March 2006

Chair's Message

Find the Fun in Technology at ABA TECHSHOW^®

ABA TECHSHOW® is approaching its 20th birthday. It has changed in many ways since its early years. For more than a decade, it has been held in Chicago, instead of traveling about to venues like the Infomart in Dallas and the World Trade Center in Boston. Attendance has climbed from a few hundred early enthusiasts to more than 1,400 attendees last year. The session topics are more sophisticated, and there is little need for such early basics as how actually to use a computer.

Notwithstanding the occasional gripe, the great “word processing wars” are pretty much over. Most legal professionals are at least moderately skilled with keyboarding and preparing documents, and a large proportion can—if they want—harness the computer to do almost everything involved in running a law practice without assistance. You rarely hear expressions like “you can recognize the pioneer by the arrows in his (or her) back,” or “when all you have is a hammer, everything is a nail.” I can’t remember the last time someone needed help to find the Enter key. I could go on, but I fear I am showing my vintage.

Not all about ABA TECHSHOW is different. Among the many things that have not changed are the energy and enthusiasm of attendees and presenters alike. The technology may be harnessed to do work, and the work itself may be very serious business. But the technology is fun. If you need convincing, come hear this year’s keynote speaker, G. Burgess Allison. His engaging, humor-filled and delectably cynical columns were a highlight of the Section’s magazine for many years, regularly taking us inside the latest developments and behind the techno-babble.

The sessions this year, as always, include something for virtually every interest and knowledge level. You’ll find the full schedule and conference highlights on pages 4-7 of this issue. Among my personal favorites are Craig Ball’s display of PowerPoint brilliance, plus the Digital Discovery Showdown—a mock argument designed to demonstrate the hows and whys of litigation support and presentation technologies while airing current and developing views on e-discovery issues.

You Can Have It All This Spring

Notwithstanding all the energy and excitement surrounding ABA TECHSHOW, many Section actives have had to forgo it in recent years, as the realities of business precluded their attending the conference in April when they were committed to the Section’s Spring Meeting less than a month later. Conversely, we found that many ABA TECHSHOW participants could not justify attending another meeting so soon after, and so could not take a more active role in the Section. For the occasion of ABA TECHSHOW’s 20th anniversary year, we chose to address those difficulties by combining the educational and business program into a single week. We have a packed schedule and lots of attractions. We look forward to seeing you there.

Carl G. Roberts, Chair of the ABA Law Practice Management Section, is a partner in Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, in Philadelphia.