August 2025

A recent survey by DeepL, an AI translation service, reveals a risk of continued hallucinations and inaccuracies with the use of AI. Spoiler alert: 96% of those surveyed are using AI, 71% are using it without approval of their organization (aka shadow use) mainly to deliver work faster.

Why It Hit Home

The survey resonated with me for several reasons. I recently wrote an article talking about the pressures being placed on lawyers and legal professionals to use AI but not spend the time checking results. My concern was, of course, the propensity for hallucinations and inaccuracies in the AI outputs.Continue Reading Billable Hour Demands, Shadow Use of AI and Law Reality: It’s a Hot Mess 

A nuclear verdict represents every defense attorney’s nightmare scenario: a jury award that far exceeds what was considered a reasonable expectation of the case’s apparent value, often reaching into the tens of millions of dollars for cases that traditionally would have settled for far less. 

From the defense perspective, these verdicts are particularly devastating because they often emerge from an exposure that appeared manageable during pre-trial evaluation. A case with what is believed to have modest damages can explode into a massive liability, destroying budgets, exceeding policy limits, and creating personal exposure for defendants.Continue Reading Nuclear Verdicts: An Analytical Look at  Recognition and Prevention From The Defense Perspective

The colossus International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) Conference kicked off with an evening reception yesterday at the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland for the 45th time. ILTA is a global, volunteer-led organization that aspires to serve legal professionals and organizations through education, networking, and sharing innovative solutions. ILTA focuses on fostering knowledge and community around the effective use of technology in law practice.

Everything about this Conference is big; in fact it may be the biggest legal tech conference that there is. The Conference is well planned and professional although sometimes borders on being a bit over the top. It’s at a performance level equal to most large non legal tech conferences I attend.Continue Reading Let the Games Begin: ILTA 2025 Conference Lives Large

As one of my clients used to say when we discussed strategy for a case, “let’s be careful lest we find ourselves in a closet talking to ourselves too much”. Meaning, of course, you need to have divergent voices in the room from time to time to ensure the best outcomes.

Back To Basics

I thought about this when attending a recent national conference of litigation lawyers. Many of us who cover legal tech attend all sorts of tech conferences where, of late, the discussion have dominated by AI and its impact. That subject was certainly discussed at my lawyer conference. But lots of other topics were discussed as well. The presenters discussed and offered insights into what litigators do every day. Here’s a sample of what was talked about:Continue Reading We All Need to Get Out of the Closet from Time to Time