How to Overcome Barriers to Legal Tech Adoption Through Collaboration

Mitratech’s Somya Kaushik, who leads the company’s efforts in AI and digital transformation, recently spoke with Vivian Susko about the early and ethical integration of artificial intelligence into legal practice. Kaushik shared insights on legal tech adoption, overcoming AI fears, embracing its potential as a collaborative tool, and shifting mindsets to fully harness its benefits. 

She emphasized the importance of innovation, highlighting how adopting emerging technologies like AI enhances, rather than replaces, legal expertise. However, a key barrier to legal tech adoption is the deeply ingrained culture of tradition and precedent in the legal industry, which can contribute to hesitation and the fear of obsolescence. 

By focusing on the collaborative and community-building aspects of technology, legal ops professionals can help overcome these fears and unlock technology’s full potential. Barriers can be overcome by showing team members how they will benefit, such as how technology can optimize outside counsel spend.

“When the benefits become real and tangible, more and more people will get on board with your vision,” Kaushik said. “And remember: to drive early adoption, you have to be able to show individuals who are innately risk-averse or skeptical about technology the objective and quantitative advantage to leaning into it.” She advises legal teams to “start small, fill operational gaps first, and track and measure key results,” emphasizing that incremental successes build momentum for larger-scale changes. 

Looking ahead to 2025, Kaushik is optimistic about the legal industry’s ability to embrace tools prioritizing collaboration, efficiency, and quality. She sees legal tech adoption efforts focusing on integration and intelligence in the next few years with smarter tools and more connected workflows.