Westlaw Edge: Helping Overburdened Government Attorneys Work Faster And Smarter With The Power Of AI

We all know that law is a demanding profession, and that’s especially true in the government sector. Government attorneys routinely handle some of the most complex and crucial legal work out there, while receiving the least amount of reward or praise. Historically, technology companies have offered very little in the way of resources designed to alleviate the specific burdens faced by government attorneys. Thomson Reuters changed all that, first by helping lawyers use its superior suite of products to tackle the challenges of government practice, and now with the introduction of Westlaw Edge™, a sophisticated new research platform that uses cutting-edge artificial intelligence to make legal research faster, more efficient, and smarter than ever.

The Unique Challenges of Government Practice

Government attorneys are increasingly being asked to do more with less. A 2018 survey of government law departments conducted by Thomson Reuters shows that demands are increasing, while the resources necessary to meet them are decreasing. Of the government attorneys surveyed, 72 percent reported that they expected increased workloads in the next few years, while the same percentage of respondents cited tighter budgets and fewer resources as further burdens on their workloads. In fact, 32 percent of lawyers said that a fear of budget cuts was their top concern, up from 20 percent just a year before.

Workloads for government attorneys aren’t just growing, they’re also becoming increasingly more complex. Unlike many attorneys in private practice who specialize over time, government lawyers are constantly expected to work on novel issues and in unfamiliar areas of law, with little time to get up to speed and do background research. In this year’s survey, respondents reported working on an average of 33 unique legal issues each week, spending six hour of each week learning about new legal topics. Compounding the problem, government agencies are rapidly losing decades of institutional knowledge. It’s estimated that nearly half of the current state and local government workforce is eligible to retire by next year, taking their experience and expertise with them.

Thomson Reuters is harnessing the power of technology to help fill that gap. Combining AI with decades of legal research experience, they’ve managed to create their most intelligent legal research tools yet, streamlining the research process and helping government attorneys reclaim valuable time.

AI to the Rescue

There’s no question that AI is all the rage these days, but many people don’t actually know what artificial intelligence really means. Thanks to Hollywood images of “the rise of the machines,” AI has unfortunately long been associated with robots taking over our lives and our jobs. In reality, AI is much more harmless and has actually become mainstream. In the years since IBM’s Watson defeated Ken Jennings on Jeopardy!, AI has made its way into our everyday lives, and there’s a good chance you already use it every day. Technologies like Siri and Alexa, music suggestions on Spotify, and even predictive texting on phones all involve sophisticated AI, but we now can hardly imagine life without them.

At its core, AI is any machine or technology that replicates human thought processes. With a definition that broad, companies are endlessly pitching technology solutions labeled as AI. Some of them might be true AI, while others really aren’t. And even if they are, simply because something is AI, that doesn’t mean it’s a magic solution to all your problems. While it’s easy to be amazed by all the advances, AI is not a one-size-fits-all solution. In the legal arena, AI has been used to aid in legal research, litigation strategy, eDiscovery, online legal services, and contract review, among other things. Government agencies need to seriously consider when AI is right for them and how it can be most effectively implemented.

Thomson Reuters has been at the forefront of bringing AI to the legal industry. A long-time leader in cutting-edge legal technology, the company has already incorporated the power of AI into top products like Westlaw™, making predictive searching an everyday part of legal research. With Westlaw Edge, a revolutionary new product that will change the way lawyers think about legal research, they’re changing the game again.

Meet Westlaw Edge

For decades, lawyers have depended on Westlaw to get their research done quickly, efficiently, and accurately. Now, Thomson Reuters is bringing the full power of AI to legal research with Westlaw Edge, their most intelligent legal research platform yet. Westlaw Edge is a full suite of AI-powered legal research tools built upon more than 100 years of attorney-edited annotations compiled by Thomson Reuters, bringing legal research into the next generation.

The sophisticated research tools built into Westlaw Edge are perfect for helping government attorneys face some of their most daunting challenges head on. By automating routine research tasks with Westlaw Edge’s intelligent features, attorneys can work smarter and faster, diving deeper into complex issues with confidence.

• WestSearch Plus – Use AI-powered predictive research suggestions to help you pinpoint the resources you need and find the right answer in less time.
• Litigation Analytics – Build your case strategy faster with data-driven insights on prior rulings by judges, past settlement history of your opponent, and verdict patterns in similar cases. Thomson Reuters has amassed the largest collection of analytics on courts, judges, attorneys, law firms, and case types, so you can pursue the best strategy and manage client expectations from the outset.
• KeyCite Overruling Risk – With new citator warnings that better pinpoint questionable points of law, you can be more confident than ever that you’re citing good law.
• Statutes Compare – Tracking legislative changes has always been a time-consuming task. Now, Statutes Compare does the work for you, highlighting the most recent changes right in the text of the law that you’re reading.

With tools like these, government attorneys can significantly streamline the process of getting up to speed on new matters and be confident in their ability to tackle whatever new subjects are thrown their way.

With Westlaw Edge, the leaders in legal research have raised the bar once again. Westlaw Edge allows overburdened government attorneys to leverage the most intelligent legal research technology available today. It’s hard to imagine a more powerful and efficient way to do more with less.