e-discovery 2.0

I’ve been doing this long enough that predictions about the future (for good or ill) seem to be a useful convention to talk about emerging trends in the electronic discovery space.  My recent post about the top 5 trends for the upcoming year received way more attention than I would’ve imagined.  So, in attempt to replicate that and do my best Carnac impersonation, here are a few predictions about ALM’s 2011 Legaltech New York:

• “All in one” e-discovery will be the vendor message de jure, even if the beginning phase is first pass review and the last phase is granular review.  The mantra “don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story” (not surprisingly) holds more water at LTNY than in most places.
• For the first time, it will actually take longer to get to your room in the Hilton (never mind the annoying ads) than it would at another hotel across the street.
• At least one person will have an Inception moment and think that they’re having a dream (or perhaps a dream within a dream – if they’re really sedated) about being on the Legaltech show floor, while they’re really still in their hotel room, waiting for their Starbucks Trenta (a whopping 30 ounces) to kick in.
• The b-discovery group will hold a massive all chapter party without any official affiliation with the LTNY conference, showing again that the off-the-floor meetings, parties, sessions, interviews and the like are continuing to eclipse the officially sanctioned events.  As another prime example, check out these stellar Supersessions.
• Members of the European Cockpit Association (yes there really is one) will accidentally show up for day one of the conference, after getting a pamphlet at LaGuardia airport advertising free wine and cheese with a discussion of ECA.
• DTI will announce that it’s stepping up and acquiring FTI (since the acronyms are pretty similar) after a torrent of other purchases in the space, including Unlimited Discovery and Daticon/EED.
• Given his prominence in NYC, I think it’s likely that Donald Trump makes an appearance (probably to look for a lit support professional as an all new Apprentice: the e-discovery edition).