Getting to a confident answer faster

Whether you’re preparing for court or closing a deal, proper research sets the foundation for a winning case. In an industry founded on precedent, the legal field demands complete, accurate, and relevant data. With the help of AI-Assisted Research on Westlaw Edge UK with CoCounsel, you can get to a confident answer faster and with more accuracy.

If you’ve been cautious about using artificial intelligence, you’re not alone. However, the body of legal professionals embracing AI is growing. Its effect has been compared to the performance jump from searching printed law books to researching online — a leapfrog effect in the speed and completeness of answers — and that gives lawyers who use it a competitive edge.

Generative AI (GenAI) for legal research boasts clear benefits, saving time and increasing efficiency. AI-Assisted Research can process and analyse vast amounts of legal texts faster than humans, allowing focus on tasks uniquely suited to one’s experience and expertise. In a recent Thomson Reuters survey, respondents predicted it could save them as much as 12 hours per week, with as many as four hours per week in the next year alone. That’s the equivalent of adding a fulltime colleague among 10 lawyers using it.

AI-Assisted Research can also uncover patterns and connections that would be impractical for a human researcher, by rapidly analysing vast data sets. It may also suggest research approaches that might not have occurred to you.

Not all AI-assisted research is created equal

There is a small collection of trustworthy AI-powered research tools available. AI-Assisted Research on Westlaw Edge UK with CoCounsel is unique in its ability to match leading technology with trusted Westlaw content.

AI-Assisted Research uses large-language models (LLM) to provide answers to a query. LLMs are machine-learning algorithms that can predict language based on found inputs. Although this is an integral part of an AI-powered research tool, LLMs can also create information that doesn’t exist — with hallucination examples you’ve probably heard about.

Retrieval augmented generation (RAG) is a technology widely used to minimise hallucinations. RAG depends on search results and factually accurate content to ensure LLM responses are based in reality. However, the effectiveness of RAG responses is based on the quality of the discovery process and the legal content used.

AI-Assisted Research on Westlaw Edge UK with CoCounsel focuses the LLM on the actual language of cases, legislation, and authoritative commentary. It doesn’t ask the LLM to generate text based on the question asked but rather the content it searches. Within Westlaw content, it finds the very best cases, legislation, and commentary to address the question, as well as the very best portions of those documents. Then the LLM uses its statistical understanding of language patterns to focus on those specific resources and produce an answer. This process dramatically reduces hallucination and significantly improves accuracy.

In addition to its vast digital storehouse of legal precedent, Westlaw Edge UK with CoCounsel draws from editorial enrichments that include status flags, case digests, and topic articles.

Accuracy

While the prospect of hallucinations can cause heartburn for a legal researcher, the bigger challenge to solve with AI-Assisted Research is accuracy. It’s possible for a LLM to return an answer that’s hallucination-free, but ultimately inaccurate. To ensure accuracy, the LLM needs to collect the correct law for the question and present it with the right prompts.

For example, let’s say ask AI-Assisted Research on Westlaw Edge UK with CoCounsel, “Can a gallery display a sculpture to the public without the artist's consent?” This simple query didn’t use phrases like moral rights, or reference the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or concepts such as “derogatory treatment” or “right to be identified as the author.”

Because Westlaw Edge UK with CoCounsel can leverage all its resources and editorial enhancements, it can return a sophisticated and relevant response to the question. Can a gallery display a sculpture to the public without the artist's consent? The answer is yes. The right case, the right statute, the right standards, and the key issues are all in the answer.

Compare that to an answer from OpenAI’s ChatGPT. It provides a shorter answer with significantly less details, and it starts with an incorrect “no.” It does not mention the leading case, governing statute, key issues, or outcome. While Westlaw Edge UK with CoCounsel identifies the nuance of the issue, other AI-assisted research models will struggle with this.

Confidence

For legal professionals, confidence isn’t just a personal characteristic — it’s a strategic asset. Confidence can inspire your clients and convince the courts. It helps in negotiations and allows you to make quick, effective decisions. When it comes to legal research, confidence comes in knowing you’ve done it right.

Confident your research is accurate

With trusted Westlaw content delivered to the LLM through RAG, you can get to a confident conclusion faster.

Confident your research is complete

Only you know when you’re finished researching. Westlaw Edge UK with CoCounsel gets you farther faster by simplifying queries and returning answers with citations.

Confident you’re representing your clients well

With both a professional and personal responsibility to serve your clients, you can feel confident in your research.

Confident you’re spending your time wisely

Research rabbit holes are greatly reduced when AI-Assisted Research delivers the right answers fast.

Excellence

Your work product represents you and your firm’s reputation. That means taking responsibility for everything that comes across your desk. Your notes, documents, recordings, concepts, conclusions, briefs, and filings all typify you as a legal professional. Thorough legal research is the bedrock for work product excellence. Each client deserves complete and accurate research for their matter. When you’re part of a team, whether that includes those you supervise or those you report to, bringing your best work product means the team also demonstrates excellence.

Versatility

Whether you’re a litigator or a transactional attorney, AI-Assisted Research can help.

Applications in litigation work. To determine the viability of litigation or quantify a claim’s potential value, it’s important to identify and apply relevant legal principles to your case’s specific facts and find similar precedents that could influence its outcome. This identification can mean analysing substantial amounts of data to uncover cases directly applicable and persuasive to your matter. The more efficiently you find relevant information, the faster you can develop your strategy and start writing. AI-Assisted Research on Westlaw Edge UK with CoCounsel lightens the burden of research by producing results grounded in relevant case law, legislation, and topics with editorial enhancements that ensure relevance to your specific research query.

Applications in transactional work. Legal research underpins most transactional work from drafting contracts to negotiating deals. Each agreement requires an understanding of both the transactional legal principles and relevant legal concepts and rules specific to the transaction. Westlaw Edge UK with CoCounsel accelerates legal research by using natural-language processing to directly understand complex queries, removing the need for intricate Boolean searches. For example, when advising a client, a transactional lawyer can pinpoint relevant UK antitrust statutes for a merger agreement or verify if an employment contract meets UK employment law requirements by simply asking AI-Assisted Research their specific questions.

Making it happen in Westlaw Edge UK with CoCounsel

Using conversational language, you can enter queries in the tab titled AI-Assisted Research found within Westlaw Edge UK with CoCounsel. Type in your question in the text box — you can write it as though you were asking a trusted colleague. Once the query is submitted, Westlaw Edge UK’s enhanced search analyses key cases, statutes, and regulations on your matter and provides an overview of detailed insights synthesised from your top results. Supporting authority is provided to verify statements so you can make informed decisions on how to complete your research. The chat box remains available to ask follow-up questions if needed.

Transformative technology, transforming your work

AI-Assisted Research is a norm-shattering advancement in legal research technology. It can build confidence for both transactional and litigation lawyers by delivering higher-quality work product in less time. Feedback from early users of AI-Assisted Research calls it “game-changing” and “nothing short of amazing.”

AI-Assisted Research is part of Westlaw Edge UK’s full suite of GenAI solutions called CoCounsel. In addition to research, CoCounsel can extract contract data, draft correspondence, review and summarise documents, create playbooks, prepare timelines, and more.

To answer your legal questions up to three times faster and feel confident your research is accurate and complete, learn more or request a free trial of Westlaw Edge UK with CoCounsel.