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 word on the floor at this year's LegalTech is that it feels bigger than ever, a sentiment borne out by the attendance estimates of more than 11,000 visitors. "It's certainly the show with the best networking," shouts one exhibitor. Is there a flip side to that? Well, with all the action in progress, folks seem to get that glassy stare of sensory overload pretty early in the day. Or maybe that's just me, after what seems like the 50th vendor briefing of the morning. I've had enough overviews and pitches from software companies, concerning products new and old, to last a lifetime -- or until the next wrinkle in e-discovery, a subject that continues to dominate the show.

Speaking of vendor briefings, numerous companies got their say with a whole lineup of ALM Media editors at Tuesday morning's Editor's Breakfast, a long-standing tradition. The coffee and pastries were nothing special (sorry, Hilton), but the conversations were enlightening. Below you'll find news and notes from day 2 of LegalTech New York 2007.

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With law firms and corporations seizing new opportunities worldwide, globalization is challenging conventional business practices and creating new demands. Challenges include maintaining continuity and efficiency in operations, leveraging talent and intellectual capital, and creating visibility of business operations across geographies. In Tuesday's keynote, "Globalization and The Impact on the Legal Industry," the issues were discussed by a panel of experts:

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On Monday, Monica Bay, editor in chief of Law Technology News magazine, moderated a discussion titled "Planning for and Coping With Real Disasters (or Near Disasters)."

Panelists included Randy Burkart, director of business operations at Weil Gotshal & Manges in New York; Kenneth J. Orgeron, chief information officer at Gardere Wynne Sewell in Dallas; and Atlas Lee, former director of business continuity at Shook Hardy & Bacon (now a senior consultant with eSentio Technologies).

In her introductory remarks, Bay chronicled recent disasters and warned attendees: "No one is immune. Something will affect your law firm."

According to statistics, 43 percent of businesses directly affected by a disaster never recover, noted Burkart.

To mitigate risks, Orgeron recommended firms implement a disaster recovery plan that is reviewed annually. In addition, he added, businesses can prepare by aligning the plan with local, state and federal disaster protocols; having the insurance carrier review the plan; and notifying staff of the plan in writing. The public relations team should prepare advance statements to send to clients. In the event of a disaster, Orgeron warned firms to maintain a detailed log of all their steps to mitigate the impact and to chronicle the damage in photos and video.

The LegalTech New York 2007 daily newsletter will feature vendor updates each day of the show, space and time permitting.

CaseLogistix, based in Nashville, Tenn., touted the new version of its litigation support software, CaseLogistix 5.0. New features include metadata extraction, native file PDF conversion, Outlook PST e-mail support, Lotus Notes NSF e-mail support, redaction enhancements, advanced hash calculation, the ability to split, combine or reorder pages, and more.

Exterro, a newcomer to the legal industry, demonstrated Fusion, its litigation support and discovery-management platform, a system designed to provide an overview of matter management. A customized user interface allows real-time collaboration between outside counsel, in-house legal teams and service providers.

Fios Inc. announced the availability of Review Management Services, which provides consulting designed to help clients lower the costs and risks associated with an e-discovery response by assessing gaps in document review strategies. The company also announced the launch of Technology Counsel, a Web site it calls an information portal and online community that will bridge what the company sees as a gap between law and IT. The site will offer news and trend articles, research and blogs related to litigation, governmental investigations and compliance issues. Fios is based in Portland, Ore.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2007 Law Technology News Vendor Awards, presented Monday night at an annual gala dinner at the Hilton New York.

The 2007 winners, chosen by LTN's subscribers, include:
Product of the Year: TrialDirector 5.0, inData Corp.
Case/Practice Management software, fewer than 50 attorneys: PracticeMaster by Software Technology Inc.
Case/Practice Management software, more than 50 attorneys: Time Matters by LexisNexis
Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity provider: EMS Email Continuity, by MessageOne Inc.
Docketing & Calendaring: Tie: Time Matters by LexisNexis; PracticeMaster by STI
Document Management: Worldox, by World Software Corp. (fourth time in a row!)
Electronic Data Discovery system: CaseVault by CT Summation
Knowledge management system: West km, Thomson West
Litigation Support Service/Consultant: Rosen Technology Resources Inc.
Litigation Support Software: CT Summation
Records Management: hCue, by CT (Wolters Kluwer)
Time and Billing, fewer than 50 attorneys): Tabs3 by STI.
Time and Billing, more than 50 attorneys: Billing Matters by LexisNexis
Trial Presentation Software: Trial Director by inData Corp.

Editor's note: a version of this announcement appeared Tuesday on the blog The Common Scold, by Monica Bay, editor in chief of LTN magazine.

One of Wednesday's educational tracks covers a topic not widely covered at previous LegalTech shows: "The Evolving Role of the Law Librarian." I was pleased to be asked to moderate one of the discussions, entitled "In the Wake of a Merger: The Law Librarian’s Role in Firmwide Strategic Issues." All five panelists, veterans of law firm mergers, have experience with issues such as maintaining continuity of information services. The attendant financial, logistical and organizational concerns present both challenges and opportunities.

"Law firm mergers are a fact of life in today's economy," says panelist Todd Erich Bennett, who has been through two major mergers that led to Thelen Reid & Priest forming in late 2006. "We have to learn how to navigate the waters. It's OK to ask for some help."

Each panelist will bring a special topic of discussion to the panel, including the value of consultants, cultural issues that mergers bring up, tips on harmonious vendor relations and budget issues to consider.

Panel:
Todd Erich Bennett
West Coast head librarian
Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner
San Francisco

C. Shireen Kumar
Chief executive officer
Socrates CMS
Formerly, associate director of Knowledge Management for the
  Americas Clifford Chance U.S.
New York

Kate Martin
Director of library services
McKenna Long & Aldridge
Washington, D.C.

Jean O'Grady
Librarian
WilmerHale
Washington, D.C.

Karen S. Schubart
New York director of library services
Covington & Burling
New York

LegalTech: Day 1
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