Episode 22- Binit Agrawal - AI-First Legal Practice: From India's Digital Competition Bill to the Realities of Legal AI

Anush Ganesh and Kena Zheng speak with Binit Agrawal, a lawyer and entrepreneur building an AI-first legal practice for emerging cities in India. Binit previously headed strategy at Lucio, a legal AI company, and is empanelled with the UNDP as an expert on AI and law. The conversation covers Binit's trajectory from competition law practice at Axiom 5 Law Chambers to legal technology entrepreneurship, his co-authored critique in World Competition of India's Digital Competition Bill 2024 and the case for phased implementation over wholesale adoption, the practical challenges of deploying AI into legal workflows, and what an "AI-first" practice actually looks like on the ground in India's emerging cities. Binit shares industry perspectives on how foundation models acquire and lock in data, whether existing regulatory frameworks like the DMA and DMCCA can address AI market dynamics, and what India's "frugal AI" model, showcased at the India AI Impact Summit in February 2026, might mean for developing economies. A must-listen for anyone following the intersection of competition law, legal technology, and AI governance.