Since launching in Australia and New Zealand in early 2024, a growing number of law firms and in-house legal teams have adopted CoCounsel. What’s become clear is that the success of AI adoption is not just a question of technology—it’s a matter of strategy, change management and trust.
According to the Future of Professionals Report 2025, organisations with a visible AI strategy are 3.5 times more likely to realise benefits from AI than those taking an informal approach.
Off the back of the most successful implementations of CoCounsel in Australia and New Zealand, here are the top 6 lessons learned. Read on for insights to help you move beyond experimentation and into lasting transformation.
1. Target ‘use cases’ over initial firm-wide rollouts
Broad-based technology launches can overwhelm large legal teams. The strongest results have come from teams that start small. They focus on high impact, high friction ‘use cases’ where AI can clearly save time or reduce risk.
By demonstrating quick wins, these early use cases help convert sceptics into champions and build momentum organically. For example, legal teams using CoCounsel are successfully accelerating contract review workflows and drafting chronologies in litigation. These wins pave the way for wider AI adoption.
Takeaway: Start where the pain is visible and value is measurable.
2. Social proof drives momentum
Once success is achieved, it is time to share it! Social proof, via both internal and external communication channels, is critical in building confidence and broadening adoption.
Law firms are using internal communications, AI expo days and team meetings to showcase specific AI success stories. Others are co-authoring case studies or client-facing thought leadership content to demonstrate their innovation credentials in the legal community.
Takeaway: Make AI wins visible. Internal comms and success stories matter.
3. Change management is the hard part
Technology is straight forward, but people are diverse and nuanced. Lawyers are trained to be cautious and risk-averse, and many are understandably hesitant about AI. Firms that succeed with adoption invest heavily in ongoing learning, not just one-off training sessions.
We’ve hosted 80+ AI Skills Challenges with law firms and in-house teams, that bring together legal teams to use CoCounsel to solve real problems. These social and informal forums foster buy-in far more effectively than compulsory training.
Takeaway: Approach change as a cultural shift, not a technology deployment.
4. Client-first framing matters
Some of the most effective messaging focuses on client expectations, not internal efficiency. The reality is that clients, particularly in sectors like banking and finance, technology and construction, are already using AI. They expect their legal providers to keep pace.
Highlighting the risk of falling behind (losing clients, missing new value opportunities) has helped reframe AI as a competitive necessity. And by understanding how their clients are using AI, lawyers are better positioned to provide proactive, AI-savvy counsel.
Takeaway: Position AI adoption as a strategic move to serve clients better and stay competitive.
5. Partner with your vendors, not just your tech stack
Legal teams benefit from treating vendors not just as product providers, but as implementation success partners. Trusted vendors like Thomson Reuters are well-placed to run workshops, facilitate learning challenges and share anonymised peer insights.
In Australia and New Zealand, many firms have benefited from hearing how similarly sized firms have approached adoption, which use cases they’ve prioritised and what AI trends are emerging in their client industries.
Takeaway: Leverage your vendor’s ecosystem, not just their product.
6. Localisation is non-negotiable
Australian and New Zealand lawyers are rightly cautious about generic AI. The most effective solutions are those integrated with trusted local legal content, aligned to local terminology, precedent and legal reasoning, and built with feedback from lawyers in the region.
Firms consistently tell us that ‘local trust’ is one of the most important factors in AI evaluation, and it’s earned through local content, local relevance and local support.
Takeaway: AI must reflect the legal, cultural and linguistic nuances of Australia and New Zealand practice. AI adoption in the legal sector is not a one-time rollout, it’s a journey of behavioural change, trust-building and continuous iteration. CoCounsel’s experience across New Zealand and Australia shows that success starts with specificity, grows through storytelling and sticks when it aligns with how lawyers work.
If your firm is just starting its journey or preparing to scale AI adoption, these insights can be downloaded here and serve as a strategic guide. And if you’re already on the path, make sure you keep sharing what works. The future of the legal market is being shaped now.
