ILTA 2008 kicked off this evening with a big party at the conference venue, the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Dallas, Texas. If the conference itself yields anything as extraordinary as the venue, it will be some event. Why should this be of any interest to UK lawyers and their corporate clients, and to judges?

I reckon this place was designed by a committee, each of whose members worked in secrecy, ignorant of the plans of the others – you know, the way some law firms manage their discovery. Cultural references included Buckingham Palace, Colditz, Bents Fort, Disneyland, the Whitewater Shopping Centre, the largest upmarket international hotel you have ever seen, a space centre, and the “40 Acres” backlot at Culver City which was the setting for so many Hollywood films. You could film the burning of Atlanta and Star Wars inside here at the same time.

This gives you some idea of what I mean…..

… although no one photograph could do justice to the whole. Here are some more.

I am not sure, in fact, if Buckingham Palace boasts a gallery as long as the one which is shown in that collection, and it certainly lacks the two escalators needed to get to it. Not everything is on the grand scale – the miniature railway is no bigger in area than my house is, for example, and I can see the far wall of my bedroom from the well-furnished office at at one end in which I sit typing this.

Nigel Murray of Trilantic and I were amongst the first to arrive here yesterday and Nigel kindly gave me dinner at the Mexican restaurant – I have yet to find out how many different eating places there are here. The place filled up gradually during the day until this evening’s opening bash.

This was on a scale to match the venue. Food and drink flowed until late. Familiar faces came and went, introductions were made and cards exchanged.

There are more photographs of the party here.

Tomorrow the serious stuff begins – platform talks, discussions and supplier stands. Important though these are in their own right, they are also hooks for more discussion between the lawyers, sales people, technical experts, consultants and others who make up the ILTA community.

Why should you care, you gentlemen of England now abed, about what is being discussed between all these (mainly American) people in a fantasy palace in Dallas? A partial answer is provided by the juxtaposition (accidental I am sure) of two carriages on the model railway, one carrying ILTA’s logo and other the words “Wild West”.

We are in fact past the wagon train phase of this market, but the Wild West picture persists in the eyes of many in the UK. The absence of road maps and sign-posts is one feature which confuses people. Another is the apparent lack of any developed rule of law. Lastly, there is an ominous feeling of something unknown over the horizon – it’s quiet out there, too quiet, as they said in the old movies, but UK judges and practitioners are increasingly aware that they cannot ignore electronic sources of information for much longer.

The people here at ILTA are those who design, produce, sell, recommend or use the applications and the processes which will be the weapons needed to deal with what is just over the UK’s horizon. What they bring to and take away from this week will influence what you buy to handle your cases and whether you win them, lose them or have to settle them.

The settlers who gathered at Wagon Mound – just 25 miles from here – in the 1840s before starting the long trek West did not set off to court fear and danger for their own sakes. They were necessary concomitants to a journey towards a hoped-for pot of gold – literally in their cases. The pot of gold here, for the lawyers, is new work – not just a different way of doing the old work, but work of the same kind which their rivals are not equipped to do, and work of new kinds. The suppliers and consultants who are here in Dallas equate to to the stores which sold the wagons, the guns and the other supplies, and to the guides and guards needed for the journey West.

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