Rachel Fernandez, Director of Sales Engineering
It’s impossible to write a post about ILTA 2025 takeaways without highlighting the focus on legal tech innovation. So many panels this year focused on the road ahead. From bold promises around AI and creative solutions leveraging existing tools, the conference delivered insights for every legal technologist.
Like every legal tech conference in recent memory, AI dominated the conversation once again. But ILTA brought forth an interesting twist. The AI conversation is at a current crossroads, forking between generative AI and Agentic AI. While some panels focused on deeper conversations for generative AI, the Agentic AI panels were more about previewing the possibilities.
Anecdotally, it seemed folks really focused their excitement on the summarization capabilities of various tools. The tides have shifted to making various tasks more efficient instead of focusing on fully replacing workflows. Streamlining timely tasks received overwhelming support, allowing the human impact to remain the centerpiece of legal analysis.
Several panels provided excellent practical deep dives into important defensibility considerations for generative AI. As tools are becoming more widely adopted, questions surrounding validation defensible practices are becoming more nuanced. We are no longer asking IF generative AI should be used, instead we are asking HOW to employ them defensibly.
Several experts provided excellent analysis on various workflows to validate classification tools, such as Relativity’s aiR for Review. I thoroughly enjoyed understanding the nuances of a generative AI workflow in context of other TAR tools and workflows we have become accustomed to. The road to wide adoption of generative AI tools starts with a solid foundation of validation. This evolution from possibility to applicability is the next exciting milestone in AI use.
One theme was a through line across audiences and use cases. Whether you are a law firm, corporation, or service provider, building a strong internal support system is essential to technological adoption. Additionally, successful adoption hinges on comprehensive training and defensible enablement processes.
Whether it’s generative AI or a new case management system, a new venture is only going to return value if adoption and excitement match the investment. Selecting an internal stakeholder to lead the adoption and create a roadmap with benchmarks can help identify various organizational needs. This can then be leveraged into a comprehensive rollout plan.
Partnering with experienced service providers like Sandline can help streamline your adoptions and rollout needs. We ensure the training and enablement is implemented efficiently and defensibly.
ILTA 2025 reinforced that AI is no longer in early experimentation. We’re now squarely navigating the questions surrounding scalability, defensibility and impact. The key takeaway is investing in thoughtful implementation, strong processes, and collaborative ecosystems. The defining factors of success in legal tech will focus on leadership, enablement, and choosing the right partnerships.
Curious how you can make your generative AI adoption more defensible and efficient? Let’s connect!