No one would describe running a law firm as easy. You’re required to provide critical legal guidance and manage an often complex business. That means handling the thousand and one tasks that go along with both roles.
So if there are tools that can make your work more efficient, you’d want to investigate.
The good news is that such a toolbox exists. Westlaw Edge is the standard for legal research because it brings together human expertise and advanced artificial intelligence that helps attorneys get what they need more quickly and without sacrificing quality.
As you know, attorneys are under increasing time and cost pressures. According to a report from the Thomson Reuters Institute, 85% of firms surveyed said that pressure from clients is at least a moderate challenge. Many larger firms are in the same boat.
Westlaw Edge helps you meet that challenge by reducing the time you spend on unprofitable tasks. Here are some key examples:
1. Stop second-guessing
It’s important for you to avoid mistakes. After all, you’re a professional, you’re an expert – you know what you’re doing. It might also be because, like most successful attorneys, you’re a perfectionist.
The fear of making mistakes means you spend more time reviewing documents and data than you probably need to, or asking others on your staff to do the same. You’re either eating up your own time or theirs, or both. And when you’re trying to get some much-needed sleep, you find yourself worrying about whether you triple- or quadruple-checked everything on your list.
Westlaw Edge’s Quick Check tool can lift that load from your shoulders. Its AI-driving document review and analysis identifies all potential issues before they have the chance to become problems. It can keep you from wasting time and losing sleep.
2. Trust your information
Using online research tools can be extremely helpful – but not if you have doubts about their authority. If you’re second-guessing your sources, you’re not really saving time.
Westlaw Edge is built upon more than 100 years of legal knowledge and editorial expertise. Westlaw’s attorney-editors ensure that all information is routinely updated. With each legislative change, they create new versions of statutes and regulations – ensuring the information is relevant to what you need now.
3. Know more about your judge
Ah, that Magic 8-Ball. What you wouldn’t give to have one about the judges overseeing your cases. How might they rule? How long will it take them to rule? Knowing the answers to these and other questions would make your case strategy more solid and managing your clients’ expectations much easier.
Westlaw Edge’s Litigation Analytics feature offers the legal version of a Magic 8-Ball – but with answers rooted in history. Using its data-driven analysis, you can learn how your judge has ruled on similar cases in the past, how long it generally takes to issue the ruling, and other crucial information.
And here’s a bonus: Litigation Analytics can also provide useful insights into your opposing counsel.
4. Get more done, more quickly
There’s a school of thought that says when your livelihood is based on the billable hour, you don’t want to move too quickly. But what about write-downs – the work you do that you can’t bill? The Thomson Reuters Institute’s report reveals that 28% of an attorney’s time is spent neither practicing law nor meeting with clients.
For instance: Think of all the time you spend researching a new area of law or keeping up with the changes in laws and regulations that relate to your practice. It’s work you need to do. It’s also work you aren’t paid for. With Westlaw Edge’s AI-powered search capabilities, you can find the information you need faster – while reducing and even eliminating the time wasted on duplicated efforts.
When you complete more of that unbillable work more quickly, you actually get paid for more of your work. And you can spend less time on tasks that you need to do and more on what you can do to build your practice. You’re actually adding to your firm’s bottom line, not reducing it.
And that’s one of the goals behind Westlaw Edge’s development: helping your firm become more efficient and thus more profitable.
See how Westlaw Edge can help your firm work more efficiently and confidently.
