How Westlaw Edge Can Help You Prove Your Value to Clients and Manage Their Expectations
According to the latest Thomson Reuters State of Small Law Firm Study, clients who want more value for less money are a moderate or significant challenge for small law firms. However, too often these clients have unrealistic expectations about the complexity of their case or how long it should take.
Even still, in today’s cut-throat legal marketplace it’s critical to manage those expectations while efficiently delivering the results clients want most.
To help attorneys overcome to these intensifying challenges, Thomson Reuters developed Westlaw EdgeTM. This newest version of Westlaw combines more than 100 years of editorial enhancements and insight with state-of-the-art artificial intelligence to help attorneys find the fastest answers and most valuable insights. This combination enables attorneys to better manage client expectations and provide the value they demand. It achieves this with tools to help you:
- Quickly respond to client inquiries.
Instead of manually sifting through multiple documents on your research results list that may or may not be related to what you’re looking for, the next-generation search functionality of WestSearch Plus provides relevant answers faster than ever. That’s because it uses artificial intelligence to move beyond simply returning documents and examines the contents of the documents to find the most responsive text for your specific question, answering thousands of types of legal questions. The legal-specific search engine looks beyond individual keywords and instead analyzes semantics and syntax so you get better search results and to your answer much faster. With advanced typeahead functionality you’ll see suggested queries that begin formulating as soon as you start entering your search terms, and you’ll even see answers to questions you want answered sometimes even before you ask them.
- Accurately inform clients of what it will take to achieve the outcome they want most.
As a solo attorney or busy partner at a smaller firm, it is oftentimes difficult to find enough time to dedicate toward finding similar cases before your assigned judge and those involving opposing counsel to guide your strategy and give your client an idea of what to expect in their case. This is critical information that can help you achieve your desired outcome, but due to time constraints many attorneys rely on their past experience or gut feelings instead.
Now with Litigation Analytics on Westlaw Edge this valuable information is available at your fingertips and presented in easy to read graphs so you can get to this information in significantly less time and with less effort. With Litigation Analytics you can visually see relevant insights on judges, attorneys, law firms, courts, and case types. In addition to guiding your litigation strategy, these insights allow you to set better expectations with your client by understanding:- How a judge usually rules
- What is the average time to trial
- Is opposing counsel more likely to settle
- What jurisdiction is the best to pursue for this matter
- What motion strategy is likely to be most effective
When your client insists that their case will be resolved quickly – and with an astronomical settlement – you’ll have the evidence you need to both temper those expectations and set the groundwork for strong case strategy.
You can also use Litigation Analytics to prove your value to your clients by highlighting your expertise in the area and your success rate in a specific jurisdiction, practice area and/or with a specific judge. This can be valuable with skeptical clients or with clients who continue to push back on your bills. - Complete accurate legal research faster than ever.
Legal research can be a time intensive process but it is a foundational component to the practice of law. It is a necessary process, but clients expect attorneys to be experts and continuously push back on paying for research time if they believe the attorney is not being efficient.
Now with new tools available on Westlaw Edge you can increase your efficiency and that of associates so that matters are more profitable no matter the billing structure and so that you don’t have to write off so much time. By improving your legal research efficiency you can put the time you save back into building your strongest case strategy, take on additional matters to drive incremental profit, or continue mentoring staff in your firm to develop bench strength and build your firm’s reputation.
The suite of tools in Westlaw Edge enables you to research faster and more accurately than ever before.
- WestSearch Plus recommends answers to legal questions for thousands of legal topics without you having to spend time poring over a results list. Its state-of-the-art type-ahead search functions formulates a query even as you’re typing your search term.
- Statutes Compare allows you to instantly compare versions of statutes. You can stop spending tedious hours reviewing sessions law to understand how the law has changed and what authority made the changes. In a single click, you can access detailed statutory changes - redlined so you can see precisely how the law has evolved. Compare current statutes to prior versions or compare older versions to thoroughly and quickly understand how changes in the law might impact your client.
- KeyCite Overruling Risk mitigates your risk of citing bad law. Immediately know when a portion of a law that your case depends on is overruled instead of finding out from the judge or opposition. While standard citators can only identify a direct or explicit citation relationship between cases, KeyCite Overruling Risk, the most advanced citation tool in the industry, will identify implicit issues and immediately alert you. This will save hours of time reviewing statutes, and give you confidence that you have completed thorough research to identify relevant good law and help you protect your reputation.
- WestSearch Plus recommends answers to legal questions for thousands of legal topics without you having to spend time poring over a results list. Its state-of-the-art type-ahead search functions formulates a query even as you’re typing your search term.
With WestLaw Edge, you have the tools to immediately establish strong client relationships by giving them the knowledge they need to fully embrace your value and ensuring you efficiently, effectively deliver it.
Learn more about the features of Westlaw Edge and additional benefits it can provide to small law firms by scheduling a demo today and be one of the first to leap frog your peers in the increasingly demanding legal marketplace.
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