Accelerated adoption was a reoccurring trend at this year’s conference. It seems that quite a few of the world’s leading Commercial Real Estate organizations are really beginning to understand the inherent benefits of automation. However, as more and more of the business processes are automated, the need for legal counsel is required. At the end of the day, these new automated transactions will need to satisfy the requirements of the Commercial Real Estate legal community and their guidance will be more important than ever.

It is interesting to watch how the trends at every conference change each year. It was only three years ago when one of the major legal battles in the Commercial Real Estate industry was equal access to buildings by the telecommunications providers. Could building owners select their own vendors and restrict others or should each and every vendor have the right to sell their products and services to the tenants of the building? Just as technology changes, so do the legal implications. With the proliferation of wireless, the issues just got more complicated. What would stop a broadband entrepreneur from setting up shop across the street from the Sears Tower and beaming broadband to the building at a fraction of the cost of the building’s service providers? This did, in fact, happen in a retail mall and the issues are very complex. As you can see, the concept of equal access just took on a whole new perspective.

The following represent some of the issues and subsequent trends regarding Commercial Real Estate Law and technology that became apparent at this year's conference:

• Broadband access via wireless has introduced a whole new set of issues and questions
• To date, there are no absolute resolutions as to who owns airspace rights inside buildings
• Landlords have begun to write terms into leases that have to deal with wireless issues
• There are still very few instances of automated Real Estate contracts that do not require signatures
• The United Kingdom (UK) is further ahead when it comes to the concept of online transactions
• Some owners are providing free broadband, which may violate contracts tenants have with existing providers
• Some attorneys feel that landlords who do not offer a sound security solution could be more liable in the event of a problem
• With advanced surveillance capabilities, privacy issues will continue to grow
• With more and more capabilities being built into software, privacy issues will continue to grow
• Lawyers billing may change from time to value

There is no doubt that as technology and the subsequent automation that results continue to advance, new legal issues and challenges will arise. Where once a complicated transaction required a signature, we can expect to see digital, paper-less transaction in the next 24-36 months. In addition, the way technology impacts the physical aspects of a building will continue to challenge the best of legal minds. We appreciate the work of our Legal Tech Task Force; Andy Herz, Ron Sernau and AJ Raju and are confident that they will keep us abreast of these fast and interesting challenges.