How in-house counsel can thrive with GenAI in legal operations workflows
In the rapidly evolving world of corporate legal departments, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is set to redefine the way legal professionals work. By streamlining tasks, enhancing work output, and increasing compliance, GenAI can significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of legal teams. One standout tool in this domain is CoCounsel by Thomson Reuters, which checks all the boxes, making it an ideal solution for in-house counsel.
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The impact on corporate legal departments
Quick adoption and increased productivity
Practical applications of GenAI
Trust, security and compliance
CoCounsel
Bringing together generative AI, trusted content and expert insights
Meet your AI assistant ↗Understanding GenAI
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) combines generative capabilities — creating content like text, images, or videos — with artificial intelligence, to enhance efficiency. GenAI leverages large language models (LLMs) trained on vast amounts of textual data. This capability is particularly valuable in the legal field, where the volume of case law, regulations, and guidance is immense.
The impact on corporate legal departments
According to research by the Thomson Reuters Institute, 81% of professionals believe that GenAI can be applied to their work, and 76% of in-house teams expect it to help achieve their goals and enhance efficiency. These statistics highlight the growing recognition of GenAI’s potential. For many legal professionals, the emergence of GenAI is not just a technological advancement but a significant shift in how they approach their work.
Quick adoption and increased productivity
One of the most compelling aspects of GenAI tools is their ease of adoption. In-house counsel can quickly pick up these tools due to their intuitive design and user-friendly interfaces. This allows legal teams to integrate GenAI into their workflows without extensive training or disruption. As a result, legal professionals can start delivering more work quickly, enhancing their productivity and allowing them to focus on higher-value tasks.
Practical applications of GenAI
Contract review
One of the most critical workflows for in-house legal teams is contract review. GenAI can expedite this process by helping to create red lines and risk assessments. For instance, when reviewing a third-party contract, a GenAI assistant can compare it to your company’s preferred terms and suggest changes clause by clause. This not only saves time but also ensures consistency and compliance with your standards.
CoCounsel can help by comparing the received document to your company’s playbook and highlighting areas that need attention. It can pinpoint terms that are inconsistently defined or pose potential risks, allowing you to address them proactively. This ensures that your contracts are not only legally sound but also aligned with your company’s policies and standards.
Due diligence
Due diligence is another area where GenAI can make a significant impact. In mergers and acquisitions (M&A), the process often involves reviewing a large quantity of documents. With GenAI, you can provide stacks of data and receive a detailed output, along with summarized findings. This not only speeds up the process but also ensures a more accurate result and completeness.
For instance, a general counsel at a home builder in Colorado reported that a task that previously took weeks can now be completed in a day or two. By using CoCounsel to pull in answers and summarize the findings, the team can focus on making strategic decisions rather than getting bogged down in document review.
Compliance
Compliance is a constant challenge for legal departments, especially with the frequent introduction of new regulations. GenAI can help by summarizing lengthy regulations and identifying key points. For example, if a new regulation is released, you can give it to a GenAI assistant to summarize and highlight the most relevant sections. This summary can then be used to create a new company policy or update existing ones.
CoCounsel can review existing policies and compare them to new regulations, identifying areas that need to be brought up to speed. This capability is particularly useful for ensuring that your company remains compliant with the latest legal requirements. For instance, if a new data protection regulation is introduced, CoCounsel can help you identify and address any gaps in your current policies.
Trust, security and compliance
While the benefits of GenAI are clear, it’s crucial to approach its implementation with caution. Trust is paramount. The output from a GenAI assistant should be easily traceable to reliable sources. For example, if a GenAI tool cites a case or expert from a document, it should provide a direct link to the case or responsive document, allowing you to verify the information.
Security is another critical consideration. You must ensure that your data is not used to train the AI, maintaining the confidentiality of your company’s information. This is a common concern among legal professionals, and it’s essential to choose tools that prioritize data privacy. CoCounsel is designed with robust security measures to protect your data and ensure compliance with legal standards.
Finally, the GenAI assistant should be skilled and current. It should understand the specific tasks and contexts relevant to legal work, such as contract review, regulatory compliance, and risk assessment. The tool should also be rooted in current legal precedent, ensuring that the advice and content it generates are accurate and up-to-date. CoCounsel excels in this area, providing reliable and current legal insights.
Embracing the future
The integration of GenAI into corporate legal departments is not just a trend but a significant shift. By streamlining tasks, enhancing work product, and increasing compliance, GenAI can significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of legal teams. CoCounsel by Thomson Reuters stands out as an ideal tool, offering a comprehensive solution that is quick to adapt and will increase workflow. With the right approach, GenAI can be a valuable ally in the legal profession, helping in-house counsel focus on higher-value tasks and deliver better outcomes for their organizations.
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