The CLOC Global Institute (CGI) conference was two weeks ago, and I asked several people that I saw for their CGI 2023 observations. Here’s more CGI 2023 observations, in order in which they were received!

More CGI 2023 Observations

Oliver Silva, Director of Enterprise Accounts, Casepoint: The CLOC2023 conference had a very different vibe from other annual industry events. It felt more intimate, relaxed, and at the same time, energizing.  I loved the idea of “braindates,” which offered attendees an additional method of interaction in smaller groups. I had some extremely engaging conversations with industry leaders to share our experience and thoughts on the legal operations landscape.

TracyAnn Eggen, CEDS, legal technology professional: Legal Operations, eDiscovery Rockstars and Investigation Ninjas are still looking for ways: people process and especially technology.  Provide expertise on how, why, what and best use case practices.  There are still buyers looking to add or replace for their operations.

Ziad Mantoura, SVP and General Manager, Epiq Legal Technology Solutions: Accelerating work remains a top priority for CLOC attendees, including driving efficiency through innovation and technology with a focus on intake and contracts management. While AI has been part of legal operations for over a decade and is familiar to CGI2023 attendees and suppliers, the impact of generative AI was a consistent talk track across the CLOC community. It’s time for corporate legal and firms to not only understand generative AI to limit risk, and protect data, but to develop a plan and embrace the opportunity it creates.

Mollie Nichols, CEO at Redgrave Data & Derek DuVall, VP of Business Development at Redgrave Data: CLOC featured the most relevant legal operations topics with standing room only sessions and outstanding speakers. It was an excellent program for Legal Operations Professionals to find the best information to lead their organizations to make informed decisions in the Business of Law and to connect with others in the industry by developing lifelong peer support relationships.

John Patzakis, CLO at X1: CLOC allows for a very unique perspective in that nearly all the non-vendor attendees are in-house corporate legal professionals. And in regard to eDiscovery, what I heard most from the attendees was an emphasis on Microsoft 365 eDiscovery and concerns around inability to effectively search and collect from those sources without expensive services or premium processing being required. There is clearly a need for better solutions.

Patrick Bilgere, Vice President, Business Development, Reveal: This was my second time at CLOC, and I have to say, the vibe at this conference is awesome. It’s all about collaboration, and the format is perfect for freely sharing ideas with other industry pros. One thing that caught my attention is how eDiscovery is getting closer to legal ops. Most of the legal operations folks that I spoke to seemed eager to learn how to better handle their data downstream in the EDRM lifecycle. It’s exciting to see technology driving this trend, and I’m sure it’s only going to keep evolving.

Ari Kaplan, Principal, Ari Kaplan Advisors: I was fortunate to moderate a session at #CGI2023 called – Reinventing Your Role, Transforming Your Career, and Creating Opportunity in an Uncertain Market – featuring Jennifer Phillips, the Head of Legal Operations for Kenvue, and Deisha Vazquez, the Director of Legal Operations for Zelis. In addition to discussing my newly-released report with Cimplifi – The Expanding Influence of Legal Operations: An Inside Look at AI, CLM, and Law Department Transformation – we spoke about how the industry in which you work affects the nature of your legal operations objectives, why the pathway from paralegal to legal operations leader is increasingly common, and the benefits of adding expertise in data science, AI, and CLM to an in-house legal team.

Brett Burney, eLaw Evangelist, Nextpoint: Lots of energy and concentrated curiosity from attendees on the major areas of contract management/automation, eBilling/matter management, and e-discovery. AI & ChatGPT was like the aunt that always blurts out what she’s thinking at a family reunion and you can’t get away from her. Not a lot of e-discovery sessions on the agenda, but certainly a lot of e-discovery vendors and ALSPs in attendance. Refreshing emphasis on well-being, self-care, and mindfulness – if attorneys won’t take care of themselves, it’s good to know that the people that support attorneys are taking care of themselves.

Jessica Robinson, Vice President, Operations, Casepoint: It was great to be at a conference filled with operators.  It created such a different vibe than other conferences I have been to.  It truly was about practical solutions that could produce positive outcomes, not just the idea of it but the holistic implementation of a solution that considers people, process, technology, and organizational strategy from improving your entire operation, adding talent to your team, or introducing new technologies into your tech stack.

Michelle Kovitch, Strategic Solutions, Onna: Attending CLOC as an eDiscovery veteran for the first time, I was truly inspired by the legal ops community’s commitment to true collaboration. The sessions’ overwhelming theme was AI, with data serving as the cornerstone of it all. My key takeaway from the event is that as SMEs, we should seize this transformative moment to pause, assess the broader landscape in legal, and explore how eDiscovery data can be leveraged for wider applications. Rather than simply doing more with less, we should strive to do more with a different approach and think about how the legal ops approach can positively extend to other teams.

Cat Casey, Chief Growth Officer, Reveal: As a first time CLOC attendee (shocking I know) what struck me was the collaborative cross section of innovation and efficiency minded people all tackling pivotal questions around the intersection of law, Legal Ops and yes even generative AI.  The sessions and attendees were asking the key questions about how to manage doing “less with less” and faster and how to truly transform an organization from within. We are at an inflection point and Legal Ops and CLOC are smack dab in the middle of it all.  I was also pleasantly surprised to see experts in discovery, innovation, and law firms in attendance because the success of legal is defendant on this three legged stool working in concert! Also all the sparkles.

Feeling a case of FOMO? Put more CGI 2023 observations into the comments below!

So, what do you think? Were you at CGI this month? If so, do you have more CGI 2023 observations? 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.