5 ILTACON Sessions We’re Watching (and Why They Matter)

Let's be honest: there's no shortage of flashy demos, big promises, and AI buzzwords flying around this year. But if you're responsible for actual outcomes—protecting client data, improving legal workflows, keeping risk in check—you don't have time to chase hype.

You need a practical signal on what's changing, what's working, and what's next.

So we put together a short list: five sessions that cut through the noise and speak directly to the operational, ethical, and strategic realities legal teams face right now. These are the conversations we're watching closely. Hope to see you there.

Boring AI That Saves Time & Money

While technology has always produced both real transformation and a whole lot of bright and shiny objects, the promises don't get a lot brighter or shinier than the current AI moment. Every week brings another amazing GenAI feat or another bold prediction about impact on business, and the hype cycle churns on.

But at the same time, quietly, fundamental transformation is taking place inside legal teams of all shapes and sizes. It's slow, steady, and focused on turning minor improvements and efficiencies into significant change. It requires the right big picture thinking on AI, maybe best explained by Citigroup's CTO, David Griffiths:

"We think about the impact of AI in two dimensions: General, horizontal, assistive AI tools that have very wide applicability. These may only give you 1% to 3% of productivity back, but you scale that across the company, and this really adds up. And you have to complement that with deeper AI verticals, specialized capabilities for the specialists within your workforce."

This session is all about that 1-3%. It's time to stop chasing unicorns and learn to ride a horse. AI is ready to transform how you work in some very bright, if not too shiny, ways.

AI in Legal Practice: From Theory to Practical, Productive Solution

We already know AI is putting in serious work for legal teams across the business. But you don't have to go more than about a week before another AI-gone-a-little-crazy story hits the news, which should keep everybody, especially risk professionals, cautious. So, how are the leaders solving critical, if adjacent, technology, governance, and ethics issues?

The good news is that there is a lot of work already in progress around this, as prominent working groups like CLOC, as well as security and compliance leaders across industries, are collaborating around the next generation of frameworks and best practices. From ABA's Opinion 512 to recent NIST framework announcements, experts are hard at work.

This means that while the journey from AI idea to implementation can be daunting, you're never starting from zero. Building effective, efficient, sustainable "AI legal operations" means starting slowly and thoughtfully. 

Inputs have to be structured, governance decisions made, and technology foundations set—that's what this session is all about. We know that once teams understand their information is truly protected, amazing things will happen.

Navigating the GenAI Sea: Organizational Journeys

AI can generate everything but clarity. That part's on you.

This means, when it comes to AI implementations, legal orgs have to ask the most important questions themselves: what exactly can AI do for us and our clients? Once this 'north star' is set, the real work can begin.

If you ask AI vendors, they have tools for every task: contract review, client management, discovery, matter management, billing, and so on. But how do you figure out where exactly AI fits into your charter as a team? Answering that question always has to be job #1, well before any talk about data sources or technology choices.

It's a long journey from developing an AI vision to moving through all the challenges of data governance strategy, ethical guidance, and snapping technology pieces into place. Along the way, there will be budget challenges, arguments over ownership, and adoption barriers. 

This session tackles those obstacles head-on, demonstrating how teams have overcome them to establish effective, iterative AI environments. We recognize that encryption is a small but critical piece of that puzzle.

Integrating IT Ops and Security: Perpetual Tug of War

AI only works when it's fed the right data. But if that data is sensitive, and in legal, it almost always is, security can't be an afterthought.

Whether you're worried about a breach that puts client data at risk or misuse that leads to something worse, security is the #1 concern of legal professionals around AI.

But we also know that you can't bolt on old, clunky information security on AI and expect it to be effective. Sensitive data is often valuable data, and that's exactly the kind of input that makes AI so powerful. So, how do you balance information security requirements with the need to keep matters and the business moving quickly and efficiently?

This session explores the technical and security considerations involved in developing secure, sustainable AI systems that enhance expert capabilities and help businesses reduce costs. As crucial as AI vision and vibes are to success, at some point, you have to get under the hood of the machine. 

That's why we love this session. Data protection should be easy to snap on, built for persistence, and portability.

File Sharing & Collaboration Tools of Today and Tomorrow

For some legal teams, the old world is still there. File rooms, folders, even printers - the future has not yet erased all the old ways just yet, but the legal world is getting decidedly more digital every day. Email applications have given way to full-featured collaboration and file-sharing programs, and suddenly we're on our way to building brand new ways to collaborate, down the hall or around the world.

That core collaboration platform, which combines messaging with secure file sharing, is becoming increasingly essential to work, and the emergence of AI only elevates its importance. This is where many firms will embed or integrate AI into their legal workflows. They will also create new learning curves that require training and support, so it's urgent to pick solutions optimized for legal needs.

Luckily, there are lots of choices for legal pros to choose from, from Sharefile, Dropbox, and Box to NetDocs CollabSpaces and Teams. There are pluses and minuses, strengths and weaknesses, and bells and whistles to discuss for each of them. This session is about how to put all the pieces together.

We know collaboration is the heart of good law. This means the future of legal work starts with protecting the data, ensuring you always know where sensitive files go, and who has access. That's why this session is a must-attend. 

ILTACON isn't just a showcase - it's a reality check

The best sessions this year aren't about flashy tools or inflated predictions. They're about solving real problems: how to implement AI with control, how to integrate security without friction, and how to modernize collaboration without compromising trust.

We're watching the teams asking the right questions—and building the right foundations—for the next era of legal work. If you're at ILTACON and want to talk encryption, governance, or how to make your data AI-ready without giving up control, we'd love to connect. See you on the expo floor.