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Artificial Intelligence

Introducing CoCounsel Drafting: Legal drafting meets generative AI

· 5 minute read

· 5 minute read

If you could re-imagine your workflow, what would change? Where would you spend less time and where more? For most legal professionals, the answer is to spend more time on value-add work that requires their strategy and expertise, and less on routine tasks that drain time, such as drafting legal documents. Yet, in a recent Thomson Reuters study, 96% of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the drafting tools currently available.  

Introducing CoCounsel Drafting. As an extension of our newly launched professional grade generative AI assistant, CoCounsel, this addition utilizes generative AI to transform legal drafting. Operating within Microsoft Word, CoCounsel Drafting is an end-to-end solution addressing your drafting workflow from start to finish, to help begin, clarify, modify, and analyze legal documents. 

 

CoCounsel Drafting webcast

“GenAI and CoCounsel Drafting can do so much good. They can save time, improve the quality of work and ultimately, the quality of life [of legal professionals.] CoCounsel Drafting makes drafting easier, quicker, and most importantly, it leads to superior quality final documents.”  

– Kriti Sharma, Thomson Reuters Chief Product Officer for Legal Tech 

 

Here are some of the main benefits of CoCounsel Drafting:  

A starting point 

Clauses that count 

Indispensable playbooks 

Compare and analyze 

An end-to-end solution 

 

A starting point 

Finding the right place to start is one of the most considerable pain points of document drafting. No one wants to start from scratch when other documents that have proven effective and provide continuity exist within a repository.  

“We know that a critical problem to solve in the drafting process is finding a starting point,” continues Sharma. “In reality, a lot of time is wasted here. Finding the right document, which is perhaps in a DMS or your own internal SharePoint takes a ton of time. With CoCounsel Drafting, we’ve built the capability to help you find the right starting point based on what’s needed for that particular matter.” 

In addition, CoCounsel Drafting is integrated with Practical Law Dynamic Tool Set for access to standard and automated documents and Contract Express templates to make starting a new document even easier.  

 

Clauses that count 

CoCounsel Drafting users can draft and modify clause language with the help of generative AI. Because it has been trained by bar-admitted attorneys and prompt engineers at Thomson Reuters, the AI model in CoCounsel Drafting delivers the most relevant clause language for legal professionals. 

“Our GenAI solution enables you to generate new clause language,” says Sharma. “But it doesn’t do it from just anywhere. It’s grounded in Thomson Reuters content. It’s grounded in reality. We use a technique that’s known as retrieval augmented generation (RAG) to give you the highest confidence in the results. 

“For example, you might want CoCounsel to not only generate, but modify a clause. You might want to make the language pro-seller. You can ask it to do exactly that. Then you can take the response, modify it, and tune it to fit the matter that you’ve been working on.” 

Users can also find clauses by selecting the agreement and clause type to locate trusted Practical Law clauses and SEC exhibits. 

“Then you can take the response, modify it, and tune it to fit the matter that you’ve been working on.”

 

Indispensable playbooks 

Playbooks are vital references for legal teams and their clients, and their consistent use is another way to save time and reduce repetitive work. With CoCounsel Drafting, users can leverage curated Practical Law playbooks or create custom playbooks that deliver preferred and required clause language and negotiation guidance.  

“The playbooks in CoCounsel Drafting are entirely customizable to you, designed by you,” says Sharma. “So, you can tailor a playbook on your own firm’s expertise. Or even create something specific to a client, making it incredibly personalized and powerful. And you can be confident in the results it gives you.” 

 

Compare and analyze 

CoCounsel Drafting automates the redlining process by comparing contracts to find deviations. “Drafting is not just about creating documents,” Sharma goes on. “The review and negotiation process is a critical part of the work. Our tools enable users to understand how a redline document deviates from the standard, and it maps those changes against a playbook. It then flags risks, identifies missing language, and provides suggestions on replacement language. 

“The last step of the process is analysis and the ability to correct and check for common drafting errors. Our tool is grounded in years of expertise in building drafting capabilities. So, we can help you check for common errors, missing definitions, numeration issues, and all the fun stuff that has to happen before you get the document out the door.”

An end-to-end solution 

Drafting legal documents can be time-consuming, full of distractions, and sometimes, monotonous.  CoCounsel Drafting is a complete workflow solution that can increase productivity and save time, all without sacrificing quality. It gets users back to strategic, higher-value work faster. 

“It’s an end-to-end solution from intake to final delivery,” concludes Sharma. “It helps you find a starting point and related documents. It connects you to research from Thomson Reuters content and the powerful AI expertise of our team.”

Whether a lawyer is drafting a new contract or perhaps preparing for a deposition during litigation, CoCounsel Drafting is right there with them.”

 

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