As we approach the landmark Legal Innovators California conference, Artificial Lawyer caught up with one of our keynote speakers, Zach Abramowitz of advisory firm Killer Whale Strategies, to discuss GenAI’s impact so far and why he’s excited to attend this essential two-day event in San Francisco, June 4/5.
First the ‘why?’ As Zach notes in the short intro below, one of the key reasons Legal Innovators events stand out is because they are what he describes as ‘pen and notebook conferences’, where attendees are getting so much useful information and such great insights that they want to write stuff down to share with their organisations.
Of course, we aim to make Legal Innovators a fun event as well, with plenty of opportunities to network and meet the many vendors and speakers, but Zach is right – quality content is key, and Legal Innovators California aims to keep you informed of everything that matters right now in the legal tech and innovation worlds, with speakers who know their stuff and have plenty to share.
Here’s the short intro video:
If you’d like to know more, you can find info and tickets on the Legal Innovators California conference site. The event will take place in San Francisco on June 4 and 5. Day One is focused on law firms and Day Two on inhouse and legal ops. Zach is one of many great speakers attending the event, along with a group of pioneering legal tech companies and service providers – you can see some more of our speakers here.
Legal Innovators California conference – June 4 and 5 – San Francisco
We also recorded a longer conversation about the impact so far of GenAI on the legal market, which is headlined ‘Are we there yet?’ – i.e. lots of lawyers have started to adopt GenAI tools of various types, but how much impact has it had so far?
Here’s the broader GenAI discussion. Press play to watch inside this page. Enjoy:
And here’s a brief summary of the topics we cover:
– How GenAI has raised the bar in terms of expectations for what legal tech tools can do.
– How this is really a paradigm shift and that talk of a ‘tipping point’ is justified.
– We look at different approaches to using GenAI, e.g. where the AI is integrated into existing products, where products are built from the ground up with AI, and where there’s a more DIY approach using an LLM’s capabilities, including perhaps legal specific ones, to achieve customised goals.
– But…has something really changed in how commercial lawyers work? We explore how much of this comes down to the clients and their demands, and then consider how the C-suite will be pushing for real change now via the use of GenAI because senior managers in corporates now know about it – as it’s unavoidable. That in turn will have a ripple effect on the law firms…..many of which are already adapting and adopting GenAI to improve how they work and what they can offer.
– We consider how GenAI will be a bit like the internet. The first wave will have a broad impact, primarily by closing the general information gap, but the second wave will be more layered, customised and complex, and allow lawyers to have a much more personalised and powerful impact by leveraging GenAI tools specifically for their own practice and tailored to their personal expertise, in short: a force multiplier for every individual lawyer.
– Finally, a quick prediction for the next 12 months: Zach hopes that we will get rid of hallucinations, (or at least minimise them to the point that they no-longer get in the way), much like the Twitter whale became a thing of the past, which was a message Twitter used to give when it started out, which told users it was overloaded and couldn’t operate for a while. In short, time and ingenuity will overcome this issue. (Although, worth saying that some GenAI folks do say that hallucinations are here to stay because of the nature of how LLMs work, just that, as noted, they can be minimised through various strategies to a point where they are not a hinderance.) We shall see…!
So, there you go. That’s just a short intro to just one of the topics we will be exploring. We’ll also have plenty to talk about in relation to legal tech investment – and more on that soon. And there will be many other subjects explored, from changes to how we contract, to how GenAI will impact dispute resolution.
More info here – Legal Innovators California.