Delivering a clear, insightful look at the most important tax provisions included in this sweeping legislation, the pair examine what this really means in practice — from key changes that impact your clients to strategies for effective communication and preparation.

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In the podcast, Mike Abbott, head of the Thomson Reuters Institute, and Steve Hasker, president and CEO of ��������, discuss the report, which interviewed thousands of professionals across many organizations worldwide, and demonstrated that the rise of AI and GenAI remains the dominant issue that these professionals see propelling change in their work.

Notably, as the podcast points out, more than three-quarters of respondents said they now believe AI and GenAI will revolutionize their work, a 10-percentage-point increase.

“Collectively, professionals are getting more experience with these advanced tools, leading them to be more comfortable and knowledgeable in their use.”

Indeed, as Hasker notes, this increased level of AI anticipation and recognition is being driven by many people’s greater personal experience and the wider adoption of AI tools like Microsoft Copilot and others. “Collectively, professionals are getting more experience with these advanced tools, leading them to be more comfortable and knowledgeable in their use,” Hasker says.

Like the report itself, the podcast takes a look at the state of where AI is now – roughly 20 months after the public release of ChatGPT, the public-facing GenAI platform that took the world by storm in late-2022.

You can on Spotify here.

The podcast also hits on many of the highlights of the report, which when taken together, demonstrate a more nuance, accepting, and optimistic view of AI and GenAI’s ultimate impact on professional life, including:

Seeing GenAI as a force for good — The podcast notes how this year’s report reveals a significant decrease in apprehension surrounding AI, with 78% of professionals now viewing this innovative technology as a force for good. This positive shift can be attributed to a growing awareness of its potential to create new work roles, streamline existing processes, and enhance work-life balance.

Indeed, many respondents’ fears that widespread AI adoption across professional work would lead to job loss has now given way to an expectation among many professionals that more AI-specialist and technology-related jobs will be created.

Among the most positive aspects of AI’s impact over the next five year includes “innovation, time spent on engagement and judgement-based or expertise work, and opportunities for skills building.”

Estimating significant time-savings — Another compelling finding in the report that is discussed in the podcast is the expected time savings offered by more widespread AI use, with an estimated savings of four hours per week in the next year, potentially reaching 12 hours per week by 2029. This translates to substantial financial gains for many organizations and greatly improved efficiency and productivity for individuals.

Abbott said among the most positive aspects of AI’s impact over the next five year that respondents cited included “innovation, time spent on engagement and judgement-based or expertise work, and opportunities for skills building.”

However, concerns do remain about potential workload increases, highlighting the need for careful management of these newfound efficiencies.

Understanding the need for responsible development — The podcast also discusses how the report highlights the importance of responsible AI development. Professionals on every level advocated for guardrails, with a majority supporting certification processes and industry-specific standards. �������� addresses this by prioritizing data privacy, promising to protect customer information and ensuring transparency in its AI outputs.

The overarching takeaway from the report and the podcast is clear: Optimism for AI’s future is growing. While acknowledging potential challenges, many professionals said they now recognize AI’s power to foster innovation, unlock greater efficiency, and enhance job satisfaction. And as AI continues to evolve, continuous learning, ethical development, and a focus on human-centered applications will be crucial to realizing its full potential and reaping the potential benefits that are increasingly becoming evident.

Impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)

, enacted in 2017, has been comprehensive and offered sweetening changes of recent tax law. The TCJA bought into being numerous deductions that many tax specialists have said altered the financial landscape for businesses and individuals alike, and even . However, as Hunley points out, not all of TCJA was permanent and there are some provisions that are set to expire.

In fact, certain very popular provisions, including the qualified business income deduction, are on the list that is slated to expire. The qualified business income deduction was a benefit for many small business owners and if it is allowed to expire, it could reshape the financial planning landscape for many businesses. The sunset of this provision presents both challenges and opportunities for tax professionals who look to advise their clients on the best course of action.

Potential changes with the election

With an election happening in less than seven months, the possibility of a new administration in the White House looms large, bringing with it the prospect of a tax policy overhaul. In the podcast, we delved into the implications of such a change, particularly in relation to environmental, social & governance (ESG) considerations. Energy tax credits, which are integral to ESG strategies, could see a significant shift in importance, depending on the election results and subsequent policy direction.

If the White House remains as is — that is, President Joseph Biden wins re-election — then these credits, which are intertwined with the broader ESG movement, could see a reorientation to support sustainable and socially responsible initiatives more aggressively. If the White House flips — that is, former President Donald Trump wins — the opposite could be true, especially if the U.S. House of Representatives stays Republican-majority and the U.S. Senate flips. In that case, these energy tax credits would likely be deprioritized, if not outright repealed.

It is worth noting that the growing emphasis around the world on sustainability and responsible corporate governance suggests that there might be increased support for tax incentives that promote environmental stewardship. This could be an area in which lawmakers from both political parties find common ground, given the public’s growing concern over climate change and the desire to incentivize green energy initiatives.

The Green Book and beyond

The prospects of , as outlined annually by the Biden administration, present a complex and ambitious vision for the future of the US tax system. The Green Book is essentially an annual policy document that outlines the administration’s tax priorities, offering a blueprint for potential legislative action.

Hunley’s perspective on the Green Book proposals is cautiously optimistic. He said that he recognizes the inherent challenges in advancing a comprehensive tax reform agenda, particularly those that involve raising revenue or overhauling established tax regimes. For instance, Green Book proposals to close loopholes like carried interest have historically faced stiff resistance from influential interest groups and sectors that benefit from such provisions. Despite this, there’s a sense that some measures, such as expanding individual tax credits, may find common ground across the aisle.

Such action as expanding individual tax credits, especially those aimed at low- and middle-income families, can be politically palatable as they directly support taxpayers and can stimulate economic growth. Credits like the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit have previously seen bipartisan support, and their expansion aligns with broader social objectives, such as reducing child poverty and incentivizing work.

By contrast, other provisions in the Green Book that seek to raise revenue, such as increasing the top marginal tax rate or adjusting the corporate tax rate, are likely to encounter more resistance. The political climate, public sentiment, and the balance of power in Congress — especially if it changes — all will play critical roles in determining the feasibility of these proposals.

Proactive measures for tax practitioners

In the podcast, Hunley highlights the importance of tax practitioners staying informed and ready to adapt, and he emphasizes the necessity for professionals to educate their clients about the TCJA’s impending sunset provisions. Practitioners should also prepare themselves and their clients for any alterations in deductions and tax credits that are likely to follow.

Staying ahead of the curve is not just good practice, Hunley advises, it is imperative for ensuring that clients are positioned to navigate the tax terrain effectively.

From the nuances of the expiring TCJA provisions to the potential enactment of the Green Book and the election’s influence on tax policies, tax professionals and their clients need to ready themselves for a possibly changing tax policy landscape that may be filled with both complexity and opportunity.

To learn more about the impact of the election on future tax policy, listen to (on Spotify) featuring a conversation with Shaun Hunley, an Executive Editor at ��������.

This past week, �������� released the Future of Professionals report, surveying more than 1,200 individuals working internationally in the legal, tax & accounting, global trade, risk management, and compliance fields who are employed at firms, corporate in-house departments, and government agencies based in North America, South America, and the United Kingdom. The report found that not only is artificial intelligence expected to be one of the biggest drivers of professional change over the next five years, with 67% saying AI will have a transformational or high impact, but many said they believe that change will have a positive effect on their own careers.

In , �������� President and CEO Steve Hasker sits down with Mike Abbott, Head of the Thomson Reuters Institute, to discuss his key takeaways from the report. Hasker provides three ways that AI will change the future of work: i) the day-to-day productivity of workers as more manual tasks are automated; ii) what he deems the “new value exchange” that will allow professionals to focus on providing higher-level advice; and iii) an increased focus on accuracy and data security that will lead professionals and technology providers alike to focus on how technology produces responsible and ethical results.

“First, I really think that this is going to change the legal, tax & accounting, global trade, and risk industries in very fundamental ways,” Hasker says. “Second, I think we owe it to our customers to help guide them through that. It is a time of disruption and dislocation, and it will cause some difficult decisions and some exciting decisions that our customers will make.”

Hasker and Abbott also discuss who may emerge the business winner in the generative AI race, be it firms, corporations, technology providers or others. In his view, Hasker says he believes there is room for industries as a whole to come out as leaders, especially those that adapt to new technologies. Within those industries, however, individual professionals or firms will need to actively work to keep pace.

You can on the Thomson Reuters Institute Insights podcast channel here.

“It’s like any disruption — the ability to be open-minded, to experiment and fail, to test, learn and adapt — will really be put to the test, both in and across �������� but also in every single one of our customers,” Hasker explains. “There is a scenario where legal, tax, risk and other professions, broadly speaking are advantaged in various ways through the adoption of generative AI, but I’d be surprised if every single professional or every single firm sees that environment uniformly.”

And the resultant planning shouldn’t just take into account technology, Hasker and Abbott stress, but professional services organizations’ people as well. Hasker notes that a large technology leader recently revealed to him that engineer happiness — rather than any piece of technology — was the biggest key to development productivity.

“I couldn’t help but think that if generative AI improves all of our working lives… that will be a great thing,” Hasker adds. “We saw it under the pandemic, but I think it persists to this day, in the legal profession we’ve got a lot of unhappy lawyers. They’re working 80 or 100 hours a week, they’re chasing the billable hours, and the workload is extraordinary. And I think the extent to which our tools among others can automate a lot of that work and help them get to the value-add or the more interesting and engaging work that’s client-centric, that’s a big step forward.”

������, available on the , we dug a bit deeper into some of the themes discussed in the report, and in particular some of the things that media coverage may have overlooked, with Jim Jones, Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of the Legal Profession at the Georgetown Law Center and the report’s chief author.

Following the surprisingly strong performance of 2020 and the outstanding results firms experienced in 2021, the downturn of 2022 was not unexpected, yet was still understandably troubling for many law firm leaders.

While the report has garnered widespread media coverage, this podcast is one of the relatively few opportunities to hear directly from the author on what may lay behind some of the headlines. For example, much of the media coverage has gravitated toward the findings from this year’s report that the average lawyer produced roughly $98,000 less in fees for their firm in 2022 compared to 2007 due to declining productivity. In this podcast, we discuss why that may be the case and what law firms may be able to do about it.

The topic of mobile demand, another key theme from the report, is also revisited. Clients seem intent on continuing to explore ways to optimize the distribution of their outside legal work to maximize return while controlling costs. As a result, the continued migration of work throughout the legal market, and especially downwind to lower cost legal service providers, seems likely to continue.

Jones also shares his thoughts on why he is a bit surprised that so much of the media coverage of this report has focused on the negative aspects of law firms’ financial performance in 2022. “There is the problem of the ‘what have you done for me lately’ attitude,” Jones says. “When you’ve gone through a couple years of real economic success, whenever there’s a dip after that, it feels like civilization is coming apart, when actually it could be a return to a more normal level of performance, which could, in fact, be what’s happening.”

Following the surprisingly strong performance of 2020 and the outstanding results firms experienced in 2021, the downturn of 2022 was not unexpected, yet was still understandably troubling for many law firm leaders. As firms look to set or even perhaps re-examine strategic goals going into 2023, beginning that exploration with as complete a picture of the current state of affairs in the legal market and what the near future may hold will help leaders arrive at the strategies that could yield more favorable results.

You can hear all about the “2023 Report on the State of the Legal Market” with Jim Jones here, on .

As we enter 2023, the specter of a potential recession looms over all budgetary and strategic decisions. Professionals in corporate law and tax departments are already anticipating having to do more with less, which will likely impact how they work with their outside partners over the next 12 months. Add into this a mixture of new governmental regulations, and these next 12 months could start to look less optimistic and more of a trial to overcome.

In , available on the , our team of strategists reveal the trends they’re watching as we enter 2023, and how changes in the overall economy may affect this coming year’s strategic priorities.

Rabihah Butler, Head of Compliance & Government Insights, says that compliance is the name of the game in the risk and fraud space, with the Beneficial Ownership Act, the Enablers Act, crypto-regulation, and ESG compliance all playing their part to make the coming regulatory year a complicated one. And in the event of an economic downturn, there may be questions surrounding who bears the burden of that compliance risk, as well as how government entities and court systems will be able to continue key system reforms that they began during the pandemic.

Natalie Runyon, Head of ESG Insights & an Advisory Services Consultant, believes 2023 may be “a painful year because of multifaceted operational challenges and other headwinds” facing those responsible for ESG within organizations. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules on greenhouse gas emissions and the European Union’s new corporate sustainability reporting requirements both will increase work for lawyers and accountants, while certain social aspects of ESG — most significantly, the increased focus on employee well-being as a key performance indicator of organizational well-being — will remain a key priority for boards, especially in a tighter labor market.

Zach Warren, Head of Technology and Innovation Insights, views the tech and innovation landscape as one where next-generation technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and even ChatGPT may be taking a back seat to tried-and-true standards like business development and security and data protection. �������� research has shown that while technology investment has continued thus far in the legal and tax industries alike, a recession may mean scaling back some research and development initiatives.

Bill Josten, Head of Legal Marketplace Innovation Insights, notes that what is top of mind for corporate law department leaders and law firms alike isn’t changing: the volume of matters they’re seeing is increasing. However, flat budgets and a potential down economy may have changed the calculus of how those matters will be tackled. Tighter budgets are forcing corporate law departments to tier their outside work, which could mean a potential rise in utilization of alternative legal services providers. Law firms, meanwhile, also are eyeing what inflation might mean for their realization rates and how to hold onto demand in the face of those tightening corporate purse strings.

Finally, Nadya Britton, Head of Tax and Accounting Insights, explains that small and midsize tax & accounting firms are looking to continue their advisory services expansion, particularly with continued industry automation and a de-emphasis on simple compliance work, while large tax firms are focusing on specialization in specific industry areas. Corporate tax departments, meanwhile, are “all about data, data, data,” Britton says, particularly with trying to better integrate the tax function into their organizations’ wider business initiatives. Even though any economic downtown may not impact tax as strongly as other industries, there are still implications around the industry’s growth plans to be considered.

As our team of strategists describe it in the podcast, 2023 is set to be a complicated year, but research has shown that there can be reason for optimism among all areas of professional services. Even with economic uncertainty looming on the horizon, the next year can prove fruitful with a little strategic planning and care.

You can get the whole story on the outlook for 2023 and listen to here.

Conversely, lawyers and perhaps especially partners, tend to go it alone, opting instead to maintain tight control of client relationships and, often, the origination credits that come with them. Many would be quick to point out that most of these partners have built quite successful and lucrative practices, so has there really been any downside to their practice of cloistering client work?

In one sense, perhaps not. Lawyers, especially for the last couple of years, have enjoyed an incredibly profitable run at a time when financial success seemed far from assured for most businesses. A lack of meaningful collaboration doesn’t seem to have hurt go-it-alone partners.

However, research from the Thomson Reuters Institute shows that law firms and their lawyers that have not fostered environments conducive to true collaboration on behalf of their clients might, in fact, be leaving considerable money behind and may even be placing unneeded strain on their client relationships.

, available on the , we are joined once again by Lizzy Duffy, a senior director with the Thomson Reuters Institute’s global client services team. Duffy shares with us some surprising findings around just how powerful a team of lawyers that the client feels operates in a truly collaborative fashion can be for the law firm.

For starters, our law firm of hypothetical go-it-alone partners captures, on average, about 14% of a client’s total legal spend, Duffy explains in the podcast. In sharp contrast, firms where clients are served by what they perceive to be collaborative teams of lawyers enjoy closer to a 56% share of the client’s spend.

Looked at in this light, the lost opportunity cost from failing to deliver collaborative legal services appears substantial.

This podcast also explores some basic questions such as, how exactly is collaboration defined for purposes of this research and in the client’s mind? The podcast also delves into more complex topics such as how firms can best foster a collaborative environment in an era of hybrid work, identify and overcoming impediments to more collaborative cultures, and more closely integrate clients into these newly formed collaborative workstreams.

As we discuss, it’s not an easy goal to achieve, and it can involve addressing thorny topics like attorney compensation. However, the payoff in terms of improved client service, increased client loyalty, and a potentially huge jump in share of wallet might just make the effort worthwhile, particularly in a market increasingly defined by mobile demand and clients looking for law firms that deliver truly excellent service.

You can on the latest Thomson Reuters Institute podcast here.

That’s why it’s crucial to separate fact from fiction.

In , available on the  channel, we speak with Gabriel Hidalgo of FTI Consulting and Teresa Anaya of Archblock about digital assets, how they act within their own ecosystem, and how that compares to and interacts with the traditional economy.

As the podcast explains, it can be a little overwhelming to try to understand native currency, tokens, stablecoins, decentralized finance (DeFi) and a US Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), especially if what you’re hearing sounds like a sales pitch or a scam. During this podcast, we break them down and explain how many of these concepts work and the truth behind the names, in an unbiased look at the digital asset and cryptocurrency industry.

From digital coins collapsing and investors losing money to a myriad of regulatory questions, the world is buzzing around the topic of digital assets, how they work, and most importantly, whether they can be trusted as a part of the global economy.

In the last month, the crypto exchange FTX has fallen from grace at top speed in a very public way. We have also seen celebrities, like Kim Kardashian, , Ethereum Max, improperly; and Binance, another crypto exchange, in the US and the United Kingdom.

Yet, cryptocurrencies and tokens are just two individual types of digital assets; and from native currencies to stablecoins, there is a full ecosystem that should be understood as the world moves toward including digital currency, and its infrastructure, into the larger economy. This isn’t to say that you should convert all your money into digital assets tomorrow, but it would be smart to be well-versed in this area as it evolves.

In speaking to Hidalgo and Anaya — two experts both with years of experience in the digital assets space — we get walked through their insights on the basics of digital assets and its related infrastructure. This walk is not intended as financial advice, of course, but the clarity will be important.

Indeed, as the podcast makes clear, there is no crystal ball that can tell you what to invest in or when; and there is no full certainty on what direction governments will go in legitimizing the new digital asset ecosystem. What we can be provided, however, is a crucial roadmap to understanding what is true and what may be “too good to be true” in the world of digital assets.

You can access , featuring a discussion about the digital asset ecosystem, here.

Despite cost control being top of mind, however, executing on this goal is no mean feat.

, available on the  channel, we discuss what the LDO Index, an annual look at the state of affairs within corporate legal departments from those professionals tasked with managing the operations, says about department leaders’ thinking in the current environment. This year’s report compiled a wide range of responses from 107 different companies, from small businesses to those making in excess of $10 billion in annual revenue.

As the podcast looks into the key findings of the Index report, it sheds great light on where law department leaders are seeing their greatest challenges and opportunities. For example, the Index report showed that matter volumes are increasing for the vast majority of responding law departments, even as they cope with flat budgets.

You can access , featuring a discussion about , here.

Indeed, few law departments report adding lawyer headcount. The end result is a situation where perhaps the only option to deal with the increasing workload is to send more work to outside legal counsel, even as those external law firms continue to raise rates.

Again, as discussed in the podcast, this is not an easy situation for corporate law departments to manage.

To help shed some light on some of the pain points as well as possible solutions, the Thomson Reuters Institute Insights podcast invited a panel of experts to join us from among the membership of the (LVN), which partnered on the LDO Index. The Legal Value Network is a group of professionals with the mission to accelerate evolution in the legal industry, connecting business of law professionals from across the legal industry who are focused on designing, building, and implementing innovative models of legal service delivery.

In this week’s podcast, we speak to:

• , a pricing an analytics officer with Shell’s legal operations team. With her 20 years of experience in the legal industry, Guajardo functions as the right hand of the legal ops team at Shell.
• , director of alternative fee intelligence and analytics at GlaxoSmithKline. An outspoken critic of the billable hour, Ergler has established himself as a thought leader and expert in the use of alternative fee arrangements for complex legal matters.
• , director of pricing and legal project management at Katten Muchin Rosenman. Bringing his 20 years’ experience focusing on strategic growth and profitability initiatives, Maziarek seeks to bring the voice of the client into his firm and helps guide firm strategy towards sustained profitability.

As the podcast illuminates, how corporate law departments control costs is an involved and complicated topic, with nearly innumerable necessary components. This podcast features a great discussion from both the in-house and law firm side of the equation and in doing so, reaches a key conclusion: No matter which steps a corporation or law firm may decide to take, three things are indispensable — transparency, communication, and trusting relationships.

Without those, controlling costs will become much more difficult, if not an impossible task.

For more from the Legal Value Network, you can follow their podcast,

 available on the  channel, we speak to Suzanne Offerman, Senior Product Manager at ��������, about how this current environment in which companies that import and export goods must operate has become an ever-evolving puzzle to solve with shifting paradigms that some might say are moving at speeds not previously experienced before.

Of the companies surveyed in the Global Trade Report, many reported more significant concerns arising around retaliatory taxes and fees for those companies in the United State and the United Kingdom. In fact, more than 60% of US companies and about 40% UK and European Union companies surveyed said tariffs were greatly impacting their businesses. At the same time, companies doing business in Asia saw supply chain risk as a significant concern.

Given changing sanctions regimes and regulations, companies exporting from Asia must exercise caution in selecting with whom they do business. Indeed, companies utilizing Asian vendors in their supply chain are now required to know more than before about the identity and labor practices of their suppliers.

Talent & trade

To keep pace with the new and evolving landscape, companies are looking for new and additional trade management professionals to increase their available pool of expertise, skills, and technology prowess. In regard to talent, Offerman says in the podcast that the role and requirements of a trade manager are quite different now than they were when she started in the industry.

You can access , featuring a discussion about the recent , here.

In the podcast and in the Global Trade Report, Offerman points out that there is a list of must-have skills for today’s global trade managers. “The technical know-how of an engineer, the legal sense of an attorney, the carefulness of an accountant, the organizational skills of a project manager, the business acumen of an executive, the cultural awareness of a diplomat, and the communication skills of a leader that says a lot — and that’s one that’s supposed to be one person,” she explains, adding that this description underscores the importance of this role and how global businesses are coming to rely on trade managers to mitigate and manage more of the day-to-day operations of trade.

As the podcast explains, this situation has left global businesses challenged as to where to find the right talent and skillset to fill these roles. Businesses have looked at consulting firms, colleges, and even competitors to find the right professionals, but that has proven daunting.

Offerman explains that historically, someone got into global trade management by coming up the ranks within a company’s supply chain, working at a warehouse and then being promoted while receiving hands-on training throughout their employment. Now, universities are offering undergrad and graduate global trade classes (or eLearning classes for working professionals), alongside the study of such subjects as trade law, for example.

The technology solution

In regard to technology, the Report showed that more than 80% of the companies surveyed said they need technology to solve many of the issues they face today — a fact made all the more clear by recent events. “Because of the severe disruptions in supply chains and international trade, companies realized they couldn’t get their goods just from sourcing from one country,” Offerman says, adding companies learned they needed to move production to another country in the region or closer to their own home base. Thus, companies were pressured to come up with  for specific regions.

However, Offerman says in the podcast, this may not be the best solution, and she urged companies to move to a holistic approach by using technologies that cover the entire supply chain, not just specific problem areas or regions.

Indeed, the need for the right technology goes far beyond increasing efficiencies — it’s needed to keep pace with governments that are increasingly leveraging more technology in order to gather more information and collect taxes and tariffs. “Companies cannot focus on only one aspect, talent, or technology but must be intentional at all aspects of trade in this way,” Offerman notes. “It is talent plus technology that get you to the finish line.”

In fact, as the podcast demonstrates, one will drive the other. To compete for the necessary talent, the technology that companies need to utilize will be a factor in attracting the very type of trade management professional with the skills they need. No one wants to work on outdated software or equipment, of course, especially when it can impact their quality of work. Therefore, any investment companies make in trade solution software that keeps them in compliance will also ease additional work processes and drive further efficiencies.

Trade compliance rules and work will not get less busy, Offerman explains in the podcast, it’s that businesses will grow and evolve along with the regulatory space. And that means that companies must enable their top professionals with the right technology in order to stay compliant and competitive.