Last Wednesday, Thomson Reuters hosted an Innovation Summit
in New York City for legal journalists and bloggers in advance of the Legal Tech
Conference.
in New York City for legal journalists and bloggers in advance of the Legal Tech
Conference.
Before the presentation began I noticed that TR has adopted a new corporate slogan: “ThomsonReuters the answer company.” A bit of a
pivot from their 2013 Innovation Summit where they seemed to be rebranding as a
“solutions” company – de-emphasizing their legacy as a content provider and
focusing on their development of cloud based practice management products.
Perhaps they have found an elegant balance in “the answer company.” I assume
this is driven by emergence of big data and augmented intelligence as
important factors which will impact how lawyers find answers in the future.
Attendees were given an overview of two products, eDiscoveryPoint and Practice Point which will be debuting at Legal Tech in New York this
week. They also provided some intriguing insights into the company’s recent
alliance with IBM Watson and their PermID project.
week. They also provided some intriguing insights into the company’s recent
alliance with IBM Watson and their PermID project.
Susan Taylor Martin, President, Legal opened the morning by
framing TR’s technology initiatives in the context of the today’s legal market
challenges (the buyers market, maximizing efficiency, the rise of alternative
service providers.) Thomson Reuters was positioned as an ally having “the
intelligence, the technology and the human expertise that customers need to
find trusted answers.”
framing TR’s technology initiatives in the context of the today’s legal market
challenges (the buyers market, maximizing efficiency, the rise of alternative
service providers.) Thomson Reuters was positioned as an ally having “the
intelligence, the technology and the human expertise that customers need to
find trusted answers.”
Drawing a parallel to the challenges facing law firms,
Taylor Martin described how TR has shifted to a more client focused development
strategy. They continue to drive innovation internally but are also open to
collaboration with other external organizations (IBM and Stanford Codex), as well
as customers to shape what they will deliver in the future.
Taylor Martin described how TR has shifted to a more client focused development
strategy. They continue to drive innovation internally but are also open to
collaboration with other external organizations (IBM and Stanford Codex), as well
as customers to shape what they will deliver in the future.
TR Watson Will Debut
in Global Financial Regulation
in Global Financial Regulation
Ever since TR announced their collaboration with IBM Watson
last October, the legal community has been impatient to learn how this alliance
will manifest in a legal product. We still don’t know but TR did promise that
they will be the first company for built a legal product using Watson technology.
The alliance will combine IBM’s cognitive computing with TR’s deep domain
expertise. A panel of executives from TR and Watson revealed that there will be
a beta product available by the end of 2016. Their first collaboration will
focus on taming the complexities of global financial regulation.
last October, the legal community has been impatient to learn how this alliance
will manifest in a legal product. We still don’t know but TR did promise that
they will be the first company for built a legal product using Watson technology.
The alliance will combine IBM’s cognitive computing with TR’s deep domain
expertise. A panel of executives from TR and Watson revealed that there will be
a beta product available by the end of 2016. Their first collaboration will
focus on taming the complexities of global financial regulation.
Practice Point for
Transactional Lawyers
Transactional Lawyers
Practice Point appears to be a variation on the Practical
Law workflow tool. It appears to have much of the same content but it is
organized around tasks rather than practice groups. For example an M&A lawyer
could browse a list of M&A activities
while moving through various phases of a merger. It includes one on Practical
Law’s “wow” features – the creation of “what’s market” tables which can compare
deals by a variety of criteria such as company, industry, and deal type. My jaw dropped when I saw that Practice Point
contains a “ rulebook” feature which I have been pleading for TR to build. Practice Point includes a “bookshelf”
of all the key rule compilations needed by a transactional lawyer. Each book can be read in a browse-able book-like
experience. Not clear at all why this would be included in Practice Point but
not in Practical Law. Practice Point is also offered in an “in house” version
which includes “in house” transactions such as planning a new product.
Law workflow tool. It appears to have much of the same content but it is
organized around tasks rather than practice groups. For example an M&A lawyer
could browse a list of M&A activities
while moving through various phases of a merger. It includes one on Practical
Law’s “wow” features – the creation of “what’s market” tables which can compare
deals by a variety of criteria such as company, industry, and deal type. My jaw dropped when I saw that Practice Point
contains a “ rulebook” feature which I have been pleading for TR to build. Practice Point includes a “bookshelf”
of all the key rule compilations needed by a transactional lawyer. Each book can be read in a browse-able book-like
experience. Not clear at all why this would be included in Practice Point but
not in Practical Law. Practice Point is also offered in an “in house” version
which includes “in house” transactions such as planning a new product.
EDiscovery Point
Eric Laughlin introduced eDiscovery point which will be
launched at Legal Tech. Laughlin promoted the product as offering ease-of-use,
increased speed of accuracy and pricing that makes sense. Since TR is a latecomer to the ediscovery market, TR executives knew that the product couldn’t simply be different, it had to be better. Currently most ediscovery product involve complex pricing where charges are triggered by a wide variety of factors. TRs new product will offer one price based on a single factor — the volume of data in review.
launched at Legal Tech. Laughlin promoted the product as offering ease-of-use,
increased speed of accuracy and pricing that makes sense. Since TR is a latecomer to the ediscovery market, TR executives knew that the product couldn’t simply be different, it had to be better. Currently most ediscovery product involve complex pricing where charges are triggered by a wide variety of factors. TRs new product will offer one price based on a single factor — the volume of data in review.
Key features which were highlighted include
- Flat $40 per gigabyte price
- Eliminate slow loading times
- Lawyers can use WestlawNext search syntax which they learned in law school
- Eliminates complex training
manual to learn search techniques - Eliminate loading bottlenecks by breaking data
loads down into smaller files which can be loaded simultaneously. - Searches execute 10 times faster than the competition.
- Browser based searching
 |
| eDiscovery Point |
Perm ID is a unique identifier to 3.5 million organization and
240 thousand equity instrument and 1.17 equity quotes from the TR core entity
data set. This will eliminate the confusion which arises from name changes, corporate
family tree relationships, and different companies with similar names. In the
future PermID will be expanded to support people, fixed income instruments and quotes
and other business data. A PermID entity search API is available in the
Creative Commons. Companies can use the
PermID data to match entities in unstructured data sets. I immediately think of
the challenges law firms face in conflicts checking. Perhaps the permID can be
used to clean up conflicts data. But I can’t help
but wonder why TR isn’t taking this data to build a commercial “conflicts
checking” product for law firms. Try a company search here.
240 thousand equity instrument and 1.17 equity quotes from the TR core entity
data set. This will eliminate the confusion which arises from name changes, corporate
family tree relationships, and different companies with similar names. In the
future PermID will be expanded to support people, fixed income instruments and quotes
and other business data. A PermID entity search API is available in the
Creative Commons. Companies can use the
PermID data to match entities in unstructured data sets. I immediately think of
the challenges law firms face in conflicts checking. Perhaps the permID can be
used to clean up conflicts data. But I can’t help
but wonder why TR isn’t taking this data to build a commercial “conflicts
checking” product for law firms. Try a company search here.
“The Difficulty lays
not so much in developing new ideas as escaping old ideas.”- JM Keynes
not so much in developing new ideas as escaping old ideas.”- JM Keynes
TR Legal President Taylor Martin opened the meeting with this quote from economist John Maynard Keynes. The fact that Taylor Martin and Charlotte Rushton, SVP, Global Legal Markets were presiding over the meeting was itself a testament to how far Thomson Reuters had come in escaping some old ideas. This meeting stood in the stark contrast to my first meeting with West Publishing Company executives circa 1983 in St. Paul Minnesota. The leadership of West Publishing Company
was a middle-aged gaggle of men who enjoyed recreational
hunting and ice fishing. By the mid 1990’s West’s President, Dwight Opperman knew that the
company could not evolve and compete in the 21st century without a
dramatic overhaul and infusion of new blood and new investments.
was a middle-aged gaggle of men who enjoyed recreational
hunting and ice fishing. By the mid 1990’s West’s President, Dwight Opperman knew that the
company could not evolve and compete in the 21st century without a
dramatic overhaul and infusion of new blood and new investments.
This year will mark the 20th Anniversary of Thomson
Reuters acquisition of West Publishing Company. During the Summit TR executives laid out a vision of change through collaboration and innovation. It is hard to imagine what law firms will look like in 20 years but I assume that those which survive will have mastered the escape from old ideas. Will Thomson Reuters actually evolve into a full fledged legal service provider in the future? After all they are “the answer company” and what lawyers (and librarians do) if not provide answers?
Reuters acquisition of West Publishing Company. During the Summit TR executives laid out a vision of change through collaboration and innovation. It is hard to imagine what law firms will look like in 20 years but I assume that those which survive will have mastered the escape from old ideas. Will Thomson Reuters actually evolve into a full fledged legal service provider in the future? After all they are “the answer company” and what lawyers (and librarians do) if not provide answers?