Meet Me At ILTACON: Thomson Reuters And CoCounsel

Thomson Reuters recently announced an expanded vision for CoCounsel, its professional-grade GenAI assistant.

CoCounsel will unify the entire customer experience and give customers a new way to access Thomson Reuters product capabilities through a single GenAI assistant.

Over time CoCounsel will link Thomson Reuters products across its entire portfolio, meaning customers can bring together multiple skills and workflows from different products into one place.

Here, David Wong, the company’s Chief Product Officer, provides more detail on CoCounsel, the features Thomson Reuters will be showcasing at ILTACON, and the sights to see in Nashville.

To learn more about Thomson Reuters and CoCounsel join David Wong Monday, August 12, at 11 a.m. in the Delta A ballroom, or visit the Thomson Reuters Booth #619.

ATL: Can you provide some more details on the problems you solve and the benefits you provide?

DW: At Thomson Reuters, we’re working to help our customers harness the potential of AI for their professional work. For legal professionals, that means helping them do complex and substantive work both more efficiently and better. We’re delivering this through our CoCounsel Legal AI Assistant, and AI-enabled features in our established legal research and technology products.

Examples of some of the problems we’re focusing our efforts on are:

1. Complex legal research – helping legal professionals save hours of time and also enabling them to be more thorough and creative with their legal analysis.
2. Legal document analysis – enabling legal professionals to analyze documents at super-human speed and accuracy to allow them to focus on applying their legal judgment versus data collection.
3. Legal drafting – bringing together Thomson Reuters’ unique content assets with powerful new drafting and editing tools enabled by GenAI.
4. Legal workflow automation – helping lawyers manage complex matters and work more efficiently thanks to CoCounsel integrated with Microsoft 365, their existing legal tech tools, and other productivity software.

We believe that with the adoption of this technology, legal professionals will save substantial time and improve the quality of the work they do, allowing them to expand their businesses and practices. Our recent Future of Professionals survey saw professionals, including those in the legal sector, predict that AI has the potential to save them 12 hours per week in the next five years, equating to 200 hours annually. This timesaving potential is the equivalent productivity boost of adding an extra colleague for every 10 team members on staff. Yet, despite working long hours, 56% feel they do not have enough time to achieve everything they would like to in their role. 

On top of this, Thomson Reuters is committed to delivering these solutions with Professional-Grade AI. This means that it’s built on top of the best content and search systems in the business. It drives efficiency by accelerating workflows, allowing legal professionals to accomplish more in less time. It also does so in a way which offers a deep level of insight. Most importantly for professionals, CoCounsel is also end-to-end encrypted, meaning our customers’, and their clients’, data is secure and private.

Is there anything new you’re showcasing at ILTACON this year? Anything on the horizon you’d like to spotlight?

At ILTACON 2024, we’ll be showcasing our latest AI innovations delivered through CoCounsel, our generative AI assistant. This includes an in depth look at new features such as CoCounsel Drafting, as well as exploring the latest GenAI skills such as Claims Explorer, a new GenAI skill available in Westlaw Precision with CoCounsel that enables legal professionals to enter facts and identify applicable claims or counterclaims. We’ll be highlighting how these solutions empower legal professionals to work more efficiently and accurately.

What do you think the legal tech industry is doing well? And what might it be missing?

The legal tech industry excels in developing innovative tools that streamline legal processes, enhance research capabilities, and improve client service. However, there’s a continued need for better interoperability between different software solutions and more robust data privacy measures to meet evolving regulatory standards. These issues are also front of mind as I work with our customers to deliver solutions which work where they work, while also upholding the highest standards of trust and security.

What’s one thing lawyers can do to be more tech-savvy?

Lawyers can enhance their tech-savviness by actively engaging in ongoing education and training on emerging technologies relevant to their practice areas. They should also explore and adopt tools that integrate AI and machine learning to automate routine tasks and enhance legal research capabilities. This technology is too powerful not to use, and the investment in time to better understand it will ultimately unlock more time for them to spend where it matters most — helping them provide an even better service for their clients.

What can ILTACON attendees expect when they stop by your booth?

If you swing by our booth, you can take part in interactive demos of CoCounsel’s capabilities, get a personalized consultation on integrating AI into your legal workflows, and get insights into upcoming features and integrations. Additionally, there will be opportunities to meet with product experts and discuss how CoCounsel can address specific challenges faced by legal professionals. 

Is there anything else you’d like ILTACON attendees to know about you?

I would say that it’s not without exaggeration that I feel this is the most energizing and meaningful time to work at the intersection of technology and the legal profession. 

I’ve spent nearly 15 years building B2B products at the intersection of data, machine learning and AI. I’ve then had the privilege of leading our product, design, and content teams for the past four years at Thomson Reuters. I couldn’t be more excited about how the company is at the cutting-edge of technology, with immense opportunities ahead for our Generative AI product development.

Will you be seeing the sights in Nashville this year?

Last time I was in Nashville it was great checking out some of the top sights such as the Country Music Hall of Fame, Broadway’s honky tonk bars and Printer’s Alley, as well as sampling some fantastic BBQ. This year at ILTA I may not have much time to explore, but I’m looking forward to focusing on engaging with legal industry leaders and making the most of our time together.