Thomson Reuters’ Practical Law: The Full Review

published on 08 November 2023

Most legal professionals will likely agree that conducting comprehensive legal research can be extremely time-consuming and challenging.

But with Thomson Reuters' Practical Law offering instant access to an extensive database of legal resources, research time and costs can be dramatically reduced.

In this review, we take an in-depth look at Practical Law's features, benefits, content, pricing, and more to help you determine if this solution is the right fit for your legal practice.

Introduction to Thomson Reuters Practical Law

Thomson Reuters Practical Law provides legal professionals with comprehensive resources to enhance efficiency and advise clients. As part of the Thomson Reuters legal solutions, Practical Law delivers vast libraries of legal know-how, current awareness, tools, and guidance.

With Practical Law, lawyers can access an extensive database of legal resources including standard documents, practice notes, checklists, What's Market databases, and more. These resources are segmented by practice areas to allow focused research. Practical Law also offers dedicated solutions for corporate counsel and private practice attorneys.

For private practice lawyers, Practical Law resources help save time on legal research while ensuring advice to clients is accurate and up-to-date. Corporate counsel can use Practical Law to benchmark practices against peers, streamline contracting processes, and monitor compliance obligations.

By centralizing legal know-how, analysis, and standard documents, Practical Law enables practitioners to focus more time on advising clients versus conducting research or drafting documents. With expertise from over 500 attorney editors, Practical Law's resources are authoritative while also presented clearly for users.

For legal teams aiming to work more efficiently and provide stellar counsel, Practical Law presents a robust solution. From streamlined research to standardized documents, the platform arms practitioners with the exact resources they require for advising clients and running legal departments. By tapping into Practical Law's tools and know-how, lawyers can elevate client service while optimizing productivity.

Is Thomson Reuters Practical Law a reliable source?

Practical Law provides reliable and accurate legal resources created by over 300 expert attorney editors in the United States. These editors have extensive real-world legal experience from leading law firms and legal teams, lending credibility and trustworthiness to Practical Law's content.

The attorney editors continually update Practical Law's practice notes, standard documents, checklists, toolkits, and legal updates to reflect the latest developments across all major practice areas. This helps ensure the resources remain timely and relevant. Practical Law also indicates the last updated date clearly, so users know they are accessing the most current information.

Additionally, Practical Law resources adhere to high editorial standards for legal publications. The content goes through multiple stages of review by senior attorney editors to validate accuracy and completeness before publication.

In summary, Practical Law establishes reliability through its experienced attorney editors, rigorous editorial process, timeliness, and transparency around content freshness. Legal professionals can trust Practical Law as an authoritative source covering the intricacies of today's legal landscape.

What is Thomson Reuters practical law?

Thomson Reuters Practical Law provides legal professionals with comprehensive resources to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. Their online solution integrates legal research, guidance, standardized documents, and best practices to streamline workflows.

Practical Law delivers several key benefits:

  • Access to expert-written practice notes spanning major practice areas - Lawyers can leverage thousands of up-to-date, step-by-step guidance documents on topics from corporate transactions to litigation. This saves considerable time compared to conducting research from scratch.

  • Standardized forms and automated drafting tools - Practical Law contains templated agreements, pleadings, letters, and more that lawyers can quickly customize. Many resources auto-populate firm-specific details through integrated legal tech apps. This reduces administrative tasks substantially.

  • Time and cost savings - Between the practice notes, standardized documents, and integrated apps, Practical Law enables lawyers to work more efficiently. This translates to lower research costs and faster completion of legal projects.

  • Embedded legal updates - As laws change, Practical Law practice notes and documents get updated accordingly. Lawyers using Practical Law can trust they are referencing the latest guidance and forms.

With the depth of practical resources available, it's no wonder over 55,000 legal teams globally leverage Practical Law to enhance productivity. The solution provides immense time and cost savings out of the box, enabling lawyers to focus on higher-value work. For most legal professionals seeking efficiency gains, Practical Law delivers immense value.

Does Practical Law Connect include Westlaw?

Practical Law Connect is Thomson Reuters' premium legal know-how offering that provides practical guidance, standardized documents, checklists, and more to help legal professionals practice more efficiently.

It includes the full Practical Law library spanning all practice areas such as corporate, finance, IP, litigation, employment, and real estate. Practical Law Connect also integrates seamlessly with Westlaw to provide access to primary law and secondary sources.

So in short, yes - a Practical Law Connect subscription includes the complete Practical Law library as well as integrated access to Westlaw's comprehensive database of case law, statutes, regulations, law reviews, treatises, and more. This powerful combination in one solution enables legal teams to efficiently access practical know-how and supporting primary law needed to draft contracts, pleadings, and other legal documents.

The integration of Practical Law and Westlaw makes Practical Law Connect a very valuable solution for in-house counsel and law firms aiming to work smarter. The practical guidance saves time on routine legal tasks while Westlaw fills any remaining gaps by providing the exact case law references and citations needed.

In summary, Practical Law Connect subscribers leverage the full power of both Practical Law and Westlaw in an intuitively connected platform. This helps legal professionals enhance efficiency by spending less time on legal research and more time on high value work.

What is the difference between Lexis practice advisor and practical law?

Lexis Practice Advisor and Practical Law are two leading online legal research services that provide lawyers with practice resources, tools, and guidance.

The key differences between the two services:

  • Content coverage: Practical Law offers more comprehensive coverage across a wider range of legal practice areas and topics. Their library contains thousands of up-to-date, attorney-drafted practice notes, standard documents, checklists, and more.

  • Current awareness resources: Practical Law sends regular email updates on legal developments across all practice areas to keep lawyers informed of the latest changes.

  • Pricing and discounts: Multi-year subscription plans for Practical Law may be eligible for discounts. Lexis Practice Advisor also offers discounts for multi-year commitments.

  • Frequency of updates: Practical Law practice notes and tools see more frequent revisions and refreshed content than Lexis Practice Advisor. This helps ensure lawyers have access to the most up-to-date guidance.

While Lexis Practice Advisor provides valuable resources for lawyers, Practical Law stands out for its comprehensive breadth and depth of content coverage, current awareness resources, and frequency of updates across the widest range of legal topics. Discounts are also available for multi-year subscriptions.

Overall, most lawyers find Practical Law's regularly revised library of thousands of practice resources to offer exceptional value in enhancing efficiency and keeping up with the latest legal developments. Those needing support on specialized topics may still benefit from an integrated Practical Law and Lexis Practice Advisor solution.

Exploring the Practical Law Free Trial

Legal professionals know that having access to up-to-date legal resources is critical for providing sound counsel to clients. However, subscribing to multiple legal research services can get expensive. That's why many lawyers appreciate the opportunity to try out Thomson Reuters' Practical Law legal solution through a free trial.

The Practical Law free trial allows users full access to an extensive library of legal know-how, precedents, and workflow tools for 30 days. You can explore practice area content, search across all documents, save your favorite resources, and more. This offers a great chance to get hands-on with Practical Law before deciding if it's worth investing in a paid subscription.

Here are some tips on making the most of your Practical Law free trial:

Focus on your firm's practice areas

Rather than trying to browse all of Practical Law's content, spend your trial time focused on the practice areas most relevant to your firm. Dig into documents like standard clauses, checklists, how-to guides, and flowcharts to see if they would help streamline common legal tasks.

Try out Practical Law's search tools

Practical Law isn't just a forms library - it also aims to help lawyers research complex legal issues efficiently. Test out keywords searches related to client matters and browse the Q&A documents that pop up. See if Practical Law surfaces more targeted, practical results compared to alternatives.

Get to know the platform's collaboration features

Unlike typical legal research tools, Practical Law facilitates collaboration between lawyers in a firm. Use your free trial to set up a test workspace, share documents internally, try commenting on clauses, and build custom precedent documents. Evaluate if these features would aid your teams' workflows.

Compare offerings to your current services

If you already use other legal research solutions like Westlaw or LexisNexis, take time during the trial to spot check documents on the same issues. Compare the practical guidance offered to see which resource you find most valuable for tackling daily legal tasks efficiently.

By proactively evaluating Practical Law's content and features during the 30-day free period, you can determine if the service merits your firm's investment or not. Reach out to a Legal Buddies specialist if you need help setting up your Practical Law free trial or wish to access a quality legal virtual assistant to assist with the platform.

Practical Law Content and Resources

Practical Law provides legal professionals with practical guidance and resources across a wide range of practice areas to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.

Practice Notes covering key practice areas

Practical Law offers concise yet comprehensive overviews and step-by-step guidance on key topics from corporate and finance to litigation and employment law. Practice notes dive into the intricacies of areas like M&A transactions, commercial contracts, HR compliance, and IP protection. They outline best practices, provide checklists of key issues to consider, and link to related Standard Documents when applicable.

Whether you need a high-level overview of the implications of a new regulation or specific advice on conducting multi-jurisdictional litigation, Practical Law's US-focused practice notes have you covered. They consolidate complex information into accessible and actionable guidance.

Standard documents and clauses

Practical Law provides instant access to templates for legal documents and contracts complete with drafting notes and negotiating tips from practitioners. These documents represent current market standards and best practices.

Choose from thousands of standardized templates for NDAs, share purchase agreements, employment contracts, board consents, and more. Whether starting from scratch or looking to benchmark existing documents, Practical Law's embedded drafting notes shine a light on market norms, areas of negotiation, and alternative approaches.

Checklists and flowcharts

Step-by-step checklists and flowcharts guide users through key legal processes from start to finish. Break complex matters like arbitration proceedings or trademark registration into manageable chunks. Checklists highlight key steps while flowcharts illustrate decision points.

Practical Law checklists help drive consistent quality and minimize oversight risk. Whether preparing for trial, conducting a public offering, or carrying out a post-acquisition integration plan, lean on Practical Law for comprehensive step-by-step guidance.

Current awareness updates

Practical Law helps professionals stay current with regular email updates on the latest regulatory changes, case law developments, and market trends. Tailor update preferences around practice areas and topics of interest.

Brief summaries and analysis enable legal teams to quickly assess breaking developments relevant to their work. Updates link back to related practice notes and documents within Practical Law for those needing more in-depth guidance.

With extensive practical resources covering the full breadth of legal practice areas, Practical Law enables professionals to find answers, benchmark their work, update their knowledge and ultimately practice more effectively. The service acts as an invaluable day-to-day support system for in-house teams and law firms alike.

Practical Law Connect vs Practical Law: Features Compared

Practical Law Connect and Practical Law are both robust legal research services from Thomson Reuters, each offering distinct features tailored to different users' needs. Understanding their key differences allows legal professionals to determine the best fit.

Overview of Core Services

Practical Law provides legal know-how, standard documents, on-demand training, and current awareness resources across all major practice areas. Its practical guidance helps lawyers confidently advise clients while increasing efficiency.

Practical Law Connect offers similar content, but with a more specific focus on supporting legal departments and in-house legal teams. Resources empower general counsel to manage legal operations, mitigate risk, and align plans with business goals.

Unique Features of Practical Law Connect

As a dedicated in-house legal solution, Practical Law Connect includes several specialized features:

  • Matter Management Tools: Track matters, manage deadlines, and oversee legal spend from one central platform. Integration with commonly used systems enhances visibility.

  • Legal Operations Content: Access playbooks, templates, and research around legal ops topics like technology implementation, resource allocation, and budgeting.

  • Executive Briefings: Stay updated on legal issues relevant to business executives and the company's risk exposure. Briefings summarize complex developments into key takeaways.

  • General Counsel Panel: Get direct peer perspectives and benchmark data from an exclusive group of general counsel across industries. Compare approaches to running efficient legal departments.

Determining the Right Product

Law firms tend to gravitate toward Practical Law for its comprehensive guidance and documents supporting sophisticated legal work across all practices. Legal departments and in-house teams may find Practical Law Connect more valuable given its specialized features facilitating legal operations, matter management, and executive alignment.

Evaluating team needs and priorities is key when deciding between the two services. Those seeking an all-encompassing legal toolkit can't go wrong with Practical Law, while in-house lawyers and GCs can leverage Practical Law Connect for targeted support navigating legal and business demands. Reach out for free trials of both to experience their unique advantages firsthand.

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Key Benefits and Solutions Offered

Practical Law offers numerous benefits that can significantly enhance operational efficiency and effectiveness for legal teams.

Saving time through easy access to quality resources

Practical Law provides instant access to practical legal know-how, precedents, and workflow tools. This saves considerable time compared to creating documents and research from scratch.

For example, their standard document templates have been created by expert attorney editors and can be quickly customized. Practical Law also offers clause banks, checklists, and how-to guides on numerous practice areas to accelerate drafting and review.

Teams can save many hours by leveraging these high-quality resources rather than starting from a blank page every time. The practical guidance helps prevent having to reinvent the wheel.

Reducing research costs

Practical Law reduces the need for expensive legal research by aggregating a wide range of practice area resources in one continually updated online platform.

Their database covers guidance, precedents, workflow tools, and more across all key practice areas like Corporate, Finance, IP, Employment, Litigation and Real Estate. This eliminates the high costs of subscribing to multiple online research services.

The flat monthly subscription fee also helps manage legal research budgets compared to paying hourly rates for bespoke research.

Streamlining workflows

Practical Law includes checklists, precedents, expert how-to notes and workflow tools that help streamline legal processes.

For example, their interactive step-by-step guidance for areas like M&A deals clarifies required steps. Checklists ensure teams account for all key items when drafting agreements. Precedents provide industry best practice templates that are faster than drafting from scratch.

These resources facilitate smoother legal workflows, prevent rework, minimize delays, and reduce human error risks.

Benchmarking against best practices

Practical Law leverages insights from working with over 10,000 global customers. Their know-how notes are created by over 900 lawyer editors monitoring latest regulations and best practices.

This enables your team to benchmark workflows, agreements, pitches and other items against the aggregated industry best practices. You can apply lessons from Practical Law's vast experience to enhance your legal work quality and outcomes.

Practical Law Company: A Closer Look

Legal professionals seeking to enhance efficiency may find value in Practical Law from Thomson Reuters. Established in 1997, Practical Law provides legal know-how, current awareness, workflow tools, and standard documents for lawyers in the U.S. and abroad. With expertise spanning all major practice areas, Practical Law aims to enable legal teams to practice more efficiently, freeing them to focus on advising clients.

An Experienced Industry Leader

Owned by Thomson Reuters, Practical Law leverages over a century of legal expertise. As part of the Thomson Reuters business of providing trusted answers and insights to professionals worldwide, Practical Law adheres to principles of independence, integrity, and freedom from bias.

With over 1,500 attorney editors and expert contributors, Practical Law offers extensive coverage of U.S. federal and state law, as well as key international legal systems. Its collection includes standard documents, checklists, how-to guides, current awareness, and more.

Focused on Improving Efficiency

By centralizing legal know-how, documents, and resources, Practical Law enables firms to reduce research time. Its practice-specific workflows integrate relevant insight, forms, and guidance.

As opposed to more generalized legal research platforms, Practical Law focuses specifically on the resources attorneys need for advising clients and completing legal work more efficiently. Its Practical Law Connect platform even allows collaboration with clients and outside counsel.

Tailored Offerings for Firms

Understanding that law firms have diverse needs, Practical Law offers flexible plans to suit different sizes and practice areas. Firms can choose comprehensive access or targeted libraries for more specific needs.

For solos and small firms seeking full support at an affordable price, Practical Law Solo offers complete access at a low monthly cost. Mid-size and large firms can choose between complete and practice area specific libraries based on their needs and budget.

With trusted legal insight at their fingertips, attorneys can focus on advising clients rather than research. For law firms aiming to work more efficiently, Practical Law is an industry leader worth considering.

Is Practical Law Worth It? A Comprehensive Review

Practical Law offers a comprehensive online legal resource for legal professionals seeking efficiency, insights, and productivity tools. With expertise spanning various practice areas, their platform aims to enhance legal workflows. But with subscription plans starting at $65 per lawyer per month, is it really worth the investment? We break it down in this review.

Saving Time Through Practice Area Content and Workflow Tools

One of Practical Law's biggest value propositions is helping lawyers save time. They provide guidance on standard transactions and litigation matters through practice notes, standard documents, checklists, and precedents. Lawyers can leverage this content for routine matters rather than starting from scratch.

For example, their Mergers & Acquisitions practice area includes a step-by-step M&A guide, share purchase agreement with expert commentary, and public company transaction closing checklist. This level of practical guidance allows deal lawyers to work more efficiently.

Beyond practice area insights, Practical Law offers workflow tools and resources like clause banks, automated drafting notes, organizational charts to visualize corporate structures, and version comparison tools. These features optimize efficiency throughout a matter lifecycle.

Specialized Insights Through Combination of Technology and Editorial Expertise

While online repositories like Practical Law aim to systemize legal knowledge, they still require experienced attorney editors to guide content strategy and development. Practical Law balances technology with specialized editorial teams to provide actionable insights.

Over 275 attorney editors across the globe collaborate with tech teams to identify high-value content opportunities through search analytics, customer feedback, and monitoring legal developments. Local editorial staff cater guidance to practitioners in specific jurisdictions.

This fusion of editorial expertise and technology allows Practical Law to offer specialized insights beyond what automation alone can deliver.

Enhancing Expertise Through Integrations with Leading Platforms

To augment Practical Law's offerings, they integrate directly with other best-in-class legal platforms like Westlaw and Thomson Reuters Checkpoint.

For instance, lawyers can link directly to relevant case law in Westlaw or easily find cross-references between Practical Law practice notes and Checkpoint guidance. This improves lawyers' ability to build expertise across platforms.

Practical Law also allows firms to integrate its content and tools into commonly used document management systems and workflows. Customization and interoperability aim to help practitioners better leverage Practical Law's specialized guidance.

Weighing the Pros and Cons of the Investment

Considering the efficiency gains, platform integration, and specialized editorial expertise Practical Law offers, the subscription costs may prove worthwhile for legal teams aiming to elevate their productivity. Access to regularly updated practice area insights can provide strong value.

However, solos and small firms working across diverse practice areas may find the platform overwhelming and not versatile enough to justify the expense. Larger firms focused on specific practice areas like corporate transactional or litigation work stand to benefit more from the platform's specialization.

Evaluating team needs, matter volume and complexity, and willingness to adopt new technologies can clarify if the platform aligns with an organization's realities. Practical Law offers a free trial for this purpose of testing suitability.

Overall, while the costs seem high, the efficiency gains and expertise Practical Law enables legal teams to build can lead to long-term productivity improvements and financial savings. For lawyers drowning in paperwork, it may provide a lifeline well worth grasping.

How to Utilize Practical Law Login OnePass

Practical Law from Thomson Reuters offers a comprehensive online legal resource with practical guidance, standardized documents, current awareness, tools, and more to enhance efficiency and streamline workflows. Accessing these robust capabilities is easy with OnePass.

What is OnePass?

OnePass is Thomson Reuters' single sign-on platform that provides access to all their products and services with one login credential. This eliminates the need to manage multiple usernames and passwords.

With OnePass, users can conveniently access Practical Law and seamlessly switch between other Thomson Reuters offerings like Westlaw, Checkpoint Edge, and Contract Express within the same browser session.

Logging into Practical Law with OnePass

Using OnePass to login to Practical Law is simple:

  1. Navigate to Practical Law homepage
  2. Click 'Sign In' on the top right corner
  3. Enter your OnePass credentials when prompted
    • If you do not have a OnePass account, register for one
  4. Upon successful authentication, you will be redirected to the Practical Law dashboard

The platform leverages robust security protocols like two-factor authentication to ensure user accounts and data remain protected.

Key Benefits

OnePass delivers numerous advantages when accessing Practical Law:

  • Single sign-on - No need to remember multiple credentials
  • Enhanced security - Leverages protocols like 2FA to protect accounts
  • Seamless switching - Effortlessly navigate between integrated products
  • Time savings - Speedy access eliminating repeat logins

By consolidating logins into OnePass, Thomson Reuters offers frictionless navigation between its suite of legal tools and information services. This boosts productivity by removing access barriers.

With the OnePass single sign-on advantage, practitioners can readily unlock Practical Law's full suite of legal resources and maximize efficiency.

Learning with the Practical Law Institute

The Practical Law Institute is the educational arm of Thomson Reuters Practical Law. It offers a wide range of online courses and resources to support continuing legal education (CLE) and professional development for legal professionals.

Key Features and Benefits

The Practical Law Institute provides several helpful features for legal learning, including:

  • On-demand CLE courses: Choose from over 200 accredited CLE courses in various practice areas to meet mandatory CLE requirements in many jurisdictions. Courses are available 24/7.

  • Custom course building: Build a personalized curriculum by choosing individual CLE segments based on your learning needs and interests. Mix and match content.

  • MCLE tracking: Automatically track MCLE credits upon course completion. Certificates are provided to simplify mandatory CLE reporting.

  • Mobile access: Access courses and resources on iOS and Android devices through the Practical Law mobile app. Learn at your own pace wherever you are.

  • Topic-specific training: Find targeted CLE guidance for niche practice areas like FCPA compliance, trial skills, drafting skills and more through bite-sized 5 – 20 minute online lessons.

  • Ask the Expert: Get personalized support from Practical Law attorney-editors through this e-mail Q&A service to clarify issues around specific Practical Law practice notes or standard documents.

Law Firm Training and Support

The Practical Law Institute also provides helpful training, support and resources for law firms, including:

  • New licensee training: Onboard new users and ensure adoption success with practical guidance on using Practical Law tools and resources to enhance daily workflows.

  • Product updates: Stay current with the latest Practical Law developments through monthly product update webinars and training.

  • Reference materials: Access useful job aids, quick reference guides, e-learning tutorials and more to supplement in-person training.

With its comprehensive learning offerings and flexible access options, the Practical Law Institute empowers legal professionals to expand their knowledge, skillsets and capabilities efficiently. Whether pursuing mandatory Continuing Legal Education (CLE) or focused professional development, it offers invaluable assistance.

Practical Law is a comprehensive online legal resource designed specifically to meet the needs of US-based legal professionals. With its vast collection of legal precedents, guidance, checklists, and standard documents, Practical Law aims to enhance lawyers' workflows and save them time when drafting contracts, advising clients, or conducting legal research.

Localized Tools and Resources

One of the key strengths of Practical Law for US practitioners is its localized content and resources. The platform offers access to 50 state Q&A comparisons across different practice areas, providing lawyers with a simple overview of key differences between states on major topics. Practical Law also includes over 15,000 US-focused standard documents and clauses curated by expert attorney-editors, ensuring all templates follow precise US legal conventions and terminology.

Other US-tailored tools include the "Federal Procedure Flow Charts" to clarify complex federal rules and procedures, as well as an intuitive 50 State Surveys chart to compare legislation across different states. These resources help lawyers easily grasp multi-jurisdictional intricacies in the US legal system.

Practice Area Analysis

Practical Law dives deep into over 100 legal practice areas, ranging from Corporate and M&A to Employment and Labor. Each practice area module provides lawyers with practice notes explaining legal issues in plain English, standard documents, checklists, What's Market databases tracking trends, and other tools targeted to that specific area of law.

For example, within the Labor & Employment module, US lawyers can access guidance on key topics like ADA compliance, FMLA leave policies, and overtime pay exemptions. The library contains templates for common HR documents along with state Q&A comparisons on major employment law issues. This level of specialization brings immense value to lawyers focusing on particular legal niches.

Law Firm Management Resources

In addition to practice-specific tools, Practical Law contains a wealth of resources focused on helping US lawyers enhance law firm operations, strategy, and management. The online platform provides guidance on pricing legal services, developing client relationships, optimizing workflows, applying project management principles, and tracking key metrics.

Checklists like the "Opening a US Law Firm" outline essential steps when establishing a new legal business, while annotated precedents clarify complex financial concepts. These specialized resources help streamline administrative and operational processes for US law practices.

With its vast library spanning practice areas, jurisdictional guidance, and law firm management, Practical Law is an indispensable tool for legal professionals across the United States seeking to work smarter and gain a winning edge.

Implementation Tips and Best Practices

Here are some helpful suggestions for law firms looking to effectively adopt and utilize Thomson Reuters Practical Law in their organizations:

Conducting user training

Proper user training is crucial to ensure your team can fully leverage the capabilities of Practical Law. Consider the following training best practices:

  • Assign "Practical Law mentors" to provide ongoing guidance and share internal tips. Mentors develop deep platform expertise from consistent usage.
  • Create customized training guides, quick reference cards, and video tutorials catered to different user personas like paralegals, associates, partners etc.
  • Schedule regular refresher sessions to share platform updates, new features, and latest content additions. Keeping users up-to-date prevents underutilization.
  • Set up "Ask me anything" forums for employees to post platform-related questions. This allows organic and collaborative learning.
  • Gamify the experience by setting up contests rewarding extensive platform usage. Healthy competition incentivizes utilization.

Proactive training facilitates quicker user adoption and helps extract full value from the Practical Law system.

Integrating with existing systems

Smooth integration between Practical Law and your other practice management tools is essential for an optimized user experience. Consider leveraging Practical Law's APIs:

  • The Search API allows running Practical Law searches directly within your proprietary tools instead of switching tabs or software. This offers tremendous time savings.
  • The Preference Center API enables seamlessly syncing personalized settings, bookmarks, and alerts between platforms. This eliminates repetitive setup work for employees.
  • The Authentication API allows single sign-on using existing credentials, bypassing cumbersome duplicate logins to access Practical Law. This results in greater convenience.

Tight platform integration creates a unified ecosystem where Practical Law feels like an extension of your practice rather than an external add-on.

Monitoring usage and results

Consistently tracking Practical Law usage across your firm provides visibility into adoption levels and helps quantify operational improvements. Useful metrics to measure include:

  • Search volume: Shows frequency of searches indicating platform activity levels. Growing figures suggest greater adoption.
  • Content consumption: Measures the number of Practical Law pages visited by users monthly. Increased content consumption signifies stickiness.
  • Case comparison: Benchmarks legal matters' throughput velocity before and after adoption. Faster case closure showcases direct process improvements.
  • Support ticket volume: Captures the number of legal research requests sent to libraries/research teams. Declining tickets indicate self-serve efficiency with Practical Law.

Regular reporting allows identifying lagging user adoption and highlighting positive ROI from Practical Law - both useful for expansion decisions.

By proactively monitoring usage, law firms can pinpoint successes, tackle bottlenecks, and maximize returns from their investment in Practical Law.

Final Verdict: The Strategic Advantage of Thomson Reuters Practical Law

Legal professionals looking to enhance efficiency and streamline legal processes should consider integrating Practical Law into their operations. This legal know-how solution offers immense strategic value with its practical guidance, standardized documents, current awareness tools, and more.

Here are the key takeaways from our full review:

  • Practical Law delivers operational efficiency through its vast database of standardized legal documents, practical how-to guides, checklists, and precedents. This saves considerable time compared to creating materials from scratch.

  • The solution provides access to top-tier expertise and insights from leading law firms and experts. This level of legal know-how is difficult and expensive to build internally.

  • Key features like Practical Guidance, What's Market, and Current Awareness help drive better-informed decision making. Professionals stay updated on latest legal developments.

  • Cost savings are achieved by reducing research time and reliance on outside counsel. Many firms report ROI within the first year of adoption.

  • Enhanced client service stems from faster response times and higher quality work output enabled by Practical Law tools and resources.

In summary, Practical Law offers immense strategic value to legal teams looking to work smarter, access expertise, boost productivity, and deliver exceptional client service. The solution saves time and money while providing the insights needed to outperform the competition. Most firms find the investment well justified by the operational efficiencies achieved.

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