From June 18 to June 20, 2025, lawyers from across the state gathered near the Capitol in Madison for the State Bar’s Annual Meeting and Conference (AMC). The conference was complete with networking, awards, ceremonies, and more CLEs than you could shake a stick at.

Every year the State Bar holds the AMC, and although there was not an official theme (unless you count pink flamingos) it was clear that the unofficial theme was “change.” Rapid, unexpected, disorienting change. The red and white halls of the Monona Terrace Convention Center were buzzing with a nervous and frantic energy, as if everyone knew that the normally stable and slow-moving practice of law was in the early stages of a seismic disruption.

Upending Precedent

Some of that change stems from the federal government and the laws themselves. With the executive branch issuing a flurry of orders requiring legal responses, and the Supreme Court issuing decisions that upend decades of precedent, it can feel exhausting just staying on top of the current law, let alone applying the changes in law to your practice.

Speakers such as the Wisconsin attorney general and various subject matter experts addressed the pace of change and what it meant for practitioners.

AI: Ready for Prime Time?

Outside of the three branches of government, there is another change barreling toward the legal profession: Artificial intelligence (AI). Whether AI is ready for prime time or not, it is being implemented at every level of the practice of law.

Westlaw and LexisNexis have spent billions of dollars outfitting their platforms with AI counterparts and search tools, law schools are teaching courses on AI, and lawyers are beginning to use AI in their own practice (with varying degrees of success).

AI holds the promise of increased efficiency and productivity, but it also comes bundled with drawbacks we are just beginning to understand. Session after session at the AMC tried to address the rapidly changing legal landscape.

Providing a Place for Connection

This combination of changes to the law itself, coupled with changes in the tools used to practice the law can feel downright discombobulating. However, even in times of change and disruption, the AMC provides a space and a place for our profession to come together under one roof and collaborate, learn, and chart a path forward.

I am already looking forward to next year.

Read more about the AMC 2025 in Jay D. Jerde’s writeup in InsideTrack Weekly.

Save the Date: AMC 2026 is June 10-12 in La Crosse

The 2026 Annual Meeting & Conference will take place June 11-12, 2026, in La Crosse. Registration opens in February 2026.

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