I was fortunate enough to be invited to and attend last week’s Solid West Summit on Legal Innovation and Disruption in San Francisco. The Solid conferences are the brainchild of David Cowen, who runs the Cowen Group, a legal recruitment, professional development and thought leadership agency. The Summit describes itself as a “TED Talk style summit focused on innovation and the business of law”. David holds Solid Summits at various national and international locations throughout the year.
The Summit Format
The conferences are by invite only and Dave routinely draws some of the top thinkers in the legal tech and innovation space including Chief Innovation Officers from some the country’s largest firms, practicing lawyers, leading product and service providers and thought leaders. Primarily– although not exclusively– geared toward larger business and commercial firms, it’s one of those conferences that you leave tired, stimulated and a little intimidated by the smarts of the people you hear from.
The format itself if interesting. The attendees sit at tables for 8-9 people. Each session consists of some 3-4 presentations each limited to approximately 7 minutes. (It’s amazing how much information and insight can be provided in 7 minutes; the crap that most presenters throw out there is eliminated, and you get to the heart of the matter crisply). Then the folks at the tables talk among themselves about what they heard and what resonated. This is followed by the tables sharing with the group as a whole what they learned and thought. Then the conference moves to another session and topic. The attendees change tables 2-3 times over the course of the day, so you are always meeting new people with fresh insights.
All of this is presided over by Dave who is one of those full of energy, passionate kind of guys
