In what has become an annual tradition, nominations have now opened for the American Legal Technology Awards, which honor exceptional achievement in various aspects of legal technology.

You will be shocked to learn that a new award category has been added this year — the Artificial Intelligence Award, highlighting innovation in applying AI to the law.

A second new category this year is the journalism award, recognizing a journalist whose coverage of legal innovation has helped to illuminate dangers and encourage positive change.

The awards will be presented on Oct. 6 at a gala dinner on the eve of the Clio Cloud Conference in Austin, Texas. The dinner will be held in an off-site event venue, the Barr Mansion.

“This year, we are excited to have a destination event,” said Tom Martin, cofounder of the awards (and CEO and cofounder of LawDroid). “The Barr Mansion is just magical and the perfect place to celebrate the astonishing achievements of this year’s legal innovators.”

As in past years, ALTA will host four “Genius Panels” leading up to the awards. The first, a May 28 panel on artificial intelligence, will feature Dr. Megan Ma and Damien Riehl. A panel on access to justice will follow in June, then a past winners panel in July, and finally a state of the industry panel in September.

Here are the key dates regarding the nominations and awards:

  • April 2024, official launch and nominations open.
  • July 31, 2024, deadline to submit nominations.
  • August 2024, award finalists announced.
  • Oct. 6, 2024, awards gala Austin.

If you want to submit a nomination, you can do it here.

If you want to attend the gala, early bird tickets are $175 until July 31. After that, the price goes up to $250. You can buy tickets here.

Note that this event is separate from the Clio conference. You do not have to be a Clio registrant to attend this gala.

In addition to Martin, the two other founders of the awards are Patrick Palace, founder of Palace Law in Tacoma, Wash., and Caitlin Moon, director of innovation design for the Program on Law and Innovation at Vanderbilt Law School.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.