Bench & Bar May/June 2026

LAW PRACTICE MANAGEMENT

the HAPPIEST PLACE in LEGAL TECH BY STEPHEN EMBRY

T he American Bar Association’s (ABA) TechShow kicked off March 25 th at the McCormick Convention Center in Chi cago and ran through the 28 th . It’s one of the premier legal tech shows. It's not only a trade show. It’s also a reunion of people who actually care about the practice of law and technology. It’s a happy place with a family atmosphere. TechShow has historically been directed more toward small and solo law firms. But it’s always wise to avoid stereotypes. The show does have big law and mid-sized law attendees along with judges, academia, ven dors, influencers and even law students. As compared to other shows, it also seems to have more lawyers in attendance. This difference shows up in the way vendors approach the Show and the educational sessions. In that regard, TechShow is more low key and less sales oriented than many tech shows. Perhaps that’s in part due to its audience and because it has is a strict no selling from the podium rule. Few of the sessions are sponsored by vendors although vendor representatives may be and often are speakers. It tends to be more informal than some of the other tech shows with a colle gial atmosphere of people who tend to know each other and welcome those they don’t. This year there was a record of over 2200 attendees and over 120 exhibitors, Tech Show is certainly one of the largest and premier legal tech shows.

THE VENUE Last year, TechShow made the move from a downtown Chicago hotel to the McCor mick Place Convention Center which is a little removed from the hustle and bustle of downtown. It is, however, a more open and roomy venue with plenty of hotels, bars and restaurants close by. It’s worth mentioning that simultaneously with TechShow, The Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo will also be held in McCormick which added some color and excitement. THE CONTENT Where TechShow always shines is in its con tent and this year was no exception. There were over 47 informative and educa tional sessions. While many were of course focused on AI, there were plenty of practical hands-on sessions dealing with the business of law, deep fakes, mobile lawyering and succession among other topics. In addition, there were two over the top keynotes. The first was given by Jordan Furlong who has written more insight ful articles about the changes in the legal profession than just about anyone. If you haven’t been following and reading Furlong, you are missing out on some really insight ful content.

His keynote was entitled “ The Lawyers We’ll Need: Preparing the Legal Profession for a Post-AI World. ” Furlong talked a lot about the skills of successful lawyers in the future and postulated that GenAI will dramatically change the legal profession. He believes it will move lawyers away from their tradi tional roles of being “task performers and overseers” which is how so many perceive themselves. Instead, the future success ful lawyers will be the human lawyers that thrive on building and maintaining relationships. The second keynote was given by none other than Nilay Patel, the co-founder and editor in chief of The Verge. Patel told the audience that the real value lawyers bring to clients is something AI can’t bring: the abil ity to advise, listen and guide them through ambiguity and lack of predictability. Both keynotes were enlightening and inspiring and gave hope to the profession for the future. Then on the final day, TechShow offered a session entitled “ A Historic Conversation on the Rule of Law, AI, and the Future of the Legal Profession .” I can’t think of any better presenters on this subject than Bill Bay, immediate past ABA president, Michelle Behnke, current ABA president and Bar bara Howard, in-coming ABA president. At a time when too many associations are shying away from having discussion about the rule of law and threats to the judiciary

30 may/june 2026