LegalWeek 2025 comes to a close today, March 27th. A week filled with educational sessions, parties, and announcements. Add to that an endless stream of meetings with vendors all too eager to show off their latest and greatest and you can see why I might be pooped. And I get to do it again next week at ABA TechShow.
Lots of people ask, what did you see or hear about at Legalweek that really got your attention? The truth is not much in the way of big announcements. All too often the big announcements turn out to be a repeat of what the vendor already has on the market or something they promise will be on the market someday. It’s like drinking from a fire hose.
Instead, I was more impressed at applications that focused on smaller things. Things that often are royal pains for lawyers and because they aren’t necessarily billable, are frequently left undone or at least not done till some time after the fact.
Here are two examples of what I am talking about.
AffiniPay’s Smart Spend
AffiniPay, a legal practice management, software, integrated payments, and fintech solutions, announced it will be offering a new way for lawyers to track expenses and get reimbursed. The feature is called the MyCase Smart Spend. The feature is designed to work with a LawPay Visa Business Card. Here’s how it works: A lawyer uses the card to charge reimbursable expenses.
The smartphone app then asks for the client’s name and some other information. The lawyer provides the info and snaps a photo within the app. The info and photo are then uploaded to the client bill seamlessly and with no more inputs from the lawyer.
While the platform does other things, this feature is key. Why? Tracking and turning in expenses is