lies
on
the
edge
of
the
table
for
the
participants
and
convention
center
reception.
Business
conference
access
cards.
The
Filevine
User
Conference
took
place
September
29th
through
October
2nd
in
Salt
Lake
City.
I
was
interested
in
the
conference
in
part
because
Filevine
recently
got
a
$400
million
infusion
and
I
wanted
to
see
what
the
atmosphere
was
as
compared
to
last
year’s
conference,
also
in
Salt
Lake.
Last
year,
Filevine
more
or
less
threw
down
the
gauntlet
on
extravagant
vendor
conferences.
It
featured
a
keynote
with
the
actor
Jake
Gyllenhaal
and
a
concert
by
well-known
rap
artist,
Nelly.
There
was
a
lot
of
excitement
and
major
announcements.
Like
last
year,
this
year’s
conference
featured
a
well-known
actor,
Bob
Odenkirk
(Better
Call
Saul),
and
a
concert
apparently
by
a
well-known
country
music
group,
the
Turnpike
Troubadours.
(I’m
not
a
country
fan
so
it
was
a
little
lost
on
me.)
The
energy
and
passion
seemed
the
same,
as
exemplified
by
its
CEO
Ryan
Anderson.
I
enjoy
talking
to
the
Filevine
folks
and,
like
last
year,
found
them
interesting
and
knowledgeable.
And
perhaps
in
keeping
with
a
company
just
getting
a
$400
million
infusion,
Filevine
gave
every
attendee
$200
in
coupons
to
spend
in
the
Filevine
Pro
Shop
(more
on
that
later).
Key
Take
Aways
After
being
there
for
the
three
days,
three
trends
are
obvious.
First,
like
some
other
vendors,
Filevine
sees
the
value
in
providing
one
singular
AI
and
tech
source
for
all
its
customers.
It
is
expanding
what
its
various
AI
tools
can
do
so
that
customers
stay
in
the
Filevine
campground
for
as
many
tasks
as
possible.
All
well
and
good
but
if
you
follow
Cory
Doctorow’s
enshitification
theme
(where
a
company
offers
a
great
product
at
a
great
price
but
as
it
grows
it
offers
less
service
at
a
higher
price),
it
ties
up
customers
and
makes
it
difficult
for
them
to
switch
if
Filevine
decides
in
the
future
to
raise
the
fees
and
provide
less
service.
It’s
good
for
customers
in
the
short
run.
How
good
in
the
long
run
remains
to
be
seen.
Secondly,
many
of
Filevine’s
tools
reduce
the
amount
of
time
needed
by
lawyers
and
legal
professionals
to
spend
doing
case
and
matter
activities.
As
I
have
discussed
before,
this
means,
for
example,
that
plaintiffs’
lawyers
who
take
cases
on
a
contingency
basis
may
be
able
to
profitably
handle
cases
that
they
previously
could
not.
These
are
cases
with
lower
exposure.
Without
AI
and
automation
tools,
the
amount
of
time
needed
to
handle
the
case
would
exceed
what
could
likely
be
recovered.
Not
coincidentally,
many
of
Filevine’s
customers
are
personal
injury
lawyers.
Finally,
like
some
other
providers,
Filevine
looks
hard
at
the
practice
pain
points
and
sees
the
value
in
providing
AI
tools
that
work
and
address
those
points.
The
Opening
Keynote
Like
last
year,
the
opening
Keynote
was
given
by
the
CEO
and
founder,
Ryan
Anderson.
He’s
one
of
those
tech
entrepreneurs
who
bounds
on
the
stage
full
of
energy
and
passion,
lots
of
fast
talking
(meaning
he
talked
fast,
not
necessarily
that
he
was
full
of
BS,
although
I’m
sure
there
was
some
of
that).
His
Keynote
sets
the
stage
for
what’s
to
come.
Interestingly,
Anderson
opened
his
Keynote
by
talking
about
the
possibility
of
tech
companies
becoming
competitors
of
law
firms
instead
of
suppliers
of
products
to
them.
I
say
interesting
because
recently
I
posed
the
same
question
in
connection
with
the
purchase
by
the
tech
company
Lawhive
of
a
UK
law
firm.
As
might
be
expected,
Anderson
offered
a
stirring
defense
of
law
firms
and
expressed
the
idea
that
there
are
things
human
lawyers
can
and
always
will
do
better.
Like
persuasion,
empathy,
and
legal
strategy.
I
say
expected
since
Filevine
is
a
big
seller
of
tech
to
law
firms
(at
least
for
now).
Anderson’s
big
news
in
terms
of
products
was
the
notion
of
a
concept
he
called
LOIS
(Legal
Operating
Intelligence
Solution).
The
idea
is
that
LOIS
will
be
the
hub
to
unify
all
Filevine’s
AI
tools
and
case
management
software.
Anderson
said
the
platform
will
be
a
connected
environment
for
these
tools
to
work
together
in
an
orchestrated
fashion.
After
the
Keynote,
I
talked
with
Keegan
Chapman,
Filevine’s
Chief
Marketing
Officer,
about
LOIS.
I
got
the
sense
that
LOIS
is
more
of
a
concept
and
way
of
thinking
than
an
actual
product.
I
also
got
the
idea
that
it’s
a
way
to
refer
to
the
slew
of
different
products
Filevine
offers
in
a
unified
way.
Says
Chapman,
“All
these
products
scattered
throughout
Filevine
felt
very
disjointed.
We
realized
that
the
true
power
is
not
when
you
have
one
but
when
you
have
AI
in
each
step
of
your
process.
And
that’s
what
we
started
naming
LOIS
for.”
Good
idea.
I
have
written
before
about
the
confusion
that
arises
when
a
legal
tech
vendor
offers
a
bunch
of
products
with
different
names
that
do
slightly
different
things.
Beyond
LOIS,
there
were
lots
of
user
sessions,
often
devoted
to
use
by
plaintiffs’
and
smaller
law
firms
who
seem
to
constitute
the
bulk
of
Filevine’s
customer
base
and
the
actual
use
of
the
various
tools.
New
Products
and
Enhancements
At
the
conclusion
of
the
first
full
day,
Filevine’s
Chief
Product
Officer,
Michael
Anderson,
along
with
several
others
took
the
stage
to
discuss
Filevine’s
new
products
and
enhancements.
As
with
most
vendors
these
days,
most
of
these
aren’t
released
yet
and
will
be
in
beta
starting
later
this
year.
The
two
important
were
the
enhancements
to
the
deposition
tool
and
the
entry
of
Filevine
in
the
legal
research
field
which
I
previously
addressed.
Here
are
some
of
the
other
announcements.
1.
Filevine’s
major
flagship
AI
tool, Chat
with
Your
Case,
now
looks
more
like
a
full
AI-powered
case
analysis
and
drafting
assistant.
Key
enhancements
include:
-
The
sidebar
chat
has
been
redesigned
with
a full-screen
mode
and
a history
map. -
The
exact
words
and
pages
the
AI
relies
on
are
displayed. -
A
new AI
classifier now
routes
queries
to
the
correct
agent,
distinguishing
between
fact-finding,
procedural,
and
generative
tasks.
Key
upcoming
features
will
add
the
ability
to
automatically
produce
slide
decks
or
PDFs
summarizing
case
strengths
and
weaknesses
and
the
ability
for
users
to
be
able
to
choose
which
datasets
the
AI
draws
from.
2.
Draft
AI is
a
new
embedded
drafting
assistant
integrated
into
Filevine’s document
assembly
system.
Features
include:
-
A
hybrid
drafting
enginethat
combines
traditional
templates
with
generative
AI
for
unique
sections
like
recitals
and
factual
backgrounds. -
Direct
Filevine
data
access
that
draws
directly
from
the
case
file
leading
to
accuracy
and
formatting
consistency. -
The
ability
to
chat
with
the
document
itself
to
edit,
query,
or
insert
sections.
3.
Filevine’s Timely product,
an
AI-driven
deadline
calculation
tool,
has
been
completely
rebuilt
using
AI.
The
enhancements
include:
-
Coverage
of
cases
in
all
50
state
and
federal
jurisdictions. -
An
AI-enhanced
local
rule
detection
feature. -
Synced
deadlines
that
appear
automatically
in
Filevine
projects,
Outlook,
and
Google
calendars.
4. Filevine’s
Medical
Chronology
tool
is
a
medical
record
summarization
system
that
now
automatically
updates
as
new
medical
records
are
uploaded.
It
can
also
now
be
narrowed
for
specific
types
of
records.
In
the
future,
the
tool
will
include
automatic
deduplication,
and
the
ability
to
combine
medical
records
and
bills
into
a
unified
view,
cross-comparison
of
bills
and
records
to
find
missing
documents,
and
the
ability
for
the
user
to
approve
or
exclude
documents
before
inclusion.
The
Proverbial
Vibe
In
addition
to
content
and
announcements,
every
conference
should
be
assessed
on
its
vibe,
energy,
and
feel.
On
this
point,
I
give
Filevine
a
B+
for
the
reasons
below.
Lots
of
excitement
and
passion.
Lots
of
talk
about
AI
and
what
I
could
do.
The
Filevine
people
went
out
of
their
way
to
be
helpful
and
courteous.
The
sessions
were
good
and
informative.
The
keynotes
were
solid.
The
exhibit
hall
was
energized.
But…
Despite
all
this,
on
some
things
Filevine
was,
well,
a
little
tone
deaf.
Take
LOIS.
Conceptually
sounds
like
a
good
idea.
But
why
introduce
it
with
a
video
showing
two
attractive
women
who
presumably
gave
a
look
and
voice
to
LOIS.
And
for
that
matter,
why
name
it
for
a
woman
at
all?
Whether
intentional
or
not,
the
choice
to
anthropomorphize
an
AI
assistant
as
female
and
have
it
represented
by
attractive
women
in
promotional
materials
reinforces
old
stereotypes
about
whose
work
matters
less.
Minor
point?
Maybe.
And
by
itself
it
might
not
have
been
noticeable.
But
a
couple
of
other
things
suggested
a
bro
atmosphere.
Throughout
the
venue
there
were
all
sorts
of
references
to
sports,
primarily
golf.
Pictures
of
well-known
male
golfers.
Trophies
displayed
to
suggest
a
country
club
atmosphere.
References
to
club
membership.
Even
the
swag
was
offered
in
a
“Pro
Shop.”
Most
of
it
had
“Member”
displayed
on
it.
Yes,
women
play
golf;
but
I
didn’t
see
any
pictures
of
women
golfers
anyplace.
Nothing
wrong
with
golf
references
per
se,
but
when
the
entire
aesthetic
skews
heavily
toward
one
demographic’s
leisure
activities,
it
sends
a
message
about
who
the
“default”
customer
is
imagined
to
be.
Then
there
was
the
opening
night
party.
The
theme
was
Kentucky
Derby,
replete
with
mint
juleps,
cigar
rolling,
and
simulated
betting.
Now
I’m
happy
my
state’s
biggest
event
got
some
notice,
but
it
seemed
jarring
to
have
a
Derby
party
in
late
September
in
Salt
Lake
City.
Beyond
the
odd
timing,
it
could
be
seen
as
doubling
down
on
the
exclusive
country
and
boys
club
image.
Putting
all
this
together,
it
gave
an
impression
that
could
be
off
putting
and
detract,
rather
than
enhance,
the
goal
of
the
conference:
show
off
products
while
letting
everyone
have
fun
and
feel
comfortable.
In
a
male-dominated
industry
known
for
the
opposite
kind
of
atmosphere,
it
was
a
distraction.
But
At
Least
No
Woman
in
a
Champagne
Glass
But
that
shouldn’t
take
anything
away
from
the
fact
that
overall,
the
conference
was
really
good.
And
unlike
another
well-known
legal
tech
conference
this
year,
at
least
there
was
no
scantily
clad
woman
in
a
large
champagne
glass
at
the
main
party.
Stephen
Embry
is
a
lawyer,
speaker,
blogger,
and
writer.
He
publishes TechLaw
Crossroads,
a
blog
devoted
to
the
examination
of
the
tension
between
technology,
the
law,
and
the
practice
of
law.