LegalTechTalk 2025 last week saw over 4,000 attendees and 300 speakers attend a conference that one delegate labelled ‘The Legal Tech Met Gala’, in a description that will resonate with many people who were there.
With the flair that we are coming to recognise from this group of organisers led by co-founder and CEO Bradley Collins, guests were welcomed on the approach to the Intercontinental London by a LegalTechTalk DJ, striking an upbeat tone that pervaded the rest of the two days.
In its second year now, Collins delivered on his promise last year to double numbers, with exhibitors covering two floors, and sessions happening both within the main exhibit hall rooms and, new this year, in breakout roundtable rooms. The LegalTechTalk team overcame last year’s audio issues within the exhibit halls by providing headphones.
The conference is reminiscent of ILTACON in that exhibitors vie to outdo one another, particularly on the first floor. iManage had an entire sweet treats corner, reminiscent of something from a Disney movie. Relativity had edible air that you had to suck with a straw. KPMG UK Tax & Legal entertained many with a super heroine photoshoot at their AI photo booth. It made for a very noisy, dynamic environment.
One of the sessions that many people told me about most was top 10 Ted Talk speaker Julian Treasure. Writing about it on LinkedIn, Catriona Wolfenden, a partner and director of product and innovation at Weightmans said: “Julian Treasure delivered a brilliant plenary on the listening leader, with the profound message that our listening is unique to us (as we listen through many filters) and creates our reality. However, we can change our listening position by being deliberate about it and asking ‘is this the best place to listen to this person at this time’ and then adopting a different listening stance such as critical listening; empathetic listening; analytical listening; distracted listening; and focused listening.”
For me, the conference was another opportunity to connect and exchange ideas with vendors and buyers, many of whom had flown in from far and wide, including the US and Middle East. From a delegate network perspective, it was invaluable. I had multiple briefings with law firm innovation heads and vendor CEOs alike.
There seemed to be a lot more vendors than buyers, leading to some law firm innovation heads to observe that it was a very “hard sell” conference. The organising team will need to ensure that they keep the balance right. For some vendors it also simply wasn’t the right conference – this is a very mixed and excited group of attendees that extends much wider than some of the conferences we are more familiar with, such as British Legal Technology Forum and LegalGeek. It is worth taking a look at who the attendees are and whether they match your profile: there were some vendors who had little engagement, while others were overrun.
There is no doubt, however, that LegalTechTalk brings the vibe in spades, with cool music and entertainment, plenty of complementary food and drinks, a speakers’ room complete with make-up, and a quiet hub to take some you time.
A huge congratulations is due to Christian Lang and his company Lega, which won LegalTechTalk’s Launchpad competition of 25 different finalists.
It was Anila Nehreen, a third-year law student at The University of Manchester, who posted on LinkedIn: “This past week has been nothing short of thought-provoking and inspiring. Legal tech finally clicked for me, and it honestly felt like the Legal Tech Met Gala.”
Nehreen was a LegalTechTalk volunteer, who also got to attend some sessions. “One that truly stuck with me was ‘What Do We Do Now? Visions of the Future of Law’ featuring I. Stephanie Boyce FKC, FRSA, Samallie Kiyingi, Max Junestrand, Nishat Ruiter and Benedikt Raquet,” she said. “The debate around whether lawyers will be replaced was intense. But the clarity and reassurance from I. Stephanie Boyce FKC, FRSA and Samallie Kiyingi gave me (and many new grads) renewed confidence in the value of our legal knowledge.”
Commenting today (30 June) on LinkedIn, Lucy Shurwood, a partner at Simmons & Simmons, joked about a legal tech week that including both the FT Innovative Lawyers Summit and LegalTechTalk, asking, “Who needs Glastonbury?”