The 2026 giant legal tech show put on by the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) kicks off August 24th at the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center in Nashville. It is four nonstop days of educational sessions, networking events, and sales pitches.
Indeed, to paraphrase Irvin S. Cobb: Until you go to ILTACON and behold it with your own eyes, you ain’t never been nowhere and you ain’t seen nothing. At least not in legal tech.
But with anything this big and this well known, separating the wheat from the sales chaff is always a challenge. I’ve been to ILTACON almost every year since leaving the full-time practice of law to be a legal tech journalist, so I hope I’m up to it.
ILTA and The Conference
ILTA describes itself as a global organization led by volunteers, which promotes peer-to-peer learning and sharing about the effective use of technology in law.
In keeping with that mission, this year’s conference will feature over 80 educational sessions and undoubtedly a rocking exhibit hall. ILTA itself labels the conference “as the premier educational and networking event for the legal sector.”
And well, it could be. It is certainly one of the biggest, if not the biggest, of the legal tech conferences. And I suspect it will come close to surpassing last year’s record-setting attendance.
And while the show is usually well planned and well executed, as noted before, it sometimes has the subtlety of a Super Bowl halftime show. It can be one big, gigantic sales pitch by vendors marketing to those in large law firms they think have money to burn.
ILTACON Content
This year, however, the pre-show hype at least seems to be a bit toned down. There are no catchy, cutesy promotional themes or schmaltzy videos as in years past, at least that I could find. Instead, ILTA seems to be more focused on content.
And according to ILTA, the content is designed “to meet a variety of learning styles that include learning pathways, panel discussions, hands-on training, and attendee-driven sessions.”
The content substance is pretty much what you might expect. The education sessions highlighted by ILTA in its recent newsletter include:
• A session on AI governance, particularly with respect to integration with various platforms,
• A discussion on how IT departments can better and more strategically deploy AI and automation,
• A session directed at how to better use modern practice practical strategies for using automation, and,
• Perhaps most interestingly, a discussion of that uncomfortable little issue of what happens when tech makes lawyers more efficient inside a business model that makes money when lawyers take longer to do something, not shorter.
All of these sound interesting and relevant, at least on paper. I’ll let you know.
The Keynotes
There are also two keynotes. Well, three, if you count the roundtable discussion with CIOs from various large law firms, led by Dan Hauck, the CEO of NetDocuments. Knowing Hauck, that session may well prove to be the most enlightening of the three.
With respect to the other two keynotes, like many organizations putting on legal tech shows these days, ILTA has elected to go with motivational, celebrity speakers who have little obvious connection to either law or technology.
As I have discussed before, that can go one of two ways. If the speakers understand the audience, do the homework, and make the connection between their personal story and the profession, it can go well. If not, and if they aren’t well prepared to relate their discussion to legal, it can be a waste of time.
One of the two keynoters this year is Jim Abbott. Abbott is a former Major League Baseball player who was quite successful despite being born without a right hand. He is a well-known speaker and writer. One thing he is definitely not is a lawyer, legal professional, or technologist.
The other keynote speaker is Dr. Kevin Fong, a doctor, broadcaster, and former NASA physician. Fong spoke at ILTA’s Evolve Conference back in the spring where he basically told a series of what appeared to me to be disjointed stories with little legal connection. The folks at ILTA must have liked him, however, since he’s back so soon.
But keep in mind, I go to a lot of conferences and have heard more or less the same motivational speech from those who all have overcome something in their lives. To say I’m a bit jaded may be an understatement.
A 9/11 Tribute
On a serious note, ILTA reportedly plans to commemorate 9/11 at the conference, including holding a memorial, a wall of remembrance, and a video presentation during the Fong Keynote. It will highlight members of the legal technology community who actually experienced the attacks, their aftermath, and their stories.
Nice touch, ILTA. As years go by, we often forget that day and the national trauma. It impacted all of us one way or the other. I was engaged in significant fire litigation at the time and engaged an expert at one time associated with NYFD. He told me that for months after 9/11, all he did was go to funerals of people he knew and worked with. It was a sad time.
Tranquility Base
It’s also worth mentioning one semi-new addition this year: there is a significantly amped up wellness and tranquility space for some peace and quiet.
But it’s not just a room to sit and ponder. It will reportedly also have a number of mindfulness resources, take-home wellness tips, recipes, and ideas for beverages and wellness activities. ILTA is also offering things like electrolyte shots, protein drinks, specialty coffee, etc.
Whether this is a real effort to offer some real mental and physical wellness options remains to be seen. But it’s a nice idea, especially considering how hectic the conference can be. You walk miles. You have constant meetings. You go to session after session. Then you spend the evening networking, which often involves standing at a crowded bar shouting about AI.
So given my schedule of meetings, networking, and educational sessions, I may need to spend some time in the wellness room. If only I can find the time.
The ILTACON Audience
As I have noted before, ILTA is primarily for Biglaw. The attendees are typically CIOs, COOs, IT personnel, innovation officers, legal operations professionals, and the vendors who market and sell to these folks.
But as I have griped before, there are very few practicing lawyers who attend ILTA, or, for that matter, any other legal tech conference, perhaps save ABA TechShow.
Given that, much of what happens at ILTACON is directed at and focused on selling products to the people the vendors think can somehow influence law firms’ purchases. The pitches are less designed to show how lawyers and legal professionals — you know, the ones who actually use the stuff — might work with the products on a day-to-day level and what benefits come from them.
And the reality is that the pitches are in fact being made not to the final decision-makers in most firms but to those who report to the final decision-makers. As a result, the pitches have to be repeated by those with technical knowledge who have heard them to lawyers who don’t have the same level of technical expertise. The all too often result: the purchase of products that don’t address a pain point and don’t work as expected.
In any event, there will most assuredly be a bunch of product announcements by vendors breathlessly declaring that some product you vaguely remember from before now contains AI. People explaining why their AI is different than anyone else’s. Lots of meetings hosted by the vendors, plenty of demonstrations designed to sell the products, and a vast exhibit floor chock full of sales personnel.
The Not-So Bottom Line
The more or less bottom line is ILTACON is four days of nonstop educational sessions, sales pitches, networking, and partying. Perhaps apropos of the nature of the conference, it’s being held at the cavernous Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center. A convention center so big, by the way, that when you check in, Gaylord offers you an app to help you find your way around. That should tell you all you need to know about the Gaylord and the size of ILTACON.
I will be there for the duration to report what I see and experience. It’s always crazy with lots going on, lots to see and, of course, lots of parties (oops, I mean… networking events). I will certainly try to dig out from under all the hype to see what is really being offered, discussed, and pitched. That will tell us something about the state of the legal technology market.
And, of course, as always, I will come home exhausted.
Stephen Embry is a lawyer, speaker, blogger, and writer. He publishes TechLaw Crossroads, a blog devoted to the examination of the tension between technology, the law, and the practice of law.
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