Legalweek 2025 is over, but observations about the conference continue! At the end of the conference, I reached out to many of the people I met with for their observations about the conference. So, here are their crowdsourced Legalweek 2025 observations!

FYI, I’m publishing their crowdsourced Legalweek 2025 observations in mostly the order they provided them to me and splitting them over three posts. Note: some observations are split into multiple paragraphs, so only the last paragraph will show attribution.

AI, and GenAI, in particular, remains a hot area of interest, but corporations and government agencies are smarter about it. Many still are in a “wait and see” from an industry maturity standpoint, wanting to avoid “making Case Law” as one in-house team shared, and a desire for pricing to be more predictable and competitive.

Since the Relativity Server sunset announcement, this was the first major conference gathering on the topic, and it was a topic of high interest. Many organizations, including law firms, LSPs, corporations, and government agencies, felt like they had options outside of RelativityOne when considering moving to the cloud and took advantage of the conference to explore them. Amit Dungarani, Vice President, Product Marketing and Revenue Enablement, Casepoint

Another Legalweek, another year of legal innovation. This year, in particular, stood out as you can see the industry maturing its technology by integrating lawyers into the tech development so the “why” for the tech actually looks to solve the real legal challenge. Far from perfect, but exponential growth in this area. Scott A. Milner, Global Head and Practice Group Leader of eData Practice Group, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP

Attendance – while strong for the keynotes and main conference topics, overall, seemed light on the floor and other smaller sessions. Networking: Corporate – A lot of networking seemed to take place during conference time pulling attendees from sessions to vendor events | sessions outside the venue (more than the usual plus there seemed to be numerous evening activities); Individual – Seemed like there was a large focus on reconnecting for some as well as expanding personal relationships.

Themes: AI – Everything was AI so much that many of the firms blended in and were not individually recognized and appeared to be opportunistic rather than substantive; Simplification – For the top-tier firms there seemed to be a consistent message of simplification and ease of use focused on the Review aspect of the EDRM lifecycle. Javits Center – Looking forward to an updated venue. The Hilton needs to be updated. 🙁 Frank Perrone, Founder & CEO, ReVia

The conference felt especially energized this year, with strong attendance and a great mix of sessions that balanced practical insights with forward-thinking trends. Networking was nonstop, from the exhibit hall to the after-hours events, and it was clear how much people valued being back together in person. Jess Moore, Client Success Strategist, HaystackID

The Rob Lowe keynote was superb. It is going to be hard to replicate it next year!! I never saw so many people crowd the entrance to the stage to try to get a further glimpse of any keynote speaker. Not even for the judges’ keynote. 😏 Judge Andrew Peck (ret.), Senior Counsel, DLA Piper

For an industry that is on the forefront of innovation, we sure don’t like change when it comes to traditions. I lost count of the number of conversations I had about it being the last Legalweek at the Hilton (and of course Faces & Names). For many of us, Legalweek is nostalgic, and we can’t imagine something different. Next year we will have to make new memories and create new traditions in order to keep the magic of Legalweek alive. Cristin K. Traylor, Senior Director, AI Transformation & Law Firm Strategy, Relativity

I thought it was a great conference – bigger and better and with a lot of renewed energy.  This seems to be a time of growth for the whole legal tech industry, as reflected by the growing numbers at the conference (both exhibitors and attendees) and the fact that they even have to move the whole conference to a bigger venue next year!

Many of us are a bit trepidatious about the disruption in “how we do things” that new technology (particularly GenAI) will cause, but I felt that the sentiment at the conference was more optimistic than pessimistic.  There is no question but that new technological improvements always bring about some level of disruption but, if history is any guide, the benefits from the technology improvements will ultimately far outweigh the detriments—especially for most LegalWeek attendees, who tend to be at the forefront of both learning and teaching how to leverage new technological innovations. David R. Cohen, Senior Counsel, Reed Smith LLP

Lots of AI energy this year, but general enthusiasm as well, and useful new technology products on the horizon too. Does not matter that we’re moving to the Javits Center next year—it’s not like everyone isn’t going to attend. See you on 11th Avenue and 36th Street next year! Michael Quartararo, President, ACEDS

An adjacent insight I see rapidly evolving is that AI portends the death of APIs. Whereas APIs have been the plumbing for everything in Saas and negotiating everything on the backend, we will start to see AI negotiating everything on the front end as the user. AI is ushering in the end of the value of one consolidated solution. Legacy platforms will suffer as specialized, agile startups enter the market. Joey Seeber, CEO, Level Legal

Marketing visual overload. From the revolving doors, the foyers, escalators, elevators, bathrooms, giant digital walls and pretty much every available surface plastered with logos and one-line pitches. To be fair, it seemed like a few players were spending big on sponsor advertisement while most were content with a smaller booth and a lot of adjacent meetings. That level of marketing spend smells of desperation to me, though your take may vary. Greg Buckles, Founder – Consultant, eDJ Group (for more of Greg’s takes, click here)

The sheer volume of AI-themed content and technology on display this year was striking. Rob Lowe’s remarks about how AI is transforming entertainment serve as a clear reminder that this technology will soon touch every aspect of our lives. My biggest takeaway? We’re in the midst of a technological revolution—so buckle up and take note, because this moment is one we’ll look back on for years to come. Amy Juers, CEO, Edge Marketing, Inc.

There were so many people who provided crowdsourced Legalweek 2025 observations that I couldn’t fit it all into one post! I’ll post more comments I received tomorrow and more on Thursday! Thanks to all who crowdsourced Legalweek 2025 observations for me – you saved me writing three posts this week! 😀

So, what do you think? Did you attend Legalweek 2025? If so, feel free to comment with your own observations below! 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.