Early in the lockdown era of the global pandemic, Larry Port of Rocket Matter called me with an idea. With the trade shows we routinely attend getting canceled all over the place and with lawyers struggling to figure out how to keep their practices operating at a high level while stuck at home, Port envisioned an entirely online legal conference with a special emphasis on what the legal technology world can do to help practitioners excel from home.
That’s when Rocket Aid was born and it’s frankly amazing to realize this all came together in less than a month. Around 300 attorneys had registered the last time I checked in to join a jam-packed two full days of content.
As day 1 draws to a conclusion and we gather for the first online happy hour of the show, it’s been an incredible experience so far. We’ve had webinars on the tools required to lawyer remotely, a lesson on the hidden gems of Office 365, and — for those who hate Microsoft — we even had a panel on running firms with Macs.
I joined a roundtable discussion with Bob Ambrogi, Joanna Goodman, Beth Anne Stuebe, Zach Warren, Jobst Elster, and Caroline Hill covering “Reporting and Legal PR in the Coronavirus Age.” As journalists covering this space, we use these shows to compare notes and this was the first opportunity we’d had to get together as a group and discuss the trends we’ve seen. Not to spoil it for anyone who might want to watch the recorded version, but there’s really something to be said for the crisis spurring the industry to make long overdue changes and the legal technology sector is working hard right now to help everyone make those changes.
If you weren’t already at the show, come on over tomorrow! Registration is a mere $25 donation to help raise money for Coronavirus-related causes.
If you’re looking to jump in Friday, here’s a preview of the schedule:
- 9:00am-9:10am Day 2 Introduction and Six-Minute Session
- 9:10am-10:00am Mental Health: Staying Sane While Working Remote (Megan Furino, Carmen Rosas)
- 10:10am-11:00am How to Increase Profits and Sanity by Running a Lean Law Firm (Dave Maxfield, Larry Port)
- 11:00am-11:15am Networking Break and Online Yoga
- 11:15am-11:45am Being Completely Mobile While Being Completely Ethical (Brett Burney, Larry Port)
- 11:45am-12:15pm What Legal Consumers Want from Law Firms in 2020 (Jared Correia, Larry Port)
- 12:15pm-12:30pm Networking Break and Meditation Session
- 12:30pm-1:00pm Managing Productivity in a Remote Work Environment (Steve Riley)
- 1:00pm-1:50pm Future-proof Your Business Communications in 3 Easy Steps (Lily Toy, Craig Walker)
- 1:50pm-2:40pm A 12-Month Plan for Going Paperless (Larry Port, Bryan Sims)
- 2:40pm-3:00pm Networking Break and Six-Minute Sessions
- 3:00pm-3:30pm Remote Technology Do’s and Don’ts (John Simek, Sharon Nelson)
- 3:30pm-4:00pm Networking from a Distance: LinkedIn for Lawyers (Dennis Kennedy, Allison Shields)
- 4:00pm-4:30pm Six-Minute Sessions
- 4:00pm-6:30pm Online Happy Hour
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
