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ABA Techshow wrap-up, NE Ohio connection
RICHARD WEINER
Technology for Lawyers
Published: July 31, 2015
The 2015 ABA Techshow went heavy on the ethics of legal technology, along with all the new gadgets.
Not surprisingly, there was a definitive emphasis on the ongoing, constant lack of even the most basic technological skill level among modern attorneys.
Really. Not like I’ve been talking about that for 20 years or anything.
There was a surprise for me, though. The Techshow’s 2015 chairperson was Bret Burney, of Burney Consulting in Chagrin Falls, just down the road from here in Akron. So I took that opportunity to reach out to Burney and talk with him about working on the Techshow.
This and the next column will be that conversation, as well as some of the material that Techshow presented.
The ABA Techshow is held annually in Chicago, and Burney has been involved with it for a long time. Techshow emphasizes technology and issues applicable to small-to-mid-sized firms, for the most part.
Although Burney has a law degree from the University of Dayton, he only practiced law for a short time, working in IT for several Northeast Ohio law firms before setting up his own legal tech consulting firm.
“Around my junior year in law school (in the mid-90’s), I started writing for Law.com,” he said. “Then I started writing about legal technology for other places, and then got involved with the Techshow in 2002.”
Over the course of time, said Burney, he gradually worked up the show’s leadership ladder, until he became the event head this year. The event is coordinated by a nine-member board, he said.
Planning for the Techshow, said Burney. Literally starts on the last day of the previous year’s show, so each chair has a full year of coordinating the event.
Burney said that during the first few years, about 800 people would participate in the event. This last year, over 1500 people attended, from all over the world, along with a building full of vendors.
“Techshow focuses on the daily, practical workflow of the law office,” said Burney. “We give pragmatic information on security, workflow, and social media that lawyers can’t get at other technology shows.”
And another, primary difference between Techshow and other, similar confabs is the participation of the ABA. That, in particular, lends itself to serious discussions on legal ethics and other legal tech issues, subject of the next column.