Earlier this week, ILTA announced it's newest technology thought leadership initiative — the nearly year-long Legal Technology Future Horizons (LTFH) project, a partnership effort with futurist Rohit Talwar and his Fast Future Research Limited team. Although this effort has not been officially labeled Law2020 2.0, that's how we see the progression of thought leadership, critical thinking and content around the future of legal technology as it relates to law practice. The LTFH initiative has a prominent research component which includes a global qualitative and quantitative legal survey to explore the potential impact of new and emerging technologies for law firms and the resulting strategies 10 to 15 years down the road.

Below is the complete press release with many more details…

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Media Contact: Jobst
Elster,InsideLegal.com

ILTA Launches Legal Technology Future Horizons Project

New thought-leadership initiative includes
global study focused on potential
impact of new and emerging legal
technologies over the next 10-15 years

Austin,
Texas, May 20, 2013 – The International Legal Technology Association (ILTA),
a peer networking organization focused on maximizing the value of legal
technology, today announced the ILTA Legal Technology Future Horizons –
Transformational Forces Project (ILTA Future Horizons), a
thought-leadership initiative focused on the future of technology for the legal
sector. The project’s core component, a global research study conducted in
partnership with Fast
Future Research Limited (Fast Future), looks at the potential impact
of new and emerging technologies for law firms and the resulting strategic
priorities over the next 10-15 years. Key study findings and recommendations
will be delivered through several interim updates, with the final report, an
executive briefing and a keynote speech scheduled for ILTA’s INSIGHT 2013
conference in London on November 14, 2013.

The
ILTA Future Horizons research study focuses on the emerging technology
timeline, major forces shaping both the business landscape and the future of
the legal sector. The study is led by Fast Future’s CEO and futurist thought
leader Rohit Talwar, who advises global companies,
governments and associations on emerging change and how to develop innovative
future growth strategies.

The
study is designed to challenge current thinking and provide insights into the
development of future business and IT strategies for law firms, law departments
and legal technology vendors, including:

• Key
  driving forces shaping business and the legal profession
• A
  timeline of future IT developments
• How
  to leverage IT advances that help enable and enhance tomorrow’s legal
  organizations
• Possible
  scenarios for the role and management of IT in tomorrow’s legal organizations
• Strategic
  IT imperatives specific to law firms, legal departments and legal technology
  providers

"This
research highlights how advances in information technology will disrupt and
transform the legal sector, how this will impact law firms specifically, how
work is done and how value can be delivered,” said Talwar. “The range of
innovations already taking place and in the pipeline suggests everything from
the structure of client briefs and analyzing documents through to court room practices
and client reporting will change dramatically as a result of rapidly
accelerating advances in areas such as a mobile computing and communications,
deep personalization, wearable and embedded technology, artificial
intelligence, big data, predictive analytics, collaborative technologies,
knowledge management, automatic translation and smart user interfaces.”

Based
on the first interim ILTA Future Horizons report (summary now available on the
ILTA project site), there are key themes
emerging around the role of technology in tomorrow’s legal enterprise:

• End
  users increasingly will be mobile, using wearable technologies enhanced with augmented
  reality (AR) and holographic displays and supported by intelligent digital
  personal assistants.
• Devices
  will offer AI-enabled smart interfaces and automatic language translation, and
  will support user interaction via gestures, language and thought.
• Customer
  service delivery could be enhanced through deep collaboration environments,
  portals, shared databases, telepresence robots, advanced videoconferencing,
  touchable holographs, novel data handling tools and sophisticated security
  technology.
• Law
  firm processes could be transformed through developments in AI, KM, the smart
  capture and analysis of data, predictive analytics, intelligent document
  production systems, video and audio mining, integrated analytics and true
  gamification.
• At
  the IT management level, the cloud will be used for infrastructure,
  applications, development and data, and priorities for IT management will shift
  from production to innovation.

Numerous
project elements will come into play during the year-long study, including desk
research, telephone interviews, an associated global survey and legal industry
workshops conducted in New York City on June 14th and during ILTA’s 2013 annual
conference in August. Project deliverables include two interim findings
reports, a global ILTA member survey, and the final report in the fall. In addition, findings and results presentations and workshops will be held
during INSIGHT 2013, ILTA’s Europe event in London on November 14th.

“We
are very excited about the Legal Technology Future Horizons project and the
resulting insights and findings.  ILTA members will have the benefit of
this knowledge as they prepare their firms for the future,” stated Randi Mayes,
ILTA’s Executive Director. “While ILTA’s Law2020™ initiative is the catalyst for
thinking about the future of law firms, Future Horizons has a sharp focus on
transformative technologies, and those findings will be of great interest to
legal business leaders and IT professionals alike.”

Project
sponsors include AccessData,
BigHand,
BillBLAST,
Microsoft,
Mimecast
and Thomson
Reuters. For the complete press release, more details on the
initiative and future updates, go to http://www.iltanet.org/MainMenuCategory/Future-Horizons.