on us to be at the Petit Trianon room for the annual LegalTech New York Editors' Breakfast.

The breakfast, a long-standing tradition, provides a venue for vendors, public relations staff and attendees to meet with editors of ALM's national magazines, newsletters and Tri-state newspapers. While we don't make any promises about the quality of the coffee and danish, the conversation is sure to sparkle. ALM CEO Bill Pollak will make brief remarks, and then everyone will have a chance to "work the room" and have informal conversations with editors from not only LTN and Law.com, but also The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, IP Law & Business, the New York Law Journal and other ALM publications.

The event is free and open to all LegalTech New York attendees, and will run from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Are you prepared for Mother Nature's wrath? If not, you might want to attend an LegalTech New York panel on Monday, from 3:30 to 5 p.m.: Planning for and Coping with Real Life Disasters (or Near Disasters).

Whether you worry about earthquakes, fires or floods -- or terrorist attacks -- you never know when or how your technology infrastructure may be compromised.

ALM's Monica Bay -- who reported on the New York 9/11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina, and the Loma Prieta earthquake in San Francisco -- will moderate the panel, which includes three IT professionals who've worked to put disaster recovery/business continuity plans in their organizations. The program will address what worked and didn't work in real life, including:

• Understanding the DR/BC planning process;
• What different levels of preparation are necessary based on specific law firm needs;
• Educating and convincing law firm management to adopt a DR/BC plan.