The 46th annual ILTACON is set to kick off next week, marking decades of growth for one of the legal technology industry’s most prominent gatherings.
What began as a small group of lawyers meeting in a conference room has since evolved into a major industry event attracting thousands of attendees from across the legal world.
More than 5,300 attendees are expected this year, a figure so large that CEO Joy Heath Rush jokes she would need to build new hotel rooms to accommodate everyone.
The conference features dozens of sponsors, more than 80 panels and educational sessions, and a packed agenda reflecting just how rapidly the legal technology sector is expanding.
One of the most striking trends this year is the broadening definition of who qualifies as a legal technologist, a category that increasingly appears to include practising lawyers themselves.
The conference has “more managing partners and COOs than we’ve ever seen,” Joy notes, adding that “this demonstrates how central technology is becoming to the operation and strategy of these organizations.”
Despite its significant growth in scale and ambition, the event has still “retained that family reunion type of feel,” according to Joy, preserving a sense of community that long-time attendees value.
Beyond internal firm operations, lawyers are also being pushed to understand technology as it applies directly to their clients’ industries and business practices.
“Our lawyers are going to be increasingly working on problems that involve the use of AI in other businesses,” Joy explains, meaning “they need to learn enough about the tech to be able to talk about those issues.”
This expanding scope gives an organisation like ILTA an opportunity to influence not just legal professionals but the broader conversation around artificial intelligence adoption across industries.
The legal sector has already established itself as a frontrunner in this space, with Joy pointing out that “legal has been very early to adopt this technology.”
That early adoption places the legal industry in a unique position to shape wider understanding and implementation of AI tools in professional settings.
“We have such an opportunity to help people see this in the bigger picture,” Joy says, suggesting the conference’s influence extends well beyond its immediate audience of legal technologists.
As AI continues to reshape how lawyers work, advise clients, and structure their firms, events like ILTACON are becoming less of a niche gathering and more of a mainstream business necessity.