Jeffrey Roach, Managing Director at Harbor, is joined by Evette Pastoriza, Chief Information Officer at Mayer Brown, and Magdalena Suder, Director of Clients, Markets & Growth Operations at Ashurst, for a practitioner-level conversation on turning AI enthusiasm into adoption that actually holds.

Drawing on experience running technology programs inside two of the world's leading law firms, they get specific about what works, what stalls, and why the human side of adoption is harder than the technology side every time.

What we cover:

• Why AI is unlike any technology rollout that came before it and why that creates a different set of problems
• How to build perception of value for the tools that matter but don't have AI's built-in momentum
• Why change management has to start before the business case is written
• What separates firms that sustain adoption from those that plateau after launch
• How to connect technology rollouts to firm strategy, client service, and individual workflows in ways lawyers actually respond to

Listen to the full episode on

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• YouTube

Key moments:

• 2:32 - When a Rollout Doesn't Go as Planned
• 6:35 - Sell Outcomes, Not Systems
• 9:05 - AI's Unique Starting Point: Awareness Before Adoption
• 10:24 - When AI Steals the Spotlight from Other Critical Initiatives
• 15:00 - Linking Technology to Firm Strategy and Value Drivers
• 22:41 - Gently Introducing New Habits Under Real Pressure
• 27:30 - Magdalena's Framework: Diagnose, Design, Sustain