ILTACON Europe (London 2024)

 

 

 

Day 1: Leadership theme

ILTACON Europe 2024 is a two-day event and - like previous years - took place on the outskirts of London City at A&O Shearman's offices, right next to Spitalfields Market, one of East London's trendiest covered markets.
For the 17th time, ILTA again put together an exciting programme for this sold-out legal tech event.

The conference began with an engaging opening session by Hannah Fry, a renowned professor of mathematics and presenter of the series ‘The Future with Hannah Fry’. She took us into the world of game theory and strategic decision-making in her humorous way. We heard Hanah speak before in Nashville and were again impressed by her gift for making mathematical insights simple to apply. The tone was set for this edition of ILTACON Europe.
Next in line was Jamil Qureshi, a pioneer in performance psychology. He shared his insights on creating an environment of openness to drive innovation by asking different questions for a change. Questions like: what did you learn this week? Or what was the best thing you experienced this week?

After lunch, the room was quieted by the impressive talk by Professor Kevin Fong, an expert in risk, decision-making and innovation, where modesty, psychological safety and respect for everyone's individual contribution resonated most with all present. That true leadership is characterised by flawlessly sensing the moment when, as an expert, you step back in the interest of a successful outcome. That nobody represents something on their own but only adds value as a link in a whole. He emphasised how crucial it is to be prepared for unexpected situations and how technology and science can help us better deal with crises. His core message revolved around the importance of resilience, adaptability and constantly striving to improve, by failing and picking yourself up again even in the most challenging circumstances.

Matt Watts, Chief Technology Evangelist at NetApp, reminded the audience of the challenges posed by all the rapid technological developments, and Bonita Norris closed the first day with an inspiring presentation in which she shared her experiences as a mountain climber and the mental challenges she had to overcome to reach the summit of Mount Everest. She emphasised how important it is to develop a mindset that supports rather than opposes us. Bonita spoke about overcoming fears, dealing with uncertainty and the importance of resilience and perseverance.

Day 2: tech

Day 2 focused until lunch on the progress of Microsoft Copilot one year after its launch and how this A.I. companion is already being applied practically. In particular, the examples from CELA, Microsoft's legal department, provided appreciated insights on how lawyers can use Microsoft CoPilot in their work.

In his talk, Hector Minto, Senior Technology Evangelist for Accessibility at Microsoft, highlighted the revolutionary impact of AI on accessibility. He explained how generative AI technologies, such as Microsoft CoPilot, are changing the way people with disabilities interact with the world. He highlighted the European Accessibility Act that will come into force within the EU from June 2025. This made the importance and necessity of inclusivity clear to all attendees. Features in Microsoft tooling that were previously added as extras are now integrated by default, which is a big step forward in creating an inclusive digital world.

Uwais Iqbal spoke about the transformative power of AI in the legal sector and highlighted how AI can not only increase efficiency, but also improve the accuracy and accessibility of legal services.

ILTACON Europe 2024 concluded with a fascinating and entertaining presentation by Geoff White, an investigative journalist investigating the murky world of cybercrime and fraud in the legal sector.
To stay in Jamil's message, what we have learned these days is really that you need to keep an open mind and look outside your own perceptions a little more often to enrich yourself. And what fun it was to hang out with so many like-minded people in this hip London neighbourhood while enjoying a bite to eat and a drink. And of course, this blog post came about with the help of AI ;-)