Your audience is human first, professional second. Talk to them that way...
If you wandered the halls and exhibits at ILTACON 2025, you may have noticed something unusual. It wasn’t a new AI-powered product or cloud-based collaboration tool—though there were plenty of those, too. It was the language.
Legal technology vendors, historically known for their fondness for jargon-heavy brochures and “future-proof” buzzwords, seemed to take a collective leap toward sharper, snappier, more human messaging. And it was a refreshing sight.
For too long, B2B marketing has operated under the strange idea that, “We’re speaking to humans—but humans at work, so let’s write differently.”
The result?
Bloated copy, endless acronyms, and paragraphs that sound like they were authored by a compliance officer with a thesaurus. At ILTACON, however, brands seemed to embrace a more obvious truth: your audience is human first, professional second. Talk to them that way.
WHY ILTACON WAS THE PERFECT STAGE
ILTACON’s attendees aren’t casual browsers, they’re sophisticated buyers. They’ve been in the trenches implementing new tech. They’ve seen AI hype come and go. They can separate “powered by AI” as a vague label from the specifics of what the technology actually does.
This year, that sophistication seemed to push vendors toward messaging that cut to the chase. Instead of leading with “it’s AI,” they led with a clear articulation of benefits and functionality—delivered in language that was accessible, memorable, and, in some cases, pretty funny.
FROM FUTURE-GAZING TO PRESENT-TENSE PROBLEM SOLVING
The shift was clear in everything from one-liners to booth visuals.
DISCO’s gold-encrusted Lady Justice, who made her debut a few Legalweek conferences back, was on display again. The bold-font tagline of a banner ad, “The Future of Law. Happening Now” took advantage of the “future of law” trope, sure, but in a way that conveyed effective urgency and a sense that one was standing amid the action.
DISCO’s company tagline, “With you in every case,” was also among a trend of brands taking colloquial phrases that take on clever new meaning in the legal context. Thomson Reuters’ CoCounsel took a similar approach with its snappy “AI lawyers swear by.” A well-known phrase with legal roots and a clever nod to the reliability and lack of hallucinations lawyers need from their legal research AI.
Harvey stunned for both its visuals and copywriting simplicity, delivering under-utilized serif fonts, stark white-on-black layouts and razor-clean lines like “Under Control. Over Deliver.” An elegant play on under/over that’s concise and self-assured in relating to its audience’s imperatives.
And then there was timekeeping technology Laurel. All law firm lawyers know the drudgery of billing time is no laughing matter, but Laurel’s banner advertising earned a grin from nearly everyone who passed: “Because lawyers don’t have time for this sheet.” A perfect pun, and a perfect read of the room. 10/10, no notes.
THE REAL TAKEAWAY FOR LEGAL TECH MARKETING
The way brands showed up this year is a signal that legal tech is increasingly willing to meet their market where it is: informed, skeptical, and busy.
...exhibitors who answered questions directly, and did so in human, memorable language, stood out.
At ILTACON, the most effective messages weren’t the ones shouting “AI!” the loudest—they were the ones that made it instantly clear how the product would help and did it in a way that made people want to keep reading.
At more generalist conferences, perhaps booth messaging can get away with leaning heavily on buzzwords. But ILTACON’s audience—lawyers, technologists, operations leaders—demand specificity. They want to know: Will this help my team close matters faster? Reduce manual work? Cut costs? Improve accuracy? The exhibitors who answered those questions directly, and did so in human, memorable language, stood out.
It’s an incredibly exciting time in legal tech, not just for the technology itself, but for the way it’s being communicated. After all, the tools changing how law is practiced deserve language that’s just as innovative. If ILTACON 2025 is any indication, legal tech marketing is finally finding its voice—and it’s speaking human
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Meg McEvoy is VP, Growth Communications at LIMELIGHT. Connect with her on LinkedIn
