Jobst and I would like to thank all of the attendees at our first InsideLegal Summit.  We appreciate everyone accepting an invitation for this "experimental format" to discuss the business side of the legal technology industry – what it is like to market to and do business in this space – what works and what can we improve upon.  We’d also like to thank Microsoft and Norm Thomas for hosting the event at their New York location.  Here is role call of our inaugural group…

Michael Arkfeld – Consultant/Technologist

Craig Ball – Consultant/Technologist

Jeff Beard – Consultant/Technologist

Dan Berlin – President, Software Technology, Inc./Tabs3

Brett Burney – Principal, Burney Consultants

Jonathan Carter – Client Solutions Director, BigHand

Debbie Foster – President, InTouch Legal

Don Howren – Senior Vice President, ADERANT

Karen Jones – Editor & Publisher, Citytech

Ross Kodner – CEO, MicroLaw

Whit McIsaac – CEO, Client Profiles

Tom Rump – General Manager, CT Summation

Adam Schlagman – Editor-in-Chief, ALM/LJN’s Legal Tech Newsletter   

Peggy Wechsler – Program Director, ILTA

Creative Approaches to Familiar Challenges
Our goal for this first event was to unlock the creativity that is forever present within our industry. Specifically, we were looking to initiate a casual conversation among those that help shape our space – the companies, consultants, media and technologists that all have a stake in where legal technology is headed. Obviously, this conversation could have many flavors …technology, legislation, trends, firm insights, etc. While we aimed to provide a comprehensive collection of topics, our first summit focused on an eclectic mix of largely unrelated topics, not biased toward any particular attendee or constituency. We approached this event as an executive board meeting of the legal technology industry – if the industry was a company, what issues would be discussed.

The initial summit focused on open discussions facilitated by me and based on four central topics. Our next posts will review the actual discussions.

What’s Next
We are very pleased with the participation and outcome of this first in what is bound to be a successful series of summits throughout the year – each with different topics and formats. We are already working on the next Summit, so if you are interested in attending, hosting or sponsoring a future InsideLegal Summit, please email me your contact information.  Also, if you would like to suggest a topic for a future Summit, please email me as well.