Overview
On November 15, 2023, Thomson Reuters launched Westlaw Precision with AI-Assisted Research. This new application uses generative AI to search and analyze Westlaw’s content to provide answers to your legal research questions, along with lists of key cases, statutes, and/or regulations.
Law firms that have both CoCounsel and Westlaw Precision are among the first to experience Westlaw Precision with AI-Assisted Research. Here are answers to questions you may have.
What is the benefit of Westlaw Precision with AI-assisted research?
You get the best of both worlds: Westlaw’s proven, reliable legal content, and CoCounsel’s industry-leading legal AI technology. This includes:
Westlaw’s database of cases, statutes, and regulations
Westlaw’s full KeyCite citator with flags and case histories
A substantive legal memo in minutes
“Cited with” feature to access factually-analogous cases
Clickable inline citations to relevant primary law
The option to refine results with plain language follow-up prompts
If I use CoCounsel as a Westlaw Precision user, what will happen when I launch CoCounsel’s Legal Research Memo skill after November 15?
Starting November 15, when you use CoCounsel as a Westlaw Precision user, you will be directed to log into your Westlaw Precision account to complete your research.
The CoCounsel skills menu will also be accessible from within Westlaw Precision.
Here is a screenshot of that experience within the earliest version CoCounsel.
Here is what you will see if you are using the new chat interface within CoCounsel.
After you click the blue button, you will be prompted to log into Westlaw Precision. Once you log into Westlaw Precision, AI-Assisted Research will begin its research.
When AI-Assisted Research completes its research, you will see a brief memo that includes a few paragraphs of analysis, and then a list of every case, statute, and regulation that it identified.
What content is included in Westlaw Precision with AI-Assisted Research?
Westlaw Precision with AI-Assisted Research analyzes Westlaw’s comprehensive primary law authorities, which includes state and federal cases, statutes, and regulations.
You can make up to three jurisdiction selections: any three states, any three federal jurisdictions, or a combination of up to three state and federal jurisdictions. You can also select a nationwide search. If you try to select more than three jurisdictions at once, the search will default to a nationwide search.
In CoCounsel Beta, you can request “workflows” where CoCounsel uses its output from a previous skill to help accomplish another task. Will l be able to do the same in Westlaw Precision?
We are at the beginning of bringing these two technologies together. To ensure you have the best of both platforms, you will be directed to Westlaw Precision with AI-Assisted Research to complete your legal research memo. To leverage other generative AI skills, you will complete that work in CoCounsel.
How will this new integration affect my billing?
Nothing will change with your billing. You still be invoiced from Thomson Reuters for Westlaw and Casetext for CoCounsel. In the future, as we continue to bring these two companies together, there will be an integration of billing systems.