Legal technology was once a quiet, overlooked corner of the business world, where small vendors scraped for funding and innovation moved at a glacial pace.
For much of its early history, the legal tech sector was so subdued that a handful of journalists could easily track every meaningful development without breaking a sweat.
That all changed on November 30, 2022, when ChatGPT launched and sent shockwaves through the legal technology universe almost overnight.
The scale of that transformation became impossible to ignore at this year’s ILTACON conference, where the event’s size, energy, and ambition bore almost no resemblance to its former self.
First-day attendance at ILTACON reached 5,625 this year, a rise of more than 22% compared to last year’s closing figure of 4,606, with numbers climbing to 5,700 by day three.
The conference now occupies every square inch of the Gaylord Convention space, filling more than 700,000 square feet with exhibitors, sessions, and attendees.
Demand for accommodation was so intense that all 2,888 rooms in the Gaylord hotel were booked by May, forcing organisers to arrange nine overflow hotel sites nearby.
A record 241 exhibitor booths filled the exhibit hall, with the collective weight of the displays reaching three tons, a figure that underscores just how much capital is now flowing into the sector.
Managing partners, not just CIOs and IT professionals, are now attending in substantially greater numbers, a development that signals legal tech has earned a seat at the very top table of the profession.
ILTA is responding to the growth by partnering with consulting company Cosmonaut to help manage future event planning and accommodate what it expects to be continued expansion.
Perhaps nothing illustrates the industry’s new commercial weight more vividly than the entertainment on offer at vendor parties, which featured artists including Little Big Town, Laura Bell Bundy, Sheryl Crow, and Lady A.
Other recent conferences in the legal tech space have brought in performers such as Nelly, Flo Rida, and Flavor Flav, a roster that would have been unimaginable in the sector just a few years ago.
Keynote speakers have followed a similarly elevated trajectory, with ILTACON drawing recognised names like Jim Abbott and Dr. Kevin Fong to headline its programme.
Other conferences across the broader tech landscape have attracted figures such as Eli Manning, Rob Lowe, and Jake Gyllenhaal, reflecting an industry now confident enough to command big-name talent.
The press briefing at ILTACON itself told its own story, with a standing-room-only crowd, an open bar, and a candid, energetic presentation lasting over an hour that ended with a round of applause.
The driving force behind this wholesale reinvention of the legal tech market is, by almost universal agreement, artificial intelligence, which forced investors and vendors to reassess an industry ripe for disruption.