At the end of ILTACON 2025, I reached out to many of the people I met with for their observations about the conference and covered some of them yesterday. Here’s part two of ILTACON 2025 crowdsourced observations!
FYI, I’m publishing their crowdsourced ILTACON 2025 observations in the order they provided them to me and splitting them over three posts.
At ILTACON 2025, I observed a strong emphasis on innovative legal technology solutions, especially the integration of generative AI into daily practice. Speakers showcased how generative AI is being used to draft contracts, summarize case law and automate routine client communications. Additionally, its applications throughout the eDiscovery lifecycle were highlighted. These practical examples are helping legal professionals save time, improve work product, and focus on higher-value tasks. Julie Brown, Director of Practice Technology, Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP
What stood out at ILTACON was how firms are hungry for solutions that go beyond technical collection to real investigative insight. Networking around those challenges underscored that SMI Aware’s ability to research, analyze, and preserve social media data is becoming indispensable in the modern legal toolkit. Josh Janow, CEO, SMI Aware
It was impossible to ignore how dramatically AI has transformed the pace of legal technology development – what used to take years to build can now be accomplished in months or even weeks. The startup hub was a prime example of that! Tech and end-user innovation labs are the latest buzz. This AI-accelerated development cycle has created an exciting but somewhat overwhelming environment where new capabilities seem to emerge almost weekly. The big question hanging over my head, though, is whether we as an industry can actually keep up with how rapidly all this technology is being created…and that is to be determined! Amy Juers, MBA, CEO, Edge Marketing
As a first-timer, ILTACON was bigger than I expected. The sessions were particularly focused for IT pros, more so than Legalweek. My favorite session was the one on AI prompting; very interactive with real-time exercises (I did horribly). Steve Salkin, Editor-in-Chief, ALM’s Law Journal Newsletters
At ILTACON’s Corporate Legal Day, we ran an exercise on building a legal tech stack, and it took 37 minutes before anyone actually said the words “AI.” It’s not that the in-house counsel and legal operations professionals in the room didn’t want AI-driven solutions, they just assumed it was part of the package. So we seem to be exiting an era where buyers are looking for “AI solutions,” and reentering one where they are simply seeking solutions and expecting AI to be built in. Brad Blickstein, CEO, Blickstein Group
A major theme in our conversations with clients this week centered on the sheer number of AI companies still in the market—and the limited consolidation we’ve seen since last year. With players ranging from small, hungry start-ups to the ‘big box’ firms we all know, it remains difficult to predict who will ultimately rise to the top. Cost models and functional overhead vary so widely across the field that no single trajectory seems certain. This certainly is an exciting time to be in legal technologies! Matthew Rasmussen, Founder & CEO, ModeOne Technologies
The Gaylord was crawling with agents… agentic AI that is. ILTACON 2025 leaned all in, shifting the conversation from AI hype to real-world implementation. I split my time between the exhibit hall and sessions, but found myself in more cybersecurity and forensics sessions than ever, which fits perfectly with the growing AI governance theme. But, the best part of ILTACON was, and always will be, the people – all 4,600+ of them this year! While I don’t have the official stats, the crowd felt heavier on core IT and data science (and lighter on eDiscovery/Lit Support), a clear sign of how much the community is evolving. Stephanie Clerkin, Director of Litigation Support, Korein Tillery
Attending the conference felt like being at the epicenter of legal technology. Surrounded by the best and most ambitious minds in the field, I saw Peer Power in verbose mode. What stood out to me was how leadership, true leadership, fuels transformation. Phil Weldon, CEDS, RCA, Director of eDiscovery and Litigation Support Technology, Hecker Fink LLP
I did a ton of volunteering with ILTA for the conference, and it was great to see old and new volunteers. I met some really great ILTANs and noticed that all who volunteered for the conference had the positive vibe that is ILTA. While the M365 sessions were a highlight, because there is so much you can do with the tech you have in your organization already, and most of us are just scratching the surface, I think I was most grateful for the Lessons in Leadership book launch and author signing event. To me this is exactly what ILTA is all about, sharing and giving back and finding your own path to success for you. Monique Sever, Litigation Support & eDiscovery Supervisor, Harper Grey LLP
ILTACON 2025 was energy-packed as usual, and of course there was a lot of conversation around Arrrr-tificial Intelligence (and a lot of pirates😉). One comment that struck a chord came during the Thursday morning G100/G200 Keynote – “Information Governance is a department; The governance of information is everyone’s responsibility.” In this changing world of AI and security, that should be at the forefront of everyone’s mind and decision-making. Jessi Adler, Director of Media Relations, Plat4orm
The conference was busy from day one. Conversations were ongoing throughout the venue, private breakout rooms, lobby, terrace, and atrium. The booths seem to be getting bigger and bigger (little excessive and seem to focus on who is spending the most not necessarily providing the most value). The conference was AI dominated but connectivity to data | data movement, security and governance were also discussed as part of those conversations. Frank Perrone, Founder & CEO, ReVia
AI was front and center at ILTACON 2025, shifting from big ideas to practical, real-world applications. For those working behind the scenes in legal support, the focus was on how AI tools can speed up document review and research while ensuring results are accurate and reliable. A key theme was trust, ensuring AI systems are not only faster, but also transparent and reliable when it matters most. Tameca Brooks, Director of eDiscovery Services, S2|DATA
Thousands descended upon National Harbor dressed as pirates, seeking to find where X marks the spot to buried treasures of AI-empowered productivity. Yet, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that AI may not be a trunk of unimaginable riches as much as an omnipresent mimic chirping “pieces of tenths-of-an-hour.” But also… seriously, do you realize how cool it is to have an uncannily insightful talking bird constantly perched on your shoulder? Consider the ILTACON story that the real buried treasures were the parrots we met along the way. Joe Patrice, Senior Editor, Above the Law
There were so many people who provided crowdsourced ILTACON 2025 observations that I couldn’t fit it all into one post! I’ll post the final set of comments I received tomorrow. Thanks to all who crowdsourced ILTACON 2025 observations for me – you saved me writing three posts this week! 😀
So, what do you think? Did you attend ILTACON 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.