In 1986, the legal world gathered in Dallas, Texas, for a modest event hosted by the Economics of Law Practice Section. The event—then called “Automating the Law Practice” attracted 1,000 curious attendees and planted the seeds for what would become a cultural and technological cornerstone in the legal community: ABA TECHSHOW. It’s hard to believe, but in 1986, the hottest legal tech wasn’t artificial intelligence (AI) or cloud storage, it was anything that didn’t require carbon paper.
Fast forward 40 years, and that seed has blossomed into a full-fledged institution, a celebration of ingenuity, evolution and a whole lot of PowerPoint presentations. As TECHSHOW turned 40, it wasn't just time to eat cake (though we did that, too). It was time to reflect—on the gadgets, the game changers, the glorious flops and the tips that stuck with us through the decades.
The 2025 ABA TECHSHOW "40 Tips in 40 Years" session was a highlight of the event, celebrating four decades of legal tech evolution. Past TECHSHOW chairs shared their favorite tech tips from the past 40 years, blending valuable insights with humor. The session provided historical context and practical advice, reflecting on the evolution of technology and highlighting memorable contributions over the years. This reflection on past legal tech is intended to appreciate the progress made and understand the innovations that have transformed the legal landscape.
TECHSHOW’s earliest years featured word processors that looked like glorified typewriters and software like WordPerfect, which—unbelievably—was once cutting edge. Attorneys marveled at their ability to bold text or move a paragraph without starting over.
Fast forward to today, and we have Microsoft Loop—a dynamic co-creation tool that makes WordPerfect look like an abacus. While WordPerfect was revolutionary for its time, Microsoft Loop is like a legal wizard’s wand. It empowers teams to collaborate in real-time, seamlessly integrating tasks, notes and projects across the entire Microsoft 365 suite. Imagine trying to explain that to a 1980s attorney who just mastered the art of underlining text.
And when it came to legal research, the arrival of Westlaw and LexisNexis databases in the late 1980s revolutionized case lookup. Suddenly, stacks of reporters could be replaced with a few keystrokes.
In the early 1980s, the legal world embraced a bold new frontier in technology: the floppy disk—emphasis on floppy. These magnetic marvels were encased in thin, flexible sleeves that felt like a cross between a vinyl record and a manila folder. With a whopping 360 KB of storage (just enough for a modest brief or an enthusiastic legal memo), attorneys could now transport their work without dragging around mountains of paper. Of course, they came with quirks: they were easily bent, sensitive to magnets and occasionally refused to work just because they felt like it. But despite their fragility, they were a major leap forward.
These early disks laid the groundwork for the sturdier 3.5-inch versions that would dominate the 1990s and eventually lead us to cloud storage. The transition from floppy disks to more robust forms of data storage symbolize the continuous evolution of legal technology. As attorneys moved from fragile, low-capacity disks to more reliable storage solutions, the efficiency and security of legal practice improved.
The advent of cloud storage revolutionized the legal industry, allowing seamless access to documents and data from virtually anywhere. Unlike the floppy disks, which could be easily damaged or lost, cloud storage offers a secure and scalable solution for today's legal practices. This shift not only enhanced the mobility and accessibility of legal professionals but also ensured that sensitive information remained protected through advanced encryption methods.
New tools made their debut at TECHSHOW booths and sessions. Practice management software like Time Matters and Amicus Attorney revolutionized how firms handled calendars, client notes and billing. Scanners finally became affordable and efficient enough to make “going paperless” more than just a pipe dream.
For a time, PaperPort was the pinnacle of digital organization, letting lawyers stack their scanned documents into virtual piles like digital manila folders. The Xerox Document 262? It was the Cadillac of desktop scanners—duplex scanning, speed that impressed and a price point that didn’t require a partner meeting to approve. But these tools were stubbornly local. They lived on one machine, relied on folders you had to remember to back up and had a habit of breaking just when you needed to scan a giant stack of pleadings.
Fast forward to today: the scanner is still around, but now it's often built into your phone—or at least connected to cloud services that optical character recognition, organize and tag documents without a second thought. Modern practice management systems automatically link scanned documents to client matters, while tools like OneDrive, Dropbox or even built-in mobile scanning apps ensure that what was once a multistep ordeal is now just part of the workflow. We may remember PaperPort and Xerox 262 fondly, but we’re not exactly mourning them.
The 1990s wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the BlackBerry—arguably the first love of every lawyer who ever typed out a midnight reply on a tiny keyboard. When the idea of checking email outside the office still felt futuristic, the BlackBerry delivered a superpower: instant communication from your belt holster. It was the original “CrackBerry,” addictive in all the ways that made it both indispensable and slightly ridiculous.
Today’s smartphones make the BlackBerry look like a rotary phone. We now dictate messages, join Zoom depositions, review PDFs and e-sign contracts all from a device that doubles as a camera, GPS, scanner and—occasionally—a phone. But for a brief, glorious time, the BlackBerry ruled the pocket of every serious professional. And if you ever felt the phantom buzz of a message that wasn’t there? You’re not alone. That was the BlackBerry’s parting gift: a legacy of digital anxiety and unmatched productivity.
By the early 2000s, sharing files meant passing around USB drives—tiny plastic saviors that could store a whole contract (or 10!) and still fit on a keychain. But these little lifesavers had their dark side. If you dropped one in a parking lot, someone could plug it in and access confidential information—or worse, find it booby trapped with malware.
If you didn’t experience a mini panic attack trying to unlock your IronKey flash drive before it self-destructed after too many incorrect passwords, did you even practice law in the early 2000s? “40 Tips in 40 Years” highlighted modern equivalents of security like facial recognition on phones—convenient, yes, but still requiring users to remember their passcodes for ultimate security.
Today, file sharing is almost unrecognizable from those early days. Instead of juggling USB sticks or emailing attachments, lawyers can securely share files through cloud-based platforms like OneDrive, Dropbox or client portals integrated into their practice management software. These tools allow for real-time collaboration, version control, audit trails and customizable access permissions—no more guessing which draft is the latest or worrying whether a document actually sent.
In the 2000s, we entered the golden era of practical legal tech tips. Speech recognition systems like Dragon NaturallySpeaking began transforming how lawyers interacted with their computers—even if early versions hilariously mistranscribed “tort” as “torte.” What began with Dragon has evolved into AI-driven tools that now transcribe depositions in real-time or summarize entire client meetings before you’ve even left the room. Tools like Otter.ai, Microsoft Dictate and Whisper have turned once-clunky voice recognition into smooth, integrated productivity.
And of course, keyboard shortcuts—an eternal TECHSHOW favorite. We were reminded that a simple Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V might be humble, but these commands still save countless billable minutes. Some things, delightfully, never change.
Enter Paste Special—the unsung hero of document drafting. TECHSHOW reminded us (repeatedly, and for good reason), learning how to paste without formatting was a superpower. Later, Microsoft’s Format Painter and Expanded Clipboard only added to our formatting arsenal, making attorneys everywhere just a little less rage-y while editing.
By the 2010s, we were in full cloud mode. TECHSHOW became showcases for software that could do it all—client portals, document automation, secure collaboration—all from a browser. Clio, NetDocuments, MyCase and others found their spotlight. Firms that once feared cloud security began to embrace it as a lifeline, especially when COVID-19 forced the entire legal world online in 2020.
AI has taken center stage, introducing sophisticated tools that have revolutionized the way attorneys conduct research and manage information. Platforms such as Westlaw Precision, Lexis+ AI and vLex's Vincent AI are new legal research tools for modern legal practice. These advanced systems can analyze briefs, suggest pertinent case law and even detect nuances in tone and logical gaps.
In addition to research, AI has found applications in contract analysis and management, predicting litigation outcomes and even automating routine tasks such as document drafting and review.
AI-driven predictive analytics can transform case strategy development, allowing attorneys to foresee potential challenges and devise more effective approaches. By analyzing historical data, these tools can offer insights into the likelihood of success in litigation, guiding lawyers in making informed decisions.
AI is fostering greater collaboration within legal teams. Products such as Microsoft’s Copilot within Teams enable real-time sharing of documents, facilitating seamless communication and collective problem-solving. Additionally, Copilot can assist in generating meeting summaries, tracking action items, and providing insights through data analysis. It also helps with scheduling by integrating with calendars and suggesting optimal meeting times based on participant availability.
As AI continues to evolve, the possibilities for its application in the legal field are endless. From advanced legal research platforms to real-time data analytics, AI is poised to reshape the landscape of legal practice.
If the last 40 years have taught us anything, it’s that TECHSHOW has always been a little ahead of the curve. Whether it was online dispute resolution, cloud computing or instant collaboration, the show has never been just about what's now, it's about what’s next.
We’re entering a new age of AI, advanced legal research platforms and real-time data analytics. But at TECHSHOW, no matter how fast tech evolves, it’s still about the same thing: helping lawyers practice smarter, not harder.
And that’s the real legacy of TECHSHOW—whether you’ve been coming since WordPerfect began or just got your first ChatGPT prompt to write a client letter. Because even in a world of bots, bytes and big data, TECHSHOW reminds us that the heart of legal tech is still people—just with better tools.
