Neal Page: Sir, excuse me. I know this is your cab, but I’m desperately late for a plane, and I was wondering if I could appeal to your good nature and ask you to let me have it.

Lawyer getting into cab: I don’t have a good nature.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles, 1987.

There’s a lot of hand-wringing these days about the impact AI is going to have on the poor lawyer. You know the one. The guy who brought home over $5 million in compensation last year. Poor baby.

But what isn’t talked about is the impact AI will have down below. The administrative staff. The paralegals. Those in the marketing department. Those who labor in billing and collections to make sure Mr. Big gets his $5 million. All these people slave away in internal offices for peanuts with no clout or status. These are the jobs and the costs the AI vendors merrily trumpet can be eliminated and reduced. These are the people who can least afford to be marginalized.

And what are the firms doing about this issue? Eliminating these positions to cut costs. Conducting massive layoffs of staff. And hiring fancy legal engineers. Searching for directors of AI sometimes at salaries of over $400,000.

I recently finished reading one of Scott Turow’s legal thrillers. As most of you know, Turow is not only an author, but he was also a lawyer, and a trial lawyer at that. At one point in the book, he captured in a single paragraph what it’s really like to try cases. To be a trial lawyer. What he wrote resonated because it mirrored what I experienced and felt when trying cases over my career. And it’s not what you see on TV or even what you believe about other trial lawyers who you think are better at it.

Trials Are Hard

First of all, let’s fix facts. Trying cases is hard. It starts with intense preparation. In the days and weeks leading up to a trial, your anxiety level is over the top. You worry constantly. It involves a lot of sleepless nights, waking up in the middle of the night to jot some thoughts down. It requires poring over documents, thinking about tedious things like the introduction of evidence and admissibility, and constantly fretting if you are up to the task. I know. Been there, done that. 

I was on a panel discussion at ILTA last week and we were asked why do law firms have so much trouble measuring the ROI on their AI investments. It’s an interesting question. And after I thought about it, it occurred to me that, at least on the substantive side, the ROI for law firms’ investments really inures to the clients through lower fees. But I’m hardpressed to find a direct ROI to the law firm that bills by the hour. It’s a paradox.

I explore this paradox and a potential solution in my post for Above the Law. It may require on both side some soul-searching, asking some hard questions and having some heart to heart talks. Which lawyers and their clients often are reluctant to have.

I’ve read and seen a lot about all the money flowing into the legal tech space these days. I can remember when the big tech news was that some firm was thinking about going to the cloud. And now this.

And despite that, I have to admit I was not prepared for what I saw at ILTACON 2026. The extravagence and money being spent was so far over the top it’s hard to describe. But I thought I would try. Here’s my thoughts for Above the Law. And my musings as to what could happen if and probably when the bubble actually bursts

The last day of any big conference. I’m always a little sad to see things ending. Crowds thinning. Exhibitors breaking down booths. People with roller bags stacked in session rooms. A closing reception that somehow lacks the excitement of the opening one.

On days like this, I always think back to the opening day. The energy and excitement of not knowing what exactly would happen. The expectation of seeing old friends, learning new things. I can’t help thinking I wish it was just beginning instead of ending.

But last days of conferences are also a good time to reflect on the conference and what stood out. The most memorable takeaways.  ILTACON 2026 was, by any and all estimations, a record-setting event. Which is not surprising since everyone is riding the AI tsunami. A tsunami which may be at its peak right now. 

And while there are lots of things to talk about when it came to this year’s conference, five things stood out to me as the most meaningful. Here they are: 

I keep hearing rumblings about AI pricing. So far most vendors seem content on charging on a subscription basis. Under that model you can input as much as you want at no increased cost. But a lot of the providers are losing money. And at some point they will have to turn a profit. To do that they may turn to a consumption based model. With that model, the more you search and the more tokens you use, the higher the cost. Sort of like the billable hour ironically.  

And it will beg for an ability to undertake a cost benefit analysis. So when Net “we arent rock stars” Documents came up with a tool to determine how to measure how increased content could save costs, I was interested. It’s a step towards undertaking the kind of analysis that may be needed in the future. Here are my thoughts for Above the Law. 

There have been several surveys and reports of late that suggest law firms are spending a lot of money on AI but they haven’t yet figured out how use to benefit their clients. Or themselves.

The consulting firm Harbor recently came out with their own report. It’s a little short on statistics and methodology but the conclusions seem simialr to that of others. As I’ve talked about before, I think that the law firms’ failure in this regard grows out of some systemic issues inherant in law firms. Here’s my post for Above the Law where I discuss the findings and the issues.

So next week starts the annual ILTACON. It’s one of the biggest legal tech shows. Maybe the biggest. And like everything over the top it’s a love hate relationship. To paraphrase a famous authort “Until you go to ILTACON and behold it with your own eyes, you ain’t never been nowhere and you ain’t seen nothing.”

The 2026 version starts next week in NashVegas. It’s four days of nonstop sessions, sales pitches, demos and of course a few parties thrown in. 

Here’s my preview and what I love. And hate. But I’ll be there trying to keep up and letting you know what I see and hear.