♬ My kind of town, chicago is
My kind of town, chicago is
My kind of razzmatazz
And it has, all that jazz…♬

Lyrics by Sammy Cahn, Music by Jimmy Van Heusen, recorded by Frank Sinatra.

On April 2-4 in Chicago a once-in-a-year, not-to-be-missed event will take place.  This year – of all years – should be the year lawyers, administrators, legal technologists, researchers and anyone involved in the delivery of legal services makes a bee-line to TECHSHOW in Chicago.  Why?  Simply because this recession is the best opportunity  to upgrade your systems and technology to be able to take advantage of the upswing (that is coming, notwithstanding the financial news).  It is difficult to either introduce new technology or get people to change when they are going gangbusters…hence the Stephen Covey 7th habit: “Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw: Principles of Balanced Self-Renewal”.

This economic downswing is the perfect opportunity to take a step back, examine not only what you are doing from a business perspective but also how you are doing it.  What principles of workflow and efficiency can  you apply to your practice? How do you determine what are the best strategies for you and your firm? What have other firms done and how well is it working for them?  Lastly but certainly not least, what can you do for yourself to improve your own personal productivity and effectiveness?

I have found TECHSHOW to simply be the best resource in this regard.  The collection of minds that assemble and speak, discuss, go out for dinner and mingle are the ones that will stimulate you, raise issues and ask questions at a depth equalled nowhere else.

The keynote speaker is non other than:  Richard Susskind, OBE, who has 25 years of legal technology experience, and serves as Chair of the Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information and has been IT Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice of England. In an interview in The Times Online, Richard states:

“[T]he UK Government is unquestionably reforming the legal profession and legal system at a rate of knots but in none of the white papers, consultation documents or speeches by ministers can I find a clear articulation of a distant end game that takes into account the phenomena that most long-range strategic planners are wrestling with — such as the impact of outsourcing or of Web 2.0 (two phenomena that are disrupting and reconfiguring most sectors) on legal practice.”

Sir Richard will no doubt be addressing similar themes in his keynote, based on his latest book: The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services. But Richard is but one voice to be heard at TECHSHOW.  There are 60 other notable presenters (including many Canadians: Nils Jensen, Steve Matthews, Joel Alleyne, Jean-François DeRico, Dominic Jaar, Peg Duncan, Donna Neff, Dan Pinnington and yours truly).

Tracks range from “A Day in the (techno) Life” to Solo and Small Firm, Trial Skills, e-Discovery Update, Tech for Financial Management and others.  Sessions range from  Records Management Policies and Systems: Back to the Drawing Board? to Getting to Paperless: A Lawyer’s Step by Step Guide, Got Apple Envy? Macs in a PC World and my two personal perennial favourites: 60 Sites in 60 Minutes and 60 Tips in 60 Minutes.  There is also the full exhibit hall to visit with its incredible array of legal technology offerings.

By registering as an early-bird by Feb. 28th, combined with a program promoter discount, you can save $150 off the full registration cost.  The Law Society of British Columbia’s program promoter code is: # EP929 and the Canadian Bar Associations’ is: EP927. A full list of program promoters may be found here.

Chicago has all that jazz (and blues!) and it also has my kind of Conference…TECHSHOW is…I hope to see you there.