ABA News Emerging technologies, Difference Maker Awards on agenda at ABA GPSolo Fall Meeting

Law firm marketing, protecting clients and safeguarding democracy are in the spotlight at the 2023 GPSolo Fall Meeting, October 19-21 at the InterContinental Kansas City at The Plaza.

A highlight of the meeting,sponsored by ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division, is the GPSolo Difference Makers Awards luncheon Friday, October 20. The Difference Makers Awards program recognizes extraordinary lawyers who make a difference by breaking barriers through community service, pro bono work and service to the profession.

The 2023 Difference Makers Awards recipients are:

• Barbara Glesner Fines, dean of University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law in Kansas City, Missouri (Difference Maker Award)

• Russell Lovell and David Walker, law professors emeritus, Drake Law School, Des Moines, Iowa (Making a Difference by Breaking Barriers Award)

• Judge Odell McGhee, district judge in Des Moines, Iowa (Making a Difference Through Community Service Award)

• Iowa-Nebraska NAACP Legal Redress Committee, Des Moines, Iowa  (Making a Difference Through Pro Bono Work Award)

• Kelly Adams of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania (Making a Difference Through Service to the Profession Award)

Other conference highlights include:

“A Lawyer’s Role in a Time of Democratic Crisis” — Lauren Rikleen, executive director of Lawyers Defending American Democracy, will discuss the unique role lawyers play in protecting our democracy and explain why protecting democracy is neither political nor partisan, but part of their obligation as lawyers.

 “Emerging Technologies and Legal Practice” — Luke Yingling, CEO and founder of Rhetoric, a legal innovation company, will demonstrate how artificial intelligence will impact transactional and litigation attorneys in a variety of ways, such as streamlining closing deals, facilitating contract lifecycle management, enhancing e-discovery, determining juror selection, easing litigation financing and infusing data into briefs and other legal documents. Yingling will also discuss the use of facial recognition in litigation, generative artificial intelligence and the unauthorized practice of law, and the importance of keeping pace with developing technologies.

“Protecting Clients and the Profession from Nonlawyer Encroachment: A Toolkit” — Recent developments such as Limited License Legal Technicians, fee-sharing with nonlawyers and nonlawyer ownership of law firms are among the biggest threats to solo and small firm practitioners throughout the nation. The client interest is in the balance. Learn how bar leaders are countering these attacks and what can be done at a grassroots level to ensure the viability of solo and small firm practices and protect the public.