Case study
Boutique UK law firm JMB Corporate transforms deal management with HighQ and CoCounsel
JMB Corporate uses HighQ and CoCounsel to set up data rooms in minutes, analyse hundreds of documents in 10 minutes, and deliver “unbelievable” ROI
Executive summary
Boutique corporate law firm JMB Corporate has elevated its transactional capabilities by adopting Thomson Reuters HighQ — a best-in-class platform delivering secure, high-quality data rooms for corporate deals. Building on this foundation, the West Yorkshire-based firm integrated HighQ with CoCounsel, the first AI assistant designed specifically for lawyers, unlocking rapid, intelligent insights from complex documentation. Together, these solutions create a seamless experience for clients and counterparties while dramatically reducing time and resource demands. Tasks that once required doubling headcount now take minutes — from setting up data rooms to analysing and comparing hundreds of documents.
10 minutes
Required for AI analysis of large volumes of files
2x
Headcount avoided by using HighQ and CoCounsel
10 minutes
Time to set up data rooms
The opportunity: Dynamic data rooms and valuable insights
JMB Corporate sought a robust, intuitive platform to create dynamic data rooms capable of managing thousands of documents per deal. The solution needed to combine enterprise-grade security with effortless accessibility for all stakeholders — clients, counterparties, and advisers — ensuring smooth collaboration throughout the transaction lifecycle.
Recognising the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI), JMB Corporate aimed to go beyond basic tools and harness professional-grade technology to extract actionable insights from deal documentation. This vision led to the integration of CoCounsel with HighQ, creating a powerful synergy tailored to the unique demands of corporate law.
“The very fact that we have these systems means we’re saving on the need to have two or three more junior or admin staff on the team. The return on investment is unbelievable.”
John Barker
Owner and Principal Solicitor, JMB Corporate
The solution: A best-in-class platform and professional-grade AI tools
After experiencing multiple platforms while acting for buyers, John Barker, owner and principal solicitor at JMB Corporate, chose HighQ for its unmatched capabilities, including advanced security protocols, intuitive organisation, and exceptional scalability. In his words, “It’s by far the best—it’s miles ahead.”
“There’s a reputational aspect to this as well. It’s not just us as the subscriber who’s using HighQ, it’s also my clients and other parties to the acquisition. For one current project, we have around 70 people accessing the data room. People have got to be impressed by the system for it to work, and if one of them didn’t trust it, that would be a problem. Some of my competitors in larger firms use HighQ, and they know when they see us using it that they’re going to have a good experience,” Barker adds.
“It’s by far the best—it’s miles ahead.”
John Barker
Owner and Principal Solicitor, JMB Corporate
CoCounsel introduced game-changing functionality for rapid, precise document summaries and comparisons. With seamless integration supported by Thomson Reuters and its integration partner Syncly, JMB Corporate now anticipates even deeper embedding of AI capabilities within HighQ — further amplifying efficiency and insight.
The outcome: Making lawyers’ lives easier
Barker describes HighQ as “an excellent repository” enabling professionals to share deal information securely and flexibly. Its ease of use — whether setting up data rooms, adding users, or configuring permissions — ensures a smooth experience for both lawyers and clients.
One of its standout features is its ability to create bundles and indexes — something which Barker has not seen from any other product of this kind. Although creating bundles is standard practice when collating court documents, it is not a common feature of data rooms. However, it is vital, because each deal’s disclosure letter will refer to a bundle of documents.
Barker says, “Being able to create bundles and indexes is really important at the end of a transaction when you’ve got 1,000 pages and you want to be able to bring it all together.Having an index with all the page numbers, and being able to export that into a Word document or a PDF file, or creating a zip folder with all of the documentation: these are all things that make transactional lawyers’ lives easier.”
The integration with CoCounsel has been a gamechanger. Barker and his team routinely use CoCounsel to create summaries of hundreds of contracts or to compare versions of the same document. It can analyse handwritten, PDF, and Word files and present information in an intelligent way. Lawyers can then spend more time using their expertise and skills to interpret the findings, delve into the nuances, or formulate opinions.
He explains, “Let’s say we’re on a transaction and there are 100 contracts that need to be reviewed, among 2,000 files. To do that manually would be about 100 hours of work. Imagine getting CoCounsel to do that for you. Now we’ve got CoCounsel talking directly to HighQ. I can ask CoCounsel to look for the relevant documents in a particular HighQ folder, and if I want a summary of all the agreements with a term in excess of 12 months, for example, it will do the analysis for me.”
Data rooms can be set up in a matter of minutes, and AI-powered document analysis can be completed in as little as ten minutes, depending on the scope of the request. Barker cites an example where he was looking for the answer to a very nuanced question hidden in the terms of one of the reams of contracts on file. The firm had been told the information had been disclosed, but not where it was to be found. Instead of having to search through every contract manually—a near-impossible task given the sheer volume of documents—he asked CoCounsel to find it.
“It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Imagine as a lawyer having to go through all those documents by hand and not knowing exactly what you are looking for. We asked CoCounsel, and it took about 10 minutes to respond: it found the document with the reference, highlighted the paragraph, and gave us a summary of what the term said. If I asked a junior lawyer to go and find me a needle in haystack, they’d probably miss something. But CoCounsel never misses anything.”
Together, HighQ and CoCounsel deliver exponential value, streamlining workflows and enhancing client service. Barker sums it up.
“The very fact that we have these systems means we’re saving on the need to have two or three more junior or admin staff on the team. The return on investment is unbelievable.”
John Barker
Owner and Principal Solicitor, JMB Corporate