How Westlaw Edge Helps Get Better Outcomes for Clients
How Westlaw Edge Helps Get Better Outcomes for Clients
On July 12, 2018, Thomson Reuters, one of the nation’s leading legal research companies launched a new product called Westlaw Edge. Almost instantly, legal technology experts and bloggers began talking about what Westlaw Edge means for legal research. As such, I knew it was something I needed to get my hands on quickly and I am proud to be one of the early adopters of the new product.
The next @Westlaw is here; it's called 'Edge' — and, I've got your first look: https://t.co/8HshyByL08 |@attnyatwork @thomsonreuters
— jaredcorreia (@jaredcorreia) July 12, 2018
Love that competitors in legal research such as @EJWalters of @fastcase and @tweetatpablo of @casetext are tweeting congratulations to @thomsonreuters on its launch of Westlaw Edge. They are all moving this industry forwards, each in unique ways.
— Bob Ambrogi (@bobambrogi) July 12, 2018
Westlaw Edge builds upon the company’s 100 years of experience as one the leading legal research platform and modern artificial intelligence to provide attorneys with the data and information necessary to deliver fast, accurate, and effective legal services to their clients. Mike Dahn, senior vice president, Westlaw Product Management, in the press release sent out with the release of the product said, “We’ve been working with hundreds of attorneys to deeply understand how some research tasks can still take many hours to complete, as well as how mistakes are made, even by experienced lawyers. We brought together a team of Thomson Reuters research scientists with expertise in AI and legal data with our attorneys who best understand our exclusive collection of law summaries, legal classifications and legal citation relationships, and had them work with our most talented product designers to address the areas where both new lawyers and experienced practitioners want better tools. The result is Westlaw Edge.”
Litigation Analysis
One of the ways that Westlaw Edge will provide attorneys with an advantage over other firms is through the new litigation analysis feature. Using litigation analysis, I will be able to review data on the types of motions filed by other law firms, their success rates on those motions, and other data that will be useful when forming litigation plans and strategies.
Additionally, I can view information about judges, including the types of cases they see the most, what percentage of cases get resolved as the result of pre-trial motions and how quickly cases in that court go to trial. This information will help us to better advise my clients on projected timelines and to determine whether or not to file certain motions based on the particular judge’s history with similar motions.
Better Research
In addition to litigation analysis, Westlaw Edge also uses artificial intelligence to provide better and more relevant search results for attorneys performing legal research. The new warnings regarding cases that involve “invalid or questionable law” will help minimize errors when it comes to citing case law in pleadings and briefs. Furthermore, advance research results will help to provide more time to for crafting arguments as opposed to conducting research when drafting documents.
I am always looking for ways I can use new technology to provide better experiences for my clients. Whether it is providing online scheduling or a custom built client portal, I embrace technology so I can provide my client’s with an experience that is different than your average law firm.