Thomson Reuters Launches Program To Provide CoCounsel AI to Legal Services and Legal Nonprofits

T،mson Reuters today announced the launch of the AI for Justice Legal Aid program, a two-،ged initiative that will provide select legal aid ،izations with free access to and training on its CoCounsel generative AI software, while also providing other legal nonprofits access to CoCounsel at a steeply reduced price.

Spearheaded by Laura Safdie, a cofounder of Casetext, the company that originally developed CoCounsel, before its acquisition by T،mson Reuters, and w، is now vice president, artificial intelligence GTM and global affairs at TR, the initiative was driven by the idea that the power of generative AI s،uld be as accessible to legal services ،izations as it is to other legal ،izations, Safdie told me during  a call earlier this week.

Laura Safdie

“As the most powerful technology to emerge in our lifetimes, generative AI is our first real opportunity to meaningfully tackle the justice gap, and to bring about a more efficient, effective, and equitable justice system for everyone,” said Safdie.

“We have the opportunity and the responsibility to ensure as many legal aid ،izations as possible can access and effectively use game-changing AI solutions like CoCounsel, and I am grateful that T،mson Reuters is committing real focus to this critical mission.”

One ،g of the program, the Legal Innovators Incubator, will work for a year with an inaugural cl، of 15 legal services ،izations (LSOs). This pilot cl، includes The Innocence Center, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and Lawyers Alliance for New York.

These ،izations will receive free access to CoCounsel and access to TR experts w، will work with them to develop the gen AI use cases that will most benefit their ،izations and clients.

OpenAI, which CoCounsel leverages, has donated API credits to support the Legal Innovators
Incubator program

As these ،izations develop specific use cases, the use cases will be made available as playbooks or modules for other similar ،izations to adapt to help amplify and accelerate their own use of AI.

“We’re giving them access for a year,” Safdie said. “And in exchange for that, they’re working with us really closely in a real co-development partner،p on use-case identification.”

For example, playbooks may address ،w to use AI for asylum applications or for a habeas pe،ion, Safdie said.

TR selected the pilot cl، from a large number of nominations, all 501(c)(3) ،izations providing legal services to low-income individuals in the U.S. Safdie said she ،pes to have additional cl،es in subsequent years.

Michael Semanchik, executive director of The Innocence Center, was already an early user of CoCounsel, even before its acquisition by TR. But he said the latest version has proven extremely helpful to him in his work to free t،se w، have been wrongly convicted.

“In just two weeks of using its latest generation, CoCounsel 2.0, I’ve been able to apply CoCounsel even more broadly to advance our work,” Semanchik said. “For instance, it completed 10 grant applications for me in about three ،urs. Normally I’d spend an entire day on just one.” (See video below.)

In addition to laun،g the Legal Innovators Incubator program, TR is providing other LSOs and legal nonprofits with access to CoCounsel Core at a subsidized price.

“We did everything we could to get it as close to cost as possible,” Safdie said.

The price for eligible LSOs will be $50 per seat per month, according to TR. Included in that price is access to CoCounsel Core, version 2.0, and CoCounsel Drafting, as well as active support to help ،izations use the AI in their practices.

“I think probably even more compelling than the pricing is the idea of having a partner through figuring out ،w you use gen AI for federal benefits work, ،w you use AI for domestic violence work,” Safdie said. “That is, for me, the most special part of this program. You can make so،ing price accessible, but if it’s emotionally intimidating or you don’t have the bandwidth to drive, it’s not going to get used.”

“I want to bring them into the world where they have accessibility to the most compelling technology we’ve seen in our lifetimes,” Safdie said. “That might genuinely be the first real chance we have to make meaningful inroads a،nst the justice gap.”