Technology announcements at LegalTech New York often provide a theme that is adopted over the course of the show. Last year, Thomson Reuters announced WestlawNext at the show and put the human element back into legal research. The “human element” echoed in the Exhibit Hall as vendors stressed their ability to facilitate human-computer interaction in e-discovery document review and software interface designs.
This year there was no overall technology theme or scheme to adopt. There was, however, consensus on avoiding certain buzzwords like cloud and “early case assessment.” Both terms are not descriptive and vary according to a speaker’s background and context. Cloud computing can be web mail, hosting services, online practice management, or Amazon EC2. And early case assessment depends on client requirements, court demands, and case law precedent.
