UniCourt CEO Josh Blandi Speaks at the International Legal Finance Association 2022 Annual Conference

The growing availability of real-time, bulk access to legal data in the legal industry has reshaped the way that law firms, legal departments, legal support firms, and ALSPs all approach managing litigation from the ground up. 

This thriving ecosystem of legal data has also opened up the doors for new litigation intelligence and litigation analytics solutions that are shaping the way litigation finance firms uncover new business opportunities, streamline litigation strategy development and implementation, and manage the inherent, and often unwieldy, risks involved in litigation.

We’re thrilled to share that UniCourt’s CEO and Co-Founder, Josh Blandi will be speaking at the International Legal Finance Association’s (ILFA) inaugural 2022 Annual Conference, held at the Morgan Library in New York City on October 24, 2022. 

ILFA has centered their inaugural litigation finance conference on “bringing together legal and finance leaders to share best practices in managing litigation and arbitration cost and risk,” with sponsorships from leading litigation finance firms, such as Burford, Longford, and Therium. 

You can learn more about and register for the event on the ILFA 2022 Annual Conference page. 

Data in the Legal Industry

Right before the final panel of ILFA’s conference, Josh Blandi will be speaking on a well-rounded breakout session panel at 4:15 PM EST, titled “Quantification of Law: The Role of Data in the Legal Industry.” The panel will be moderated by the Hon. John Cronan, District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and includes Josh, Karl Harris, CEO of Lex Machina, Dan Rabinowitz, CEO of Pre/Dicta, and Richard Finkelman, Managing Director at Berkeley Research Group. 

For a sneak preview of the panel, Josh and the other panelists will be discussing topics ranging from how different types of legal professionals from law firms, corporations, and litigation funders are already using data, to what types of legal data outside of traditional court filings are being used by legal professionals, what types of decision points can legal data be used for, and what limitations, upsides, and risks are present when using data in the context of litigation finance. 

As a leading provider of Legal Data as a Service (LDaaS) via our Legal Data APIs and online app, we’re excited to have UniCourt’s CEO share his thoughts on the changes and growth we’ve seen in the broader legal data ecosystem. Beyond the increasing adoption of APIs used to gather and integrate data, we’ve also seen the expanding need for common data standards and data classifications, leading to the rise of organizations like the Standards Advancement for the Legal Industry (SALI), as well as the critical nature of having the right data science team, engineering capabilities, and legal expertise to derive intelligence and practical insights from data. 

If you plan on attending this panel, make sure you head to the second level auditorium during the breakout sessions.

An All Star Legal Industry Lineup

Not sure about whether or not you should attend ILFA this year? Look no further than the impressive lineup of legal industry rockstars ILFA has brought together for their inaugural conference in New York. 

Here’s the full run of the show for the ILFA 2022 Annual Conference:

• 8:00 AM – Registration and Continental Breakfast

• 9:00 AM – Welcome Remarks
  • Gary Barnett, Executive Director, ILFA

• 9:10 AM – State of the Industry
  • Moderator: Gina Passarella, Editor in Chief, American Lawyer Media
  • Chris Bogart, Chief Executive Officer, Burford Capital
  • David Gallagher, Co-Head of Litigation Investing, DE Shaw
  • Neil Purslow, Chief Investment Officer, Therium Capital
  • Andrew Saker, Chief Executive Officer, Omni Bridgeway

• 10:10 AM – Building High Value Law Firm Practices
  • Moderator: Charles Schmerler, Senior Managing Director & Head of Litigation Finance, Pretium
  • Faith Gay, Founding Partner, Selendy Gay Elsberg
  • Natasha Harrison, Partner, Pallas Partners LLP
  • Phil Iovieno, Partner, Co-Chair Antitrust Litigation Group, Cadwalader
  • Chris Seeger, Founding Partner, Seeger Weiss

• 11:10 AM – The Client View: The Economics of Litigation and What GCs Think About Legal Finance Now
  • Moderator: Aviva Will, Co-Chief Operating Officer, Burford Capital
  • Steven Greenspan, Corporate Vice President and Chief Litigation Counsel, Raytheon Technologies
  • Sandy Grimm, Chief Legal Officer, Southeastern Grocers
  • Nicholas Trutanich, EVP of Litigation, Fox Corporation
  • Rishi Varma, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

• 12:15 AM – The Law and US Global Competitiveness: A Conversation with Andrei Iancu
  • Moderator: Katharine Wolanyk, Managing Director, Burford Capital
  • Andrei Iancu, Former Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, Partner, Irell & Manella LLP

• 12:45 PM – Lunch

• 1:15 PM – Keynote
  • Brad Hildenbrandt, Chairman, Hildebrandt Consulting

• 2:00 PM – Setting up an Efficient and Effective Affirmative Litigation Strategy
  • Moderator: Sarah Tsou, Portfolio Manager – Global Intellectual Property and Senior Investment Manage, Omni Bridgeway
  • Terri Ahrens, Assistant General Counsel, Litigation, US Foods
  • Blase Iaconelli, Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, Aramark
  • Steven Nachtwey, Partner, Bartlit Beck
  • Dan Nugent, General Counsel, Nestle
  • Elena Rey, Partner, Brown Rudnick

• 3:00 PM – Break

• 3:15 PM – Mitigating Risk: How Insurance and Legal Finance Work Together
  • Moderator: Tom Baker, Professor of Law, Penn Law School
  • Stephen Davidson, Managing Director, Head of Claims and Head of Litigation and Contingency Risk, AON
  • Jason Bertoldi, Head of Contingent Risk Solutions, Willis Towers Watson
  • Jason Goldy, Global Team Leader, Litigation & Transaction, Alliant
  • Sara Cannon, Senior Vice President, Atlantic Global Risk

• 4:15 PM – Breakout Sessions

• Quantification of Law: The Role of Data in the Legal Industry
  • Moderator: Hon. John Cronan, Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
  • Josh Blandi, CEO, UniCourt
  • Richard Finkelman, Managing Director, BRG
  • Karl Harris, CEO, Lex Machina
  • Dan Rabinowitz, CEO, Pre/Dicta

• Emerging Intellectual Property Issues
  • Moderator: Russell Genet, Director, Longford Capital
  • Alfred Fabricant, Managing Partner, Fabricant LLP
  • Christopher Lee, Partner, Lee Sheikh & Haan
  • David Ruder, Co-Founder and Principal, RKIP Management LLC

• 5:15 PM – The Future of International Arbitration
  • Moderator: Lindsay Gastrell, Senior Counsel, Arbitration Chambers
  • Lee Caplan, Partner/UNCITRAL WG III, ArentFox Schiff
  • Anna El-Erian, Director, Gabriel Resources
  • Ina Popova, Partner, Debevoise
  • Jara Minguez Almeida, Team Leader / Legal Counsel, ICSID

• 6:00 PM – Cocktail Reception

We want to give a special shoutout and big thanks to Gary Barnett, Executive Director and General Counsel of ILFA, and the rest of the ILFA team for putting together such a wonderful event. We look forward to participating in this year’s conference and coming back next year for ILFA 2023!

Connect with Us at the Conference

Attending the ILFA Conference in New York and want to connect with us? 

UniCourt will be at ILFA in full force, with Josh Blandi (CEO), Anna Hascall (National Sales Manager), Sona Hamilton (National Account Executive), and Jeff Cox (Director of Content) all in attendance.

You can reach out to any of us on LinkedIn or fill out our Contact Us form to set up a time to connect.

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