Clio Cloud Conference 2016: Day Two Highlights

Written by Bryce Tarling4 minutes well spent
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Day two of the Clio Cloud Conference has come to an end, closing out what was an incredible event featuring many inspiring speakers and conversations. From robot lawyers to practicing law in the company of street vendors in India, no stone was left unturned in exploring the possibilities of the future of legal practice.

Here’s a recap of day two.

Opening Keynote: Melanie Heller

The conference opened with a keynote presentation from Melanie Heller (@MelHellerNYC), vice president and general manager at Bloomberg BNA, who spoke about “Branding, Technology, and the New Normal for Practices of all Sizes.”

Her message: “size doesn’t matter.” Technology and branding through marketing are making it easier for small firms to compete with Big Law practices.

Big Law firm decline in recent years has been a result of larger firms not being able to afford lower rates—and not being able to take advantage of new industry innovations. Small firms are in a position to compete with larger firms by leveraging new technology to free up their time so they can focus on working with clients.

Session Highlights

Artificial Intelligence and the Law: Science Fiction or Science Fact?

Andrew Arruda (@AndrewArruda) addressed common misconceptions about artificial intelligence (AI) and how they apply to the legal sphere. Namely, AI is not a synonym for killer robots and impending doom. Also, there are huge gains to be found in cooperation between machines and humans.

We’re seeing a major advancement in how machines are able to see and interpret their environment—interpreting images and processing natural speech patterns—with a high degree of accuracy. The benefit of AI technologies is that they get better at what they do by learning from their mistakes—much faster than humans.

It’s a major field of opportunity, and many legal tech companies are already using it.

How My Client Landed a Million Dollar Client Through Facebook

Samantha Collier (@samtaracollier) teaches lawyers how to find clients using social media. In her presentation, she emphasized the importance of making it easy for clients to say nice things about their lawyers and the value that recommendations can have for other potential clients.

She also gave some key advice on developing your firm’s social media policy and how to brand your firm.

How to Run Your Law Firm From India (With Your 4-Month-Old)

Greg McLawsen (@mclawsen) presented on how he managed to build his own immigration law firm that allows him to travel and work in India. Some of his points included practical law firm advice, such as outsourcing legal processing and not getting bogged down in email—in his case, by avoiding it entirely. Key tools he uses include Earth Class Mail to transform snail mail into cloud documents and Ruby Receptionists when he can’t take a call.

He also spoke about global travel hacks that earned the respect and inspired the crowd.

Traditional Contract Drafting Is the Worst

Ken Adams, author of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting (ABA 3d ed. 2013), president of Adams Contracts Consulting LLC, and blogger at Adams on Contract Drafting, invited lawyers to join him in reconsidering how language is used in the practice of law—and how style has evolved (and should evolve). Some key focuses included methods for lawyers to avoid redundancy and archaisms.

Texas Law Hawk Gets Loud About Marketing  

Bryan Wilson (@TexasLawHawk), the Texas Law Hawk, is renowned for his high-energy, over-the-top video marketing tactics. Presenting to a full house, he gave the audience an inside look at the stories behind his marketing strategy, and some key learnings he’s encountered along the way.

For Bryan, viral marketing was a way to circumvent the process of building a 10-year reputation—by getting in front of his targeted audience. The result? He’s a celebrated practitioner with a thriving business.

Open & Free Law: A Law Librarian’s Crusade

Sarah Glassmeyer (@sglassmeyer) is a lawyer and librarian currently working as a research fellow in the Harvard Library Innovation Lab. Her presentation spoke to the importance of public access to information—and more importantly, to justice—with respect to online legal resources. A key takeaway: Often, having the right information can be as valuable as having a good lawyer.

Closing Keynote: Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) is a self-described hustler. He’s also a venerated authority on social media, entrepreneurship, startups, and business—who had the 700 conference attendees on their feet by the end of his presentation.

He offered insight into our new tech-oriented environment and the importance of earning attention—all while playing to your strengths. Motivational, clairvoyant, and inspiring, he was the perfect ending to two incredible days.  

Closing Remarks

To close out the conference, Jack Newton, CEO, and co-founder of Clio, announced the location of next year’s conference in New Orleans! (Get your tickets today!)

As part of Clio’s annual Bug Smash, Jack also announced several new updates to Clio—based on feedback received during the conference. Big congrats to #TeamClio at Clio HQ for pulling these off in such short time! Here are the updates:

  • The ability to filter by the originating attorney has been moved to the billable client’s page.
  • Email notifications for tasks now include details.
  • More complete calendar details are available on the calendar pages.

Didn’t get to attend the conference? Catch up on what happened at #ClioCloud9 on Twitter.

Categorized in: Clio

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