I
don’t
think
it
is
hyperbole
to
note
that
the
Thomson
Reuters
(TR)
/
Casetext
$600
million
acquisition,
formally
consummated
Thursday
August
17,
2023,
is
one
of
the
most
talked
about
legal
tech
happenings
over
the
year.
It’s
a
unique
combination
of
an
industry
powerhouse
with
robust
legal
content
coupling
up
with
a
leading
authority
in
the
most
talked
about
field
in
legal
—
artificial
intelligence.
Not
surprisingly,
this
union
has
moved
the
needle
when
one
ponders
“what
might
be
possible”
in
legal.
On
Monday
August
21,
2023,
at
the
International
Legal
Technology
Association’s
flagship
conference,
ILTACON
2023,
attendees
had
a
wonderful
opportunity
to
hear
first-hand
from
both
TR
and
Casetext
—
in
two
separate
company
update
sessions
—
about
industry
survey
findings
and
reports,
product
plans,
expert
opinions
on
AI
industry
trends
and
what
we
all
might
expect
to
see
in
the
coming
months
within
the
TR
/
Casetext
theater.
Here’s
a
quick
overview
of
what
was
discussed,
all
of
which
was
delivered
to
two
fully
engaged,
captive
audiences.
TR
Company
Update:
The
Future
For
Legal
Professionals
Hosted
by
David
Wong
and
Paul
Fischer,
with
appearance
by
Casetext’s
Jake
Heller
and
other
TR
product
leaders,
the
company
reviewed
their
perspective
on
the
industry,
AI
offerings,
Casetext
acquisition
and
other
topics
in
their
update.
Firstly,
as
it
relates
to
the
Casetext
technology,
and
AI
in
general,
several
key
philosophies
were
identified.
One
articulated
how
a
combination
of
the
TR
content
and
Casetext
superior
technical
capability
was
part
of
the
company’s
Build,
Partner
and
Buy
approach
to
working
with
Generative
AI.
It’s
interesting
to
note
that
Microsoft
365
Copilot
is
another
example
of
this
strategy,
this
effort
contained
within
the
Partner
category,
to
deploy
world-class
AI
capabilities
for
the
industry
in
the
TR
product
portfolio.
The
TR
Future
Of
Professionals
study
was
also
shared
to
help
convey
some
of
the
ways
in
which
practitioners
expect
the
legal
profession
to
change.
One
of
the
more
interesting
elements
of
the
survey
findings
were
the
percentage
of
respondents,
who
were
overwhelmingly
millennials
and
GenXers,
perhaps
sharing
a
hint
about
who
is
—
and
is
not
—
most
excited
about
the
coming
changes.
Future
details
on
the
study
are
available
from
TR.
So,
what
does
TR
imagine
bringing
to
the
table
in
terms
of
enhancements
to
their
product
line
in
legal
related
to
generative
AI?
Simply
put,
products
to
help
serve
legal
professionals
better,
at
scale,
operating
in
a
faster
manner,
and
helping
to
transform
how
the
legal
profession
works.
And,
naturally,
all
of
this
must
happen
in
a
secure
manner,
one
governed
by
eight
TR
AI
Principles
and
Ethics
relating
to
areas
such
as
security,
privacy,
the
use
of
data,
accountability,
the
need
to
maintain
meaningful
human
involvement
and
other
trust
principles
shared
with
and
discussed
with
the
group.
In
terms
of
actual
product
implementations,
moving
from
the
theory
to
practical
elements,
some
details
remain
relatively
unknown
given
the
very,
very
recent
finalization
of
the
acquisition.
But
anticipated
improvements
such
as
“Ask
Westlaw,”
“Ask
Practical
Law,”
and
AI
integrations
to
their
Intelligent
Drafting
and
Intelligent
Document
Review
products
were
reviewed
with
the
audience.
It
is
expected
that
the
combination
of
the
robust
TR
content,
well-respected
TR
Labs
group,
partnerships
such
as
the
Copilot
effort
and
acquisitions
such
as
CoCounsel
(Casetext’s
flagship
product),
as
well
as
technology
innovations
like
Retrieval
Augmented
Generation
(RAG)
will
all
play
key
roles
in
near-term
product
development
and
AI
integration.
The
Future
Is
Here
–
Casetext
Update
Casetext
CEO,
Jake
Heller,
took
to
the
stage
in
front
of
a
standing
room
only
group
of
excited
conference
attendees
to
provide
an
update
on
recent
Casetext
activities
and
the
AI
field
in
general.
As
one
might
expect,
the
session
was
much
anticipated,
and
the
attendees
were
quickly
captivated
by
Heller’s
unique
career
path
and
storytelling
capabilities.
This
included
a
look
at
Jake’s
childhood
basement
where
he
learned
to
code
with
his
father,
his
decision
to
get
a
law
degree,
his
fairly
humble
living
room
a
decade
ago
when
Casetext
was
founded
and
the
exciting
current-day
happenings.
One
message
was
constant
throughout
—
that
being
to
never
stop
building!
I
imagine
Casetext’s
journey
must
serve
as
a
fairly
inspirational
success
story
to
the
almost
30
companies
in
the
ILTA
Startup
Hub
at
ILTACON
2023
and
all
other
creators
in
the
legal
tech
space.
One
of
the
more
interesting
elements
of
Heller’s
address
was,
in
my
view,
how
AI
may
or
may
not
change
the
industry.
For
example,
the
common
perception
is
that
AI
will
“take
away
jobs.”
But
Heller’s
recounting
the
story
of
the
ATM
machine
—
focusing
on
the
“teller”
element
of
the
machine
—
perhaps
leads
one
to
a
different
conclusion,
or,
at
minimum,
the
possibility
of
a
different
outcome.
In
the
case
of
banking,
while
it
is
true
that
the
teller’s
function
was
indeed
automated,
in
the
long
run
that
led
banks
to
create
more
and
more
branches
to
improve
service.
Thus,
in
aggregate,
perhaps
surprisingly,
the
overall
number
of
tellers
actually
increased,
not
decreased.
Does
this
translate
to
legal?
Heller
believes
it
does,
and
more
specifically,
that
generative
AI
will
reduce
repetitive,
low
value
tasks.
He
continued
with
the
belief
that
once
legal
masters
AI
technology,
the
legal
professional
may
well
react
as
banks
did
—
increasing
their
number
of
clients,
matters
and
books
of
business
because
they
will
be
able
to
work
at
scale
in
a
far
more
productive
manner.
It
is
certainly
an
interesting
take,
and
clearly
one
flowing
against
the
run
of
play
vis-à-vis
the
common
belief.
But
it
was
certainly
a
convincing
argument
of
what
one
possibility
for
application
of
AI
in
the
legal
profession
may
be.
Heller
also
shared
his
belief
on
how
AI
might
be
incorporated
into
the
legal
practice
in
the
next
five
or
so
years.
Much
like
cell
phones
and
email
became
a
part
of
everyday
work
life
in
the
recent
past,
it’s
his
belief
an
“AI
Legal
Assistant”
will
do
the
same
in
the
next
five
years.
In
terms
of
how
CoCounsel
will
evolve,
it
was
shared
there
will
be
continued
rapid
building
of
capabilities,
that
the
vast
resources
of
TR
will
help
close
capability
gaps
and
the
integration
with
TR
will
accelerate
the
company’s
vision
via
the
combination
of
strengths.
Before
an
engaging
Q&A
session,
Heller
shared
a
final
summary
type
vision
of
how
legal
practice
might
change
in
the
coming
years.
One
was
the
need
to
work
with
the
right
tech,
focusing
on
the
concepts
of
reliability,
scalability,
and
security/privacy.
The
next
was
working
with
the
right
people,
meaning
those
in
your
circles
both
internal
and
external
to
your
organization.
And
the
last
major
change
was
the
concept
of
practice.
It
is
the
area
of
practice
which
I
found
most
compelling.
Heller
used
two
definitions
of
the
word
—
one
related
to
the
application
of
a
belief
and
idea,
the
next
to
doing
something
repeatedly
to
develop
and
maintain
proficiency.
And,
in
the
latter
definition,
Heller
laid
down
a
gauntlet
of
sorts,
citing,
of
all
people,
basketball
great
Micheal
Jordan.
The
example
was
this.
MJ
might
not
have
been
the
tallest,
fastest
or
most
talented
basketball
player.
But
he
was,
by
most
accounts,
the
hardest
working
athlete
in
the
sport
at
the
time.
First
on
the
practice
court
in
the
morning,
last
to
leave
at
night.
This
was
the
main
secret
to
his
success.
Heller
expressed
the
thought
that
now,
in
our
industry,
the
same
opportunities
are
afforded
to
legal
professionals.
Anyone
who
wants
to
become
an
expert
on
prompt
engineering
or
the
use
of
AI
in
any
other
way
has
the
chance
to
get
ahead
of
the
curve
via
immersion
in
the
tech.
This
includes
Casetext,
other
products,
and
other
models
such
as
Google’s
Gemini
which
loom
on
the
horizon.
A
legal
professional
who
develops
mastery
in
these
areas
will
be
able
to
write
their
own
ticket
as
the
industry’s
inevitable
changes
occur.
The
session
closed
with
a
great
Q&A
session.
I
was
tempted
to
throw
out
a
question
on
Allen
Iverson’s
opinion
on
practice
—
LOL
—
but
I
instead
asked
about
legal
evidentiary
issues
related
to
areas
like
bias,
hallucinations,
and
deepfake
imagery
in
the
profession,
an
area
which
clearly
needs
to
be
sorted
out
in
the
future.
And
perhaps
Heller’s
most
interesting
response
to
a
question
related
to
his
identification
of
industry
challenges,
that
being
issues
related
to
the
high
cost
and
relatively
limited
quantity
of
hardware
available
(chips,
servers,
etc.)
available
to
support
the
exceptionally
high
levels
of
anticipated
demand
in
the
industry.
Wrap-up
All
in
all,
the
TR
and
Casetext
sessions
were,
in
my
view,
a
rare
glimpse
into
the
minds
of
senior
AI
technology
thought
leaders
providing
practical,
useful
advice
and
a
strategic
view
for
us
all.
Many
thanks
to
TR
and
Casetext
for
providing
ILTACON
2023
with
this
exceptionally
informative
update.
Kenneth
Jones
is
the
Chief
Operating
Officer
of
Xerdict
Group
LLC,
a
wholly
owned
subsidiary
of
Tanenbaum
Keale
LLP
that
offers
technology-based
services
including
SaaS
litigation
and
matter
management
applications
to
the
Firm’s
clients.
