Continued climb in law firm productivity��

I joined �������� in February, and a notable way we’ve seen the impact of generative AI solutions is the uptick in lawyer productivity. For the first time in years, Q2 saw a majority of law firms experience productivity growth. By Q3, an astounding 64% of law firms reported productivity growth, building on the gains made in Q2.����

This uptick underscores how technology is key to boosting law firm profitability. Law firms that invest in new technology as well as adopt AI and generative AI solutions to streamline workflows and improve the efficiency and quality of their work are best positioned to improve client satisfaction and drive sustainable productivity growth.��

Build, buy, partner strategy��

I’m pleased with the progress �������� has made on our vision to provide all the legal professionals we serve with a professional-grade GenAI assistant to augment their work. We’ve committed to investing $100 million annually in AI over the coming years, including investing more than $200 million to incorporate responsible AI into our solutions in the past year alone.������

This year we continued investing in the latest technology through our build, buy, partner program. On the buy side in the legal space, our acquisition of Safe Sign Technologies – a UK legal large language model (LLM) startup – in August is proving a great fit. We’re incorporating Safe Sign’s tech and talent into our industry-leading content and expertise to bring customers even greater quality and performance from our AI solutions. ��

On the build side, we introduced 19 legal generative AI solutions in 2024. Highlights include CoCounsel 2.0, the professional-grade GenAI assistant; Claims Explorer, a generative AI skill available in ; CoCounsel Drafting, an end-to-end drafting solution that streamlines and improves the drafting process for legal professionals within Microsoft Word; and Mischaracterization Identification in Quick Check and AI Jurisdictional Surveys – two generative AI research features that help customers save substantial time and deliver greater confidence that legal research is accurate, thorough, and complete. We also delivered deeper integration of CoCounsel into Westlaw and Practical Law.��

On the partner side, we’re working with Microsoft, OpenAI, Google and others on plugins and integrations to enhance the generative AI-powered capabilities in our solutions. Every aspect of our build, buy, partner strategy is geared toward helping our customers automate their workflows, provide powerful insights to their clients and drive efficiencies.  ��

A maturing market����

2024 saw the implementation of legal generative AI solutions as well as efforts to benchmark these solutions. Our benchmarking support is reflected in our participation in studies including Vals.ai plus two consortium efforts – from Stanford and Litig – exploring how to best evaluate legal AI.����

I believe that benchmarking can improve both the development and the adoption of AI, but it’s just one component in how we consider and understand the benefits AI delivers for our customers. I look forward to our ongoing collaboration with customers and industry partners as we continue working to minimize inaccuracies and increase the usefulness of the research outcomes for generative AI solutions.��

To date, 15% of law firms have adopted and implemented legal-specific generative AI solutions. I anticipate we’ll soon see a wave of fast followers – eager to be perceived as innovative – that will dramatically strengthen generative AI implementation.��

I can’t think of a more exciting time to have joined a business. Where our industry is at now mirrors the early internet era: initial excitement, followed by strategic integration.����

We’re fast approaching a maturing market where legal professionals will not just desire but require AI capabilities for their workflows. We’ll see more implementation of generative AI solutions among legal professionals as they increasingly realize the tangible benefits.  ��

For more on how generative AI is shaping the future of the legal profession, please check out my interview.����

This is a guest post from Raghu Ramanathan, president, Legal Professionals, ��������.��

�������� President and CEO Steve Hasker shared a state of the industry outlook, noting generative AI is as disruptive and transformative as previous technology shifts yet is happening even faster. He emphasized what differentiates ��������, including investments the company is making in generative AI to enable professionals to accelerate and streamline entire workflows and deliver more value for clients. ����

Hasker said �������� has invested more than $200M in AI in the last year. He discussed the company’s vision to provide each professional it serves with an AI assistant; the launch of CoCounsel 2.0, which generates answers three times faster than the previous version; and new work with Microsoft on autonomous agents to increase revenue, reduce costs, and scale impact for customers. ����

Tax, Audit & Accounting����

“AI is not just changing the landscape of accounting, it’s reshaping it.” That was the message from Elizabeth Beastrom, president of Tax & Accounting at ��������. ��

While the profession sees AI as a game-changer to help them work differently, tax and accounting professionals also continue to wrestle with the perennial challenge of a talent shortage. This, combined with escalating complexity and more tax regulations, as well as changing client expectations, leaves tax professionals in need of a critical solution.��

�������� sees the potential of AI to help alleviate these challenges by augmenting human capabilities. Automating mundane, time-consuming tasks will enhance efficiency for tax professionals, helping them reclaim time to channel into higher value tasks. �������� is working to bring the power of generative AI, machine learning and automation into its solutions in the following ways:

1. Saving time in tax preparation:

Coming in beta during the upcoming busy season, �������� will launch an AI-assisted tax preparation experience to increase firm efficiency. The solution combines the power of CoCounsel, �������� professional-grade generative AI assistant, with workflow automation and software integrations. It supports the delegation of data gathering to simplify mundane tasks and automate tax preparation. �������� research shows that customers using this solution will save at least two hours per 1040 tax return on average.��

2. Supporting firms’ growth with advisory: ��

As client expectations continue to evolve, they’re increasingly looking to their accountants as trusted advisors. Firms of all sizes are focusing on growing their advisory practices to help bring their clients additional value, as well as supporting their growth. In 2025, the �������� Advisory Solution will combine the power of CoCounsel and Checkpoint content to identify advisory opportunities. Advisory services are integrated directly into a firm’s practice, with technology empowering junior staff to take on higher-value advisory work and seasoned professionals to move beyond technical expertise to value-added synthesis. ��

“It helps firms build their advisory practice with confidence to deliver unprecedented value to meet clients’ evolving needs,” said Nancy Hawkins, vice president of Product Management, Research.��

3. Transforming audit efficiency:��

Halving sample sizes, boosting efficiency and sharpening the focus on high-risk areas are all at the heart of �������� Audit Intelligence Analyze solution, which launched in October. Further functionality will be coming in 2025 as it expands the Audit Intelligence suite capabilities. ‘Test’ will support with automating substantive testing with dynamic transaction tracing, while ‘Plan’ will harness full data populations with cutting-edge analytics for superior risk assessment. Both will launch with beta programs next year, along with the addition of CoCounsel to the Audit Intelligence suite.��

All three solutions – Review Ready, �������� Advisory Solution and the Audit Intelligence suite – will be further enhanced with �Ѳ��ٱ������’s generative and agentic AI capabilities.��

Corporates��

Laura Clayton McDonnell, president of the Corporates segment, shared how enterprise technology, including AI and generative AI, is revolutionizing the profession with innovative and emerging solutions. She emphasized that companies are taking a streamlined and proactive approach to addressing risk and compliance across the enterprise, while driving towards their business goals, will maintain their competitive advantage. Clayton McDonnell also shared how organizations are using solutions including ONESOURCE Pagero, CoCounsel Core, Legal Tracker, Checkpoint Edge with CoCounsel and CLEAR to solve challenges and realize value for their business.��

In addition, Ray Grove, head of Corporate Tax and Trade, ��������, highlighted the company’s efforts to build a seamless, integrated compliance network, and Kevin Appold, vice president of US Public Records, ��������, shared how the company’s risk and fraud solutions play a critical role in the convergence of compliance and commerce. Also, Valerie McConnell, senior director of CoCounsel Customer Success, discussed how CoCounsel is transforming the general counsel’s office.��

Legal��

A highlight from the Legal Professionals segment included an in-depth look at the �������� 2025 AI product roadmap from David Wong, chief product officer; Mike Dahn, head of Westlaw Product; and Valerie McConnell, senior director of CoCounsel Customer Success. They outlined upcoming generative AI features and innovations to support legal professionals, including deeper integration of CoCounsel 2.0 in Westlaw and Practical Law plus generative AI research features including Claims Explorer, Mischaracterization Identification in Quick Check and AI Jurisdictional Surveys.��

Legal SYNERGY attendees also participated in interactive sessions and CLE courses on advanced prompting techniques, the science behind large language models, and optimizing generative AI for tasks like drafting and legal research. Sessions offered attendees a comprehensive view of the future of AI in law. ��

SYNERGY 2024 also included several customer panels and executive briefing sessions. Watch the Innovation Blog for highlights from these sessions and for 2025 product and innovation highlights.��

Roth’s session, , explored how companies worldwide – from startups to global enterprises – are taking action to move faster and take advantage of the opportunities that generative AI technology offers. She discussed how �������� has embraced generative AI tools and transformed from a content company to an engineering-focused technology company.

She highlighted the seven generative AI products �������� released in the past year, noting how the company transitioned from releasing product updates quarterly to rolling out 85% of its updates weekly. Roth also shared the lessons �������� has learned – from success and failures – to become a leader in the commercialization of generative AI solutions.

Check out Roth’s full TechCrunch Disrupt presentation .

“It seems like just last year we were talking about CoCounsel 1.0, the generative AI product launched by Casetext and then swiftly acquired by ��������,” Joe Patrice said in . “That’s because it was just last year. Since then, �������� has worked to marry Casetext’s tool with TR’s treasure trove of data.”

Patrice noted CoCounsel 2.0 draws on “the experience gained over the last year and a mélange of multiple LLMs under the hood” and includes Claims Explorer – an AI skill in Westlaw Precision – plus CoCounsel Drafting.

In , Isha Marathe highlighted CoCounsel 2.0 as “a much faster, more polished chatbot” that offers more personalization.

“��������’ CoCounsel 2.0, which has a ChatGPT-like interface, now also connects with the user’s DMS to offer a more integrated, personal experience,” Marathe said. “Additionally, usernames, passwords and other log-in keys will also be standardized across various �������� applications, explained Jake Heller, CEO and co-founder of Casetext, part of ��������.”

Marathe added: “Essentially, this brings CoCounsel ‘on the same infrastructure’ as the user’s Westlaw and �������� applications, Heller said, creating a user-centric experience as opposed to a fragmented one.”

Richard Tromans David Wong, chief product officer, ��������, made during his ILTACON presentation on CoCounsel 2.0 about the strength of �������� data.

“David Wong, CPO, said that ‘this is the most meaningful work I have done at ��������,’” Tromans noted. “He then stressed the fact that they have all the three main food groups when it comes to AI tool development:��‘We have the data, the expertise, and the tech. Few have all three in such quantity and depth.’ And that’s a key point. If you look at some of the challengers out there, there are few that have all of that lovely, rich data.”

Tromans added. “… Wong is right, having genAI skills and having a smart team is great, but a ton of authoritative legal data is the cherry on the cake if you want to offer a really broad genAI platform.”

Watch the Innovation Blog for more on the one-year anniversary of Casetext joining ��������, and read Innovation Blog posts for more product news, leader insights, and customer perspectives on how �������� is paving the way for the future of professionals.

“There was a significant focus on the practical application and optimization of generative AI,” said Valerie McConnell, senior director, CoCounsel, ��������. “AALL attendees wanted to learn how to use AI tools in the most effective ways possible. They were looking for strategies to integrate generative AI seamlessly into their workflows. This shift in dialogue reflects a growing maturity in the adoption of AI, highlighting a readiness to leverage these technologies to their fullest potential.”

Rachel Beithon, senior product manager, Westlaw AI & Analytics, ��������, also noticed attendees’ heightened interest in AI tools.

“I was a little concerned that after the last 18 months of near-constant AI discussion in the legal industry that there might be some fatigue setting in,” Beithon said. “But people were so eager to talk more about generative AI solutions.”

Claims Explorer, the new generative AI skill in that launched during AALL, was among the solutions sparking conversations with attendees.

“They were absolutely thrilled with Claims Explorer and its use cases,” Beithon said. “It was obvious how much time this would save when doing the often-arduous task of exploring potential claims.”

CoCounsel was also generating buzz.

“One of the most frequent topics of discussion during our CoCounsel sessions concerned our integrations with Microsoft products and document management systems,” McConnell said. “There seems to be a strong interest in using generative AI seamlessly across multiple platforms and systems. Attendees recognized the potential efficiency and productivity gains from having CoCounsel work with the tools they already use daily.”

Generative AI enabling small-scale innovation

The law librarian community’s readiness to implement generative AI stood out to Zach Warren, manager, Enterprise Content, Thomson Reuters Institute.

“I’m intrigued by how much courts and government legal departments will play into this tech-enabled future,” Warren said. “I saw one presentation given by Judge Keven O’Grady of Kansas where he explained how his court built a ‘triage’ tool, helping categorize his family law docket into different pathways based on how much attention different litigants need. It’s this sort of small investment that can pay huge dividends, and particularly with GenAI allowing for more small-scale innovation, I’m excited to see what courts and government come up with to do more with less in the coming years.”

Empowering the next generation of legal professionals

Beithon and McConnell were pleased with the feedback on their Day 2 session, “Summoning the Magic Words: Crafting Prompts to be an AI Wizard.”

“We both heard over and over throughout the conference how valuable that session was and how much more excited attendees were to try out prompting techniques in the Westlaw and CoCounsel Core AI skills, and to teach those to other users at their organization,” Beithon said.

“Attendees were not just interested in refining their own skills but were also focused on how to empower the next generation of legal professionals,” McConnell added. “There was a strong emphasis on teaching law students, associates, and new lawyers the art of prompting. This proactive approach to education and training recognizes the importance of ensuring that everyone in the legal field can harness the full capabilities of generative AI.”

Warren agreed, noting AALL’s optimistic tone.

“This year’s conference was shaped with optimism about the role law librarians can play as shepherds of this new paradigm rather than simply impacted by it,” Warren said. “This change comes as no surprise to me, as the Thomson Reuters Institute has noted that librarian and research positions are beginning to increase at law firms, reversing a long-standing trend. The crucial role law librarians play has been noted, both anecdotally and in dollars and cents, and law librarians know that now is the time to make their influence felt.”

Now generally available in the United States, Checkpoint Edge with CoCounsel helps tax firms leverage the transformative capabilities of GenAI by using large language models (LLMs) to provide an intuitive interface for tax professionals to pose questions to in everyday language.

Two thirds of customers that took part in the beta program expected Checkpoint Edge with CoCounsel to become their primary method for starting federal tax research upon launch.

“Checkpoint Edge with CoCounsel is an innovative tool that allows the use of a question to get a specific response, plus it provides citations without having to search multiple responses to find an answer to a query,” said Gary Brown, owner and principal at Gary Brown CPA, who was among the customers that took part in the beta program. “This saves significant time by providing a focused response versus a list of multiple responses that need to be sorted through to find the desired result, providing significant time savings for research.”

“Trying to read an entire document for up to 30 minutes and trying to really understand those very minute differences and paragraphs and sub-paragraphs, Checkpoint Edge with CoCounsel will now give us the opportunity to receive this answer in a more simplified and relatable format where we can read it and understand it, see the citations as we need, and provide that answer to a client or internally to our own staff,” said Brent Forbush, managing partner, Forbush & Associates.

Checkpoint Edge with CoCounsel is the latest milestone in the �������� expanded vision for CoCounsel – the professional-grade GenAI assistant – to enable professionals to seamlessly complete complicated work involving multiple products through a single generative AI assistant. The launch follows last week’s rollouts of Claims Explorer, a new generative AI skill in Westlaw Precision with CoCounsel, and CoCounsel Drafting, an end-to-end drafting solution that streamlines and improves the drafting process for legal professionals within Microsoft Word.

For more on Checkpoint Edge with CoCounsel, visit , check out , or read the press release.

For legal professionals filing a lawsuit, defending a lawsuit, or advising clients on potential liability, often their first step is to identify applicable claims or counterclaims. Yet not all claims are equal. Some causes of action have a lower threshold to achieve, some provide for attorneys’ fees or higher damages, and some fit better with the facts of a particular case.

In testing with attorneys, those who used the new skill found relevant causes of action three times faster than when using traditional research methods. In addition, in reviewing Am Law 50 litigation where claims were added after the initial pleadings, the new skill found 94% of the claims that were missed in the initial pleadings and later added by the firms.

“Finding claims with traditional research methods can be difficult and time consuming,” said Mike Dahn, head of Westlaw Product Management, ��������. “Even experienced lawyers can miss applicable claims. Customers have told us about the difficulty of claims research for years, and it’s not just that it can take hours – it’s error prone, which is easy to see in how often reputable firms attempt to add new claims or counterclaims later in litigation, after the initial pleadings. But courts won’t always allow you to add a claim later, and missing the best claims can have significant consequences. It can mean the difference between winning or losing a motion, recovering more in damages or attorney’s fees, or potentially losing a case.”

Dahn added this new skill was purpose-built using the latest generative AI plus new claims content created by �������� attorney editors. “When we tried to solve claims research issues with AI alone, it didn’t work very well, so we had our attorney editors create new content about causes of action that enabled AI to work much better. We’ll continue to do work like this for other workflows where AI alone struggles.”

The new skill is the latest milestone in the �������� expanded vision for CoCounsel – the professional-grade GenAI assistant – to enable professionals to seamlessly complete complicated work involving multiple products through a single generative AI assistant.

For more on the new skill, check out .