Ready or not, here we come!  As I discussed here and here, the International Legal Technology Association’s (ILTA) annual conference ILTACON 2021 is being conducted this week and it is a hybrid event being conducted both in-person and virtual.  The conference has already started with the Opening Reception last night and today is the first day of sessions!

Each day at ILTACON 2021, eDiscovery Today will highlight notable sessions for the day – in most cases, those sessions will relate to eDiscovery, cybersecurity, data privacy, information governance or artificial intelligence (as well as a few other happenings during the week).  Many sessions are available both in-person and virtually, but I will note when certain sessions are only available onsite for your consideration.  All times PT.

9:00am-10:00am:

Welcome & Keynote – Peak Tech: Arts, Sciences, and Humanity Required (Onsite Only)

Entrepreneur, engineer, physician, former astronaut social scientist, and educator, Dr. Mae Jemison is at the forefront of integrating the physical and social sciences with art and culture to solve problems and foster innovation. Jemison leads 100 Year Starship® global initiative to ensure the capabilities exist for human interstellar travel within the next 100 years while every step of the way enhancing life on Earth.

A NASA astronaut for six years and the world’s first woman of color in space, Jemison was the Area Peace Corps Medical Officer for Sierra Leone and Liberia and an Environmental professor at Dartmouth College focused on designing technologies for sustainability. She founded two technology companies and the international science camp The Earth We Share™ (TEWS), a program of the non-profit Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence. Jemison is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, Fortune 500 companies’ boards, and the National Women’s Hall of Fame, was the first chair of the Texas State Product Development and Small Business Incubator Board in addition to many other awards, boards, honorary degrees, service work, and recognitions.

LOOK UP, led by Jemison, focuses people, on a single day worldwide, to weave a global tapestry of what individually see, feel, think, love, fear, offer, need, and hope as we look up at the sky.

Jemison was the first real astronaut to appear on the Star Trek TV series and is a LEGO mini-figure in the LEGO Women of NASA kit. Dr. Jemison has been Bayer Corporation USA’s Making Science Make Sense® chief ambassador, and she is a series host of National Geographic’s “One Strange Rock” and space operations advisor for its global miniseries, “MARS.” Dr. Jemison authored True Books’ series on space exploration and the 2nd edition of “Find Where the Wind Goes: Moments from My Life” which was released in February 2021.

Speakers: Dr. Mae Jemison, Engineer, Physician, Entrepreneur, and Former NASA Astronaut.

11:30am-12:30pm:

Artificial Intelligence in the Law Department

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the face of global legal practice, and AI tools will undoubtedly affect how the legal profession practices over the next decade. Learn how AI is being used by law departments to increase efficiency, reduce cost, minimize risk, develop strategy, and provide better service. Presenters will discuss types of bots, contract review, document automation, and due diligence platforms are being used, along with the real-world uses of Legal AI in a corporate legal department.

Speakers: Chris Austin – Director of Information Governance, Bowman and Brooke LLP; Catherine Casey – Chief Growth Officer, Reveal Brainspace; Justin Hectus – CIO/CISO, Keesal, Young & Logan; Kiran Mallavarapu – EVP and Sr. Manager, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company; Scott Milner – Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, L.L.P.; Brad Mixner – Founder, Mixner Consulting Group Ltd

2:30pm-3:30pm:

Never Too Big to Fail? Venture Capital, Mergers and Acquisitions in the E-Discovery Industry

Join us for a lively discussion on the impact of recent investments, mergers, and acquisitions in the e-discovery industry. Learn about the net effect of the increased investment and consolidation activity occurring in the e-discovery industry over the past few years, and the impact on pricing, operations, or customer experience. We will also discuss how organizations can best navigate, protect their interests and, ultimately, benefit from this changing marketplace.

Speakers: Nick Baughan – Managing Member; Michael Bryant – Partner, Knox Capital LLC; Timothy Opsitnick – JurInnov Ltd.; Kent Teague – Chairman, Lineal Services; Jason Velasco – CEO, Kindato Global

I’ll also be speaking at one session at ILTACON 2021 – Better Together? E-discovery with Teams and Other Collaboration Platforms on Thursday (August 26 at 11:00am PT): I’ll be moderating an excellent panel including Damon Goduto – Partner, Lineal Services; Rose Jones – Director of E-Discovery Project Management, King & Spalding LLP; Jack Thompson – Sr. Manager – eDiscovery & Legal Operations, Sanofi, Martin Tully – Partner, Redgrave LLC.  We have a lot to cover about the trends, challenges, case law and solutions regarding collaboration apps!  Even with 75 minutes, I’m not sure how we’ll get it all in with these terrific panelists!

Here is a session grid for the week.

So, what do you think?  Are you attending ILTACON 2021?  If you’re here in person, look me up!  And please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by my employer, my partners or my clients. eDiscovery Today is made available solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Today should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.