Thomson Reuters Launches Westlaw Precision Australia with AI-Assisted Research

SYDNEY, June 17, 2024 – Thomson Reuters (TSX/NYSE: TRI), a global content and technology company, today launched Westlaw Precision Australia with AI-Assisted Research. The advanced platform and generative AI capability enables lawyers to intuitively search a comprehensive collection of Australian primary law, including authorised law reports.

The launch is driven by the Thomson Reuters “build, buy, partner” strategy, which aims to bring generative AI solutions to customers. Foundational to this strategy in Australia is Thomson Reuters expanding collection of high-quality legal information sources and CoCounsel, the professional grade GenAI assistant, which launched in Australia in February 2024 following the Thomson Reuters acquisition of Casetext. Over time, CoCounsel will link Thomson Reuters products across its entire portfolio, enabling customers to bring together skills and workflows from different products into one place for an enhanced user experience.

“We are proud to provide our customers with a leading technology that is trustworthy, authoritative, and fit for purpose,” said Jackie Rhodes, managing director for Thomson Reuters, Asia & Emerging Markets. “Our customers can now tap into our proprietary content using large language models within a platform encompassing the content sets that every local lawyer needs to service clients.”

Westlaw Precision Australia with AI-Assisted Research offers a conversational user experience to simplify and accelerate legal research.

“With Westlaw Precision Australia, lawyers can simply ask their research question as they would with a trusted colleague,” commented James Jarvis, vice president, Legal Solutions for Thomson Reuters, Asia & Emerging Markets. “Westlaw Precision Australia uses sophisticated AI technology to review the Thomson Reuters vast collection of millions of Australian primary law documents at superhuman speed.”

Jarvis continued, “Our large language models answer questions based on statistical analysis of language patterns and trusted content. The process enables lawyers to conduct research more efficiently. Lawyers can use Westlaw Precision Australia as part of a thorough, consistent, and repeatable research process.”

Another noteworthy feature is the KeyCite Cited With function, which allows Westlaw Precision Australia users to find cases that are cited together by other cases even though they don’t cite each other.

“Without the use of AI-Assisted Research such a process can take hours, whereas KeyCite Cited With takes a few seconds,” said Jarvis. “Litigators will find this feature beneficial, as it saves a tremendous amount of time, whilst ensuring they haven’t missed recent or in-depth analysis of judgments.”

Customer feedback following the initial announcement at a Thomson Reuters client event in March has been positive, with lawyers heralding the platform as trustworthy and time saving:

“I trust AI-Assisted Research because it is only drawing from the vast content available in Westlaw. The footnotes within the AI-Assisted Research also help me to trust the software, as I can click into each footnote and read the case or legislation in more depth,” says Rhiannon Perrin, research consultant for MinterEllison.

“I anticipate that Precision will save me 30% of the time I normally spend researching a case for advice or appearance in court,” says Victor Kline, barrister and editor of the Federal Court Reports and the Federal Law Reports.

“Research that took me 2-3 hours last week took five minutes,” says Stephen Mitchell, lawyer for Moores.

For more information about Thomson Reuters AI solutions and its commitment to driving innovation in the legal sector, click here. 

Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters (TSX/NYSE: TRI) (“TR”) informs the way forward by bringing together the trusted content and technology that people and organizations need to make the right decisions. The company serves professionals across legal, tax, accounting, compliance, government, and media. Its products combine highly specialized software and insights to empower professionals with the data, intelligence, and solutions needed to make informed decisions, and to help institutions in their pursuit of justice, truth, and transparency. Reuters, part of Thomson Reuters, is a world leading provider of trusted journalism and news. For more information, visit tr.com.

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