ILTN Networking Meetup | Delhi Edition – Event Recap
- Admin ILTN
- Feb 25
- 3 min read
On Saturday, 7th February, the ILTN Delhi Coffee Meetup brought together founders, lawyers, operators, and legal thinkers over coffee for an intimate and candid discussion on what’s actually happening in India’s LegalTech landscape.
What began with simple introductions soon unfolded into a deeply engaging exchange of ideas — spanning technology, education, research, and the realities of legal practice in India. We closed the session with a rapid-fire round of “one AI tool you actually use,” but everything in between was real, nuanced, and necessary.
Setting the Tone: Conversations Over Coffee
There were no panels, no presentations, and no scripts. Just a small group, a shared table, and an openness to engage honestly. And that made all the difference. From day one experiences to long-term reflections on the legal ecosystem, the conversation moved fluidly, grounded in practice, not theory.
Spotlight Conversations
Tushar Bhargava (MikeLegal) brought in the perspective of someone who has been building in legal tech for over eight years — long before the current AI wave. He reflected on how legal tech adoption in India has historically been slow, with recent acceleration driven by generative AI. But at its core, the fundamentals haven’t changed.
“When we started building MikeLegal, our focus was never on flashy technology — it was on solving real lawyer pain points. Tech is only valuable when it makes life simpler.”
His insights reinforced a critical principle:product development must begin with pain points, not technology. From IP and trademark portfolio management to compliance tracking, the focus has always been on repetitive, time-consuming tasks that lawyers cannot avoid — but would gladly automate.
The takeaway was clear:
Good technology fails if it does not fit into lawyer workflows
Simplicity and usability drive adoption
The best tools are often the least complex
Sumitro Chatterjee (Baretz+Brunelle) shifted the conversation from tools to fundamentals questioning whether AI is really the problem at all. His argument was direct - AI does not weaken legal thinking, it exposes existing gaps.
“Poor research and weak legal reasoning aren’t an AI problem, they’re a thinking problem.”
The discussion explored deeper structural issues in the legal ecosystem:
Legal education in India remains insufficiently research-focused
There is limited emphasis on research methodology and ethics
Continuing Legal Education (CLE) — mandatory in jurisdictions like the US and Australia — is largely absent in India
Learning to use AI tools is currently self-driven, fragmented, and often expensive
A key concern raised was that AI can make people cognitively lazy by default, unless there is a strong foundation of critical thinking. The consensus - AI must remain a tool that enhances thinking, not replaces it.
What Practitioners and Builders Are Seeing
Beyond the spotlight discussions, the meetup brought together a diverse set of perspectives from across the legal ecosystem.
Here are some of the key themes that emerged:
Data privacy is no longer niche - As highlighted by a practicing lawyer, DPDP compliance is quickly becoming part of everyday legal work, not just a specialized domain.
AI is reaching the ground level - Builders working on AI-first solutions shared insights on deploying technology at the district court level, exploring how tools can assist both judges and lawyers in real workflows.
Legal marketing remains a paradox - As discussed, lawyers cannot openly “market” themselves, making visibility and client outreach a strategic challenge that requires thoughtful approaches.
Language is a systemic barrier - One of the most important conversations centered on legal translation in India, where language continues to be a major obstacle in accessibility, scalability, and justice delivery.
Research workflows are evolving - Partnerships and integrations between legal tech platforms are beginning to reshape how lawyers conduct research and access legal databases.
The Bigger Picture
If there was one recurring theme across the discussion, it was this: Legal AI in India is accelerating — but technology alone will not determine its success.
Adoption will depend on:
Workflow integration
Education and training
Research depth
Simplicity of tools
The infrastructure is being built.The question is whether the ecosystem will evolve alongside it.
A special shoutout to Yashasvi Agarwal, ILTN’s Delhi Ambassador, for hosting and curating such a thoughtful and engaging session. If this meetup showed us anything, it’s this - the future of legal tech in India won’t be built in isolation, it will be shaped through conversations like these.
And we’re just getting started.
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