Learn how this firm uses CoCounsel Core to get ahead of the game

Robust Search and Research capabilities

O’Neill Associates already uses several other Thomson Reuters products, including legal research platform Westlaw. The firm chose CoCounsel Core — although it also considered another competitor — because of its relationship with Thomson Reuters and the company’s robust technology. The firm was confident that Thomson Reuters would continue to invest heavily in its development to keep it at the forefront of innovation.

Initially, the firm deployed CoCounsel Core to streamline its precedents database, to make it easier to delve into documents such as HR policies and employment contracts, and to search for clauses. Previously, manually searching through precedents relating to certain issues or angles a lawyer was looking to take was very time consuming. Now, with CoCounsel doing the work, it’s much faster and more efficient.

The firm also saw the potential to turbocharge its research capabilities so that lawyers can answer a client’s complex legal questions faster, review contracts quickly and easily, or assist in the litigation discovery process. For example, the firm often reviews collective agreements, going through each 50-page-plus document line by line to locate specific, sometimes hidden wording. Previously, manually performing this task was laborious, but AI now efficiently completes the job. “It sounds simple, but having a powerful search mechanism is so important,” says Mawdryk.

A springboard and a checker

O’Neill Associates uses CoCounsel Core as a springboard to originate certain aspects of its work on the one hand and on the other to help check and augment the outputs its lawyers create.

For instance, one of the firm’s lawyers uses it to create first drafts of communications. Putting a few prompts into CoCounsel can generate correspondence in no time, which the lawyer then simply adapts for her purposes. What used to take over an hour now takes around just 15 minutes. Another colleague sees its potential to help create precedents where none currently exist by inputting basic information and then editing the results.

“From a client’s point of view, CoCounsel Core is a real time and money saver. When they’re paying an hourly rate, and it’s taking 10-15 minutes as opposed to an hour, or an hour and a half, to deliver the same advice, that’s just much more efficient,” Mawdryk points out.

He also relies on it as a summary tool, for instance, to distill details of a potentially interesting case into a short precis so he can see if it’s relevant and worth digging into more deeply. It is also useful for translation purposes or for creating brief explainers for clients on fundamental aspects of law. For another lawyer on the litigation side, it’s proving valuable for pre-trial preparation, streamlining the discovery process, and suggesting what questions should be asked ahead of the trial.

Future-proofing the firm

Being an early adopter of CoCounsel Core is expected to help future-proof the firm so that it can harness GenAI capabilities as they advance and stay ahead of the curve. “We didn’t want to be the last ones to start to use CoCounsel Core,” explains Mawdryk. “We don’t want to be left behind, and we don’t want the bigger firms to have an advantage over us. We’re just looking to make sure that, competitively, we stay on top and we’re able to offer our clients services that are just as good, if not better, than any other firm.”

He believes CoCounsel Core has the potential to be of benefit to any lawyer in any practice area and that its use cases and advantages will continue to expand as the technology develops and as lawyers come to lean on it more heavily to help them do a good job faster. “We trust CoCounsel Core,” he concludes. “It’s a great tool. I see it as being a huge advantage for us.”