Paper to Pixels…Transforming the Practice of Law…

by David J Bilinsky

The future's in the air
I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change…

Words and music by Klaus Meine, recorded by The Scorpions.

The 3rd Pacific Legal Technology Conference (PLTC) is coming to Vancouver on Friday, October 14, 2005 at the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre (Canada Place). For those who haven’t attended a PLTC before, it is comprised of several components. First and foremost are the 16 hours of pure educational presentations spread over 7 tracks, starting right at 8:00 a.m. Secondly, there is the largest legal technology exhibit floor in B.C., newly expanded in 2005 to accommodate the increasing number of legal-technology developers offering products to B.C. lawyers. Thirdly, there is a 3-hour electronic mock trial based on the Air India trial, which takes place before a BCSC judge and a jury of law students. It pits Joe Bellows, Q.C. and other Crown Counsel up against Russ Aoki, a Seattle “Super Lawyer” in a demonstration of how technology can be used by even non-techy lawyers during all parts of a trial – from the opening to direct and cross, and during final argument. Fourthly, there are the Vendor sessions that are presented by the developers themselves, where they show off their products and their benefits. Fifthly, there are the 3 hours of round-table sessions where you can hear about “what just works” and engage our presenters with your questions. Sixthly, there is the sit-down lunch with topical tables where you can come and discuss your views with others of similar interests, and brainstorm. Lastly, there is the closing 5:00 p.m. reception where you can mingle, with a beverage, and network with the speakers and your colleagues.

Why should you attend? Leaving aside the matter of the mandatory reporting of professional development hours (where the 2005 PLTC offers 6.75 hours of practice management instruction for reporting on your 2005 Annual Practice Declaration), the 2005 PLTC has been designed by people just like yourself. This year we sent out a web survey to past attendees of the Conference asking them to select the final courses from the list of possible topics and sessions selected by the Conference Advisory Board. As a result, this is the only legal technology conference in the world where the attendees have had a direct hand in selecting the courses and topics deemed to be of greatest interest to them.

This Conference represents a coming-together of four organizations having a direct interest in the success and professional development of the legal profession: The Law Society of British Columbia, the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia, the Canadian Bar Association, and the American Bar Association – Law Practice Management Section. Several of our speakers and Advisory Board Members are the top speakers from the ABA’s TECHSHOW, presented annually in Chicago. However, the PLTC offers a distinct B.C. flavour that cannot be found in any other legal technology program – which incidentally you would have to travel to Chicago or San Francisco to see. The Conference also draws in attendees from right across B.C. and from our surrounding jurisdictions – hence our qualification for mandatory professional development credits in neighbouring U.S. jurisdictions.

We believe that lawyers, legal administrators, legal assistants and paralegals, legal research staff, IT professionals, and others can all stand to benefit from this Conference. All the sessions have an indicated “technical level” – from “green circle” to “blue square” or “black diamond” – in order that you can select courses appropriate to you.

Speaking of the speakers, the educational sessions are all presented by lawyers, legal researchers, law office administrators, IT professionals – but not vendors (who have the exclusive control of the Vendors’ Track). At the educational sessions, you are hearing it from people just like yourself who are “in the trenches,” and who have wrestled with the issues and the problems, and who have come prepared to share their experiences and their views, warts and all. We have leading speakers from both inside B.C. and elsewhere – people like Ross Kodner, a top presenter on legal technology across North America, Jeff Flax, National Co-ordinator of Technology for the Office of the U.S. Public Defender, and Tom Grella, the upcoming chair of the ABA’s Law Practice Management Section. From across Canada, we have Simon Chester and Dan Pinnington from Toronto, bringing their acclaimed session on using PowerPoint direct from ABA Techshow, together with Cory Furman, an IP lawyer showing how technology can be applied for great results in small firms. And last but certainly not least we have 23 other top presenters from B.C., drawn from all sizes of firms and areas of practice, who are ready, willing and able to share with you how they have applied technology to their practices.

The sessions are divided among 8 tracks such as litigation, e-novations (focusing at the changes in e-filing, e-searching and e-practice in the B.C. Government registries), Effective Tools Track, Tips and Techniques Track, and others.

The Vendor track and exhibitor floor allows you to “kick the tires” and see the largest collection of legal technology offerings anywhere in B.C. This is an opportunity to see and discuss how these technologies can be applied to a practice just like yours.

When it comes to going to court, there is nothing like seeing stuff in action. Accordingly, the electronic mock trial is our way of not just talking about technology – we put it on trial! The electronic mock trial has been the highest rated of all the sessions at past PLTC’s.

The Conference includes a continental breakfast prior to our 8:00 a.m. start and also includes a sit-down lunch and coffee breaks.

The price is $295 + taxes = $315.65 for the early-bird registration until Sept 16, 2005 – after that date registration is $395 + taxes = $422.65. We believe that this price offers incredible value, but for the final word on the conference, we turn to our past attendees. In the written evaluations received from the last conference, without exception the past attendees said, “They would recommend this Conference to their colleagues.”

Full Conference information including the Conference session schedule, speaker information, and registration forms can be found at www.pacificlegaltech.com.

The future is in the air. I hope that the winds of change find you at the Pacific Legal Technology Conference come this October!

David J Bilinsky is the Practice Management Advisor at the Law Society of BC. Email: daveb@lsbc.org. The views expressed herein are strictly those of the author and may not be shared by the author’s employer. 

This article originally appeared in the August 2005 issue of BarTalk and is reproduced here with permission of both the author and the Canadian Bar Association, British Columbia Branch.