AI and Beyond: Key Trends at ABA TECHSHOW 2025

Having reached 40 years old, firmly into middle age, ABA TECHSHOW shows it still has some tricks up its sleeves. For 2025, attendees get to experience a new venue, dig deeper into AI tools, and hear from keynote speaker Cory Doctorow.

A New Venue

In years past, TECHSHOW lived in the heart of Chicago’s Loop. For 2025, the show moves south, literally. The conference takes place in the historic South Loop neighborhood, at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place. In your free time, explore new parts of the Windy City, like the Museum Campus, the Prairie Avenue District, and the Lakefront area.

With TECHSHOW moving to April this year, outdoor touring and exploration are more practical than past shows held in the winter months.

AI for Lawyers? Oh, Yes.

Naturally, AI will be a hot topic of conversation, both in the educational sessions and the expo hall.

On Stage

TECHSHOW 2025 features nearly 30 sessions on the topic. Learn everything from AI basics (e.g., A Brief History of Legal AI: A Look Back and a Preview of What’s Next), to the nuts and bolts (e.g., 60 Generative AI Use Cases in 60 Minutes), to ethical considerations (e.g., Evaluating AI for Law Practice: Benefits, Risks, and Practical Ethics), and AI’s broader impact on the law (e.g., Digital Justice: Two Generations of Judges Explore AI’s Impact on the Legal System).

In the Expo Hall

TECHSHOW’s expo hall features dozens of AI-related products to help your law practice, from traditional vendors and startups.

Traditional Players

Law practice management software (LPMS) is well-represented with AI features. Visit the expo hall to experiment with the LPMS-based AI options. Test drive tools like Clio Duo and MyCase IQ, AIs that help you access information quickly; everything from simple case facts to matter summaries and document analyses. Other leading LPMS products, like CosmoLex and PracticePanther, incorporate AI processing “behind the scenes,” to bolster your workflows.

Additional TECHSHOW exhibitors embracing the AI revolution include payment processors, CRM applications, and document management products. AffiniPay, LawPay’s parent, is building out an AffiniPay IQ initiative to integrate generative AI into tools that lawyers already use. Lawmatics continues to refine and enhance its LM[AI] feature set to help law firms manage leads and attract clients. NetDocuments’ ndMAX suite of AI skills, including PatternBuilder MAX, help firms collect and review information, as well as prepare documents mixing the new data with existing documents and templates.

Start-ups

TECHSHOW doesn’t limit AI excitement to established players. Arrive at the conference by 5:00 p.m. on April 2nd to enjoy the ninth annual “Start-Up Pitch Competition,” where new companies with innovative ideas compete for the love of TECHSHOW attendees. This year, 15 companies battle for the title of most innovative startup of 2025. Would you be surprised to learn that 10 of the 15 explicitly mention incorporating AI into their products? Me neither.

If you can’t attend the competition, visit the participants in the expo hall’s Startup Alley section.

Keynote

For 2025, TECHSHOW’s keynote combines literature, journalism, and technology, with the selection of Cory Doctorow as the speaker.

Doctorow writes for magazines, websites, and newspapers. He serves as a special consultant to the Electronic Freedom Foundation, is a visiting professor at two universities, and has published over 25 books, most recently, Picks and Shovels, a novel set in 1980s Silicon Valley. In 2020, Doctorow was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

With that breadth of experience, his keynote will no doubt be engaging and wide-ranging.

Meet the Experts at Lawyerist and Affinity

Of course, Lawyerist and Affinity will have a strong presence at the conference. TECHSHOW stalwarts Steve Best, Stephanie Everett, Debbie Foster, and Barron Henley all lead multiple sessions touching on many topics, including AI. Zack Glaser and I will be running around the conference and expo hall. Come say hello, and we’ll give you a Lawyerist tchotcke. We look forward to seeing you there!

Nervous About Navigating the Expo Hall? Check out our Field Guide on Buying Legal Tech.

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