Pushing the boundaries with transformative tech

We are consciously among the first wave of law firms in the UK to take on this challenge. Through our work with Thomson Reuters AI solutions, we are quietly advertising to future recruits that if you are tech-forward, business-savvy, and entrepreneurial, come and work with us because so are we. For clients, it positions us to attract the fast-growing, dynamic businesses that are shaping the economic landscape.”

Clear benefits

Early benefit metrics of CoCounsel Core indicate it has saved the firm half the amount of time it used to take to complete work tasks, which Acuity Law categorises into two types of use case:

1. Repeatable, agnostic, and firm-wide tasks. For example, asking CoCounsel Core to review a barrister’s advice and draft letters to clients advising on next steps.
2. Team-specific workflows. These are tailored to the needs of individual practice areas. For instance, contentious teams often follow similar procedural patterns, while non-contentious teams have their own repeatable workflows.

One practical example comes from the commercial litigation team, which uses proprietary, in-house prompts to deliver pre-action advice by reviewing relevant documents in various formats. CoCounsel Core assists by identifying inconsistencies, generating event timelines, and even surfacing unexpected insights not revealed in the client's original instructions – all in a fraction of the time a manual review would take.

Initially, these time savings were spent checking the outputs and learning how to better use the technology. But as CoCounsel Core becomes more embedded into the firm’s working practices, this translates into additional capacity for client work and other important business activities. Though still at an early stage of implementation, CoCounsel Drafting has created noticeable efficiency gains and reduced the risk of human error.

For example, Acuity Law’s corporate and commercial teams use CoCounsel Drafting to finalise and check for errors. They also use it to review complex and lengthy documents, such as Shareholder Purchase Agreements (SPAs) or Master Services Agreements (MSAs), to find undefined terms, duplicate definitions, and invalid cross references, among other items.

The firm’s planned next step with CoCounsel Drafting is to build its first playbooks — which is creating genuine excitement among fee-earners. Playbooks allow users to redline a received document and provide guidance notes on next steps, for drafting, negotiation, and escalation — all based on their pre-built rules. First, the firm intends to tackle nondisclosure agreements (NDAs), as these often have simplified crib sheets and terms of negotiation.

Managing change

Claire Cooper, Acuity Law’s Transformation Lead and solicitor is leading the CoCounsel programme. Her experience in business transformation and technology has ensured successful deployment with more than 70% of lawyers with licenses actively using the platform.

Cooper believes in a community approach to deliver best practice and says, “Law firms, at all levels of seniority, will benefit from talking to each other about GenAI and the wider challenges it brings. I regularly sense check and share experiences with technology experts and other law firms. Even when we disagree with how they approach things, sometimes that friction can spark new ideas and approaches.”

As part of its exploration and engagement process, Acuity Law tested the capabilities of CoCounsel Core in a real-world scenario by modelling — in partnership with Thomson Reuters — a corporate acquisition process for a technology company. This simulated a due diligence exercise across multiple jurisdictions involving complex legal issues. The aim was to see how different teams collaborated and shared knowledge and how CoCounsel Core could augment what they could achieve. The results were impressive, helping build confidence in the solution for both decision-makers and potential users.

Contributing to the AI conversation

Having considered other AI solutions on the market, Acuity Law chose Thomson Reuters because it trusted the quality of its products. Having been a long-standing Thomson Reuters customer, the firm understood its clear commitment to the long-term development of the solutions. Following two comprehensive trials of CoCounsel Core and comparison of feedback and outputs, it made the decision to go ahead.

“It is incredible to see how much CoCounsel Core and CoCounsel Drafting have evolved in such a short period of time. Based on the roadmaps for the platforms and the integrations, we are increasingly excited to be on this journey,” says Heaton. “By partnering closely with Thomson Reuters on CoCounsel Core and CoCounsel Drafting as they evolve, we are not only leveraging the benefits of the products themselves, but contributing to the Thomson Reuters ecosystem, as well as the wider conversation around AI.”

Acuity Law

With seven offices in the UK, Acuity law’s expertise includes Banking & Finance, IP, Data Privacy & Cyber Security, Commercial, Corporate, Healthcare, Employment, Health & Safety, Immigration, Dispute Resolution, and Real Estate.

Challenges

As a tech-forward firm, Acuity Law wanted to be among the first UK law firms to use GenAI tools. They sought an option designed specifically for lawyers to enhance the service to its clients, attract top talent, and shape the AI conversation.

Why Thomson Reuters GenAI Solutions?

The firm’s existing relationship with Thomson Reuters, the quality of its solutions, and its commitment to ongoing product development were all key. Extensive testing demonstrated the impressive capabilities of CoCounsel Core and CoCounsel Drafting to save time and minimise errors.

Benefits

• Delivers powerful GenAI capabilities
• Saves significant time
• Reduces risk of error
• Appeals to top talent
• Attracts forward-thinking clients