Legal operations have had a complicated few years. The tools got smarter, the data got bigger, the expectations got louder, and somewhere in the middle of all that, the industry had to figure out what actually works at scale. Legalweek 2026 is where 6,000 professionals, 400+ speakers, and four days of sessions try to answer that. Aeren LPO is coming back this year because the agenda, AI-driven review, eDiscovery, outsourcing governance, and legal service delivery, is essentially a map of the problems we solve. Here’s what we expect to see.
The Legalweek Agenda 2026: What's Actually Worth Your Time
Mark your calendar: March 9–12, 2026, North Javits Center, New York
Anyone who’s been to Legalweek before knows it’s not a single-track conference. The Legalweek agenda is dense, over 100 sessions across multiple tracks covering everything from contract lifecycle management to cybersecurity, from legal technology innovation to data privacy compliance. The challenge is figuring out what to prioritize.
From what we saw at Legalweek 2025, and where the market is heading, here are the themes that will dominate 2026:
AI in Legal Review — Moving from Experiment to Operation
The “AI in legal” conversation has matured. We’re well past the “is AI ready for legal?” phase. The real questions now are: How do you integrate AI into managed review workflows without sacrificing accuracy? What does quality control look like when machines do the first pass? How do you explain that to a client or a court?
Expect the Legalweek agenda this year to go deep on AI governance, validation frameworks, and what human-in-the-loop actually means in practice. This isn’t theory anymore; it’s operational reality for any firm doing large-scale document review.
eDiscovery and the Data Volume Problem
eDiscovery was already complex. But with the advent of collaboration platforms such as Teams and Slack, and the resultant explosion of data in the cloud, the volume issue has become nearly unmanageable without proper infrastructure. At Legalweek 2026, be prepared for serious programming on technology-assisted review, data culling, and international data management in a heavily regulated world.
Outsourcing Accountability and Governance
This one is very important. The trend towards legal process outsourcing has been gaining momentum for several years, but the spotlight on it has also increased. Law firms and in-house legal departments are asking tougher questions: Who owns the product? How is quality defined? What happens when things go wrong?
The outsourcing model that embeds governance, accountability, reporting, and compliance from the outset distinguishes a successful LPO relationship from a mere vendor partnership. This is a conversation Aeren LPO has been part of for years, and we will be front and center at Legalweek.
Cyber Incident Response and LPO
The collaboration between breach counsel, insurers, and LPO providers has become a critical piece of incident response workflows. When a breach happens, speed matters. Having a trusted LPO partner who can quickly spin up a review team, handle privilege reviews, and process large datasets under tight timelines is essential.
Why Aeren LPO Keeps Coming Back to Legalweek
We’ve been doing this long enough to know which conferences are worth the investment. Legal Week consistently delivers. The numbers back it up. 51 countries represented, 64% of attendees returning year after year, and a format that goes well beyond panel discussions.
But more than the scale, it’s the quality of the people in the room. When you’re sitting across from a general counsel at a Fortune 500 company or a legal operations director who’s midway through a major technology transformation, the conversations get specific. That’s where the real value is.
Last year at Legalweek 2025, we came back with clear signals: the market wants an AI-enabled review that’s actually explainable, not just fast. Firms want outsourcing partners who can show their governance model, not just their pricing. And legal operations modernization is no longer a future ambition; it’s a current delivery challenge.
We’re expecting 2026 to push those themes even further.
Who You'll Meet from Aeren LPO
Two people from our team will be on the ground at Legalweek this year:
Sharon Shofner Meyer, Strategic Legal Advisor
Sharon’s background in regulatory alignment and the need for the legal delivery model to adapt to current compliance requirements is invaluable. If you want insight into what’s happening in the outsourcing of governance, she’s the one to speak with.
Dominic Hithon, VP of Business Development
Dominic works closely with law firms and corporate counsel on building LPO partnerships that actually deliver. He knows what keeps legal operations executives up at night, and he knows how to design solutions that work within real-world constraints.
If you’re attending Legalweek New York 2026, you should reach out and schedule time with them. These meetings are always more valuable than you think they’ll be.
The Bigger Picture: What Legalweek Tells Us About the Industry
One thing that makes Legalweek different from other events is that it functions as a genuine industry weather report. The sessions, the booth conversations, the after-hours discussions, they all reveal where the industry’s collective anxiety and ambition actually sit.
Right now, that anxiety is around AI governance and liability. The ambition is around doing more with leaner teams. The tension between those two things is exactly what drives legal technology innovation, and why events like Legal Week matter.
When 6,000 of the most influential people in legal gather in one place, you get a real-time snapshot of what the industry thinks, fears, and is planning for next. That’s useful whether you’re a law firm partner, a corporate counsel, or an LPO provider trying to stay ahead of what clients will need six months from now.
See You in New York
Legalweek 2026 | March 9–12 | North Javits Center, New York
Aeren LPO will be there. If you are planning to attend, we would love to meet up, whether that is a scheduled meeting or a chat that starts at the coffee station. The Legal Week schedule is full, but the best networking often occurs through unscheduled conversations.
If you have not yet registered, the time is now. And if you would like to meet up with Sharon or Dominic before the event, please contact us directly.