{"id":161535,"date":"2026-08-26T14:17:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T22:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/08\/26\/greenberg-traurig-and-thomson-reuters-tackle-what-human-in-the-loop-was-missing\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T14:17:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T22:17:06","slug":"greenberg-traurig-and-thomson-reuters-tackle-what-human-in-the-loop-was-missing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/08\/26\/greenberg-traurig-and-thomson-reuters-tackle-what-human-in-the-loop-was-missing\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenberg Traurig And Thomson Reuters Tackle What \u2018Human In The Loop\u2019 Was Missing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last August at ILTACON, Thomson Reuters CEO Steve Hasker told me about the company\u2019s decision<\/a> to acquire a bunch of genius scientists building a smaller, more manageable legal model. It stood out because everyone crammed into that exhibit hall couldn\u2019t wait to explain how embedded they were with OpenAI or Anthropic. And Thomson Reuters was \u2014 to be fair \u2014 bragging about their frontier connections too. But it struck me that Hasker saw then a benefit to building out some potential independence if things went sideways in AI.<\/p>\n

By then I\u2019d already been talking about the importance of an \u201cAmerican DeepSeek\u201d \u2014 a shorthand for a more economical model that may not solve the OpenAI delusion of a mechanical messiah, but would deliver solid productivity gains while also being able to admit what happened in Tiananmen Square. So it intrigued me that any major company in 2025 had invested in a backstop in case a foundational model choked on its own valuation.<\/p>\n

Now, Thomson Reuters has launched Thomson 1.0<\/a>, built by that team of experts. The company also just rebuilt CoCounsel from the ground up<\/a>. And Greenberg Traurig<\/a> deployed the whole next generation of CoCounsel Legal across all of its almost comically numerous offices, capping years of the firm\u2019s lawyers beta testing the project and helping Thomson Reuters get it all together.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to think of a better partner for this sort of endeavor than Greenberg Traurig. The firm has over 3,000 attorneys and practicing in New York vs. Tallahassee vs. Riyadh couldn\u2019t be more different. Not that every office deployed the technology the same way, but Thomson Reuters partnered with a firm that thinks about what it means to practice in locations as diverse as New York, or an anti-science, repressive regime, or Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

The announcement keys off one of the big themes of this ILTACON: \u201cwhat if we all just play along?\u201d If the last couple years were defined by catchphrases like \u201csingle-pane,\u201d imagining a world where one provider would control the entry point to every lawyer\u2019s working day, this year is all about opening the door to meet lawyers where they are. Some lawyers will open their day in this platform\u2026 some in this other one\u2026 on that front, it\u2019s a competition for eyeballs. But at the end of the day, they all need access to key context, and that\u2019s where a company like TR leans on the advantages it knows it has. <\/p>\n

The Tokengeddon is coming. Ironically, as legal faces pressure to step back from the billable hour<\/a> to keep charging proper value for a service that takes less and less time, the AI universe is eventually going to move away from flat fees to consumption pricing out of necessity. And when that happens, firms are going to have to be ready to get actionable work in a cost-effective manner.<\/p>\n

\n

The next generation of CoCounsel Legal helps [Greenberg Traurig\u2019s] lawyers turn insight into action by combining trusted legal content, agentic intelligence, and workflow execution in a single experience, grounded in the transparency and accountability of our Fiduciary-Grade AI\u2122 standard.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Digging into what that means in practice with Matthew Beekhuizen of Greenberg Traurig, it struck me that \u2014 after months of AI companies preaching \u201cagentic\u201d as a never-ending automation train that leaves a lawyer to sort it all out on the back end \u2014 the Thomson Reuters workflow that Greenberg Traurig\u2019s been working with is designed to give the lawyer easy opportunities to jump into the process and check in. I\u2019ve mused that \u201chuman-in-the-loop\u201d doesn\u2019t mean anything if the human comes in at the end and is invited to scrounge around through a giant log of agent actions. That would be \u201cauditable,\u201d but it\u2019s not a realistic prospect. Beekhuizen described the CoCounsel interface as psychologically inviting of lawyer involvement.<\/p>\n

Hasker added that the CoCounsel skills will take drafting briefs down from 20 or 30 hours down to two or three. But \u2014 and this is the critical part \u2014 not down to two or three minutes<\/em>. Theoretically, one could build something that speedruns to a final draft, but that draft is going to suffer. There\u2019s a sweet spot that allows the human to remain engaged, to check as the process develops, and to engage in real-time to guide the agentic process along the path.<\/p>\n

Human-in-the-loop always read like an afterthought. You tell someone you\u2019re keeping them \u201cin the loop\u201d when you\u2019re about to forget to invite them out. Alas, it became the industry catchphrase and we all had to live with it. But the human needs to be centered<\/em> \u2014 in the thick of the process as it develops. The trick isn\u2019t keeping the lawyer in the loop, but making the loop somewhere a lawyer would want to be.<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Dispatches From The AI Bubble: ILTACON 2025<\/a>
Legal AI And The \u2018New And Improved Detergent\u2019 Problem<\/a>
Thomson Reuters Rebuilt CoCounsel: A Pivot<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Greenberg Traurig And Thomson Reuters Tackle What \u2018Human In The Loop\u2019 Was Missing<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Last August at ILTACON, Thomson Reuters CEO Steve Hasker told me about the company\u2019s decision<\/a> to acquire a bunch of genius scientists building a smaller, more manageable legal model. It stood out because everyone crammed into that exhibit hall couldn\u2019t wait to explain how embedded they were with OpenAI or Anthropic. And Thomson Reuters was \u2014 to be fair \u2014 bragging about their frontier connections too. But it struck me that Hasker saw then a benefit to building out some potential independence if things went sideways in AI.<\/p>\n

By then I\u2019d already been talking about the importance of an \u201cAmerican DeepSeek\u201d \u2014 a shorthand for a more economical model that may not solve the OpenAI delusion of a mechanical messiah, but would deliver solid productivity gains while also being able to admit what happened in Tiananmen Square. So it intrigued me that any major company in 2025 had invested in a backstop in case a foundational model choked on its own valuation.<\/p>\n

Now, Thomson Reuters has launched Thomson 1.0<\/a>, built by that team of experts. The company also just rebuilt CoCounsel from the ground up<\/a>. And Greenberg Traurig<\/a> deployed the whole next generation of CoCounsel Legal across all of its almost comically numerous offices, capping years of the firm\u2019s lawyers beta testing the project and helping Thomson Reuters get it all together.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to think of a better partner for this sort of endeavor than Greenberg Traurig. The firm has over 3,000 attorneys and practicing in New York vs. Tallahassee vs. Riyadh couldn\u2019t be more different. Not that every office deployed the technology the same way, but Thomson Reuters partnered with a firm that thinks about what it means to practice in locations as diverse as New York, or an anti-science, repressive regime, or Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

The announcement keys off one of the big themes of this ILTACON: \u201cwhat if we all just play along?\u201d If the last couple years were defined by catchphrases like \u201csingle-pane,\u201d imagining a world where one provider would control the entry point to every lawyer\u2019s working day, this year is all about opening the door to meet lawyers where they are. Some lawyers will open their day in this platform\u2026 some in this other one\u2026 on that front, it\u2019s a competition for eyeballs. But at the end of the day, they all need access to key context, and that\u2019s where a company like TR leans on the advantages it knows it has. <\/p>\n

The Tokengeddon is coming. Ironically, as legal faces pressure to step back from the billable hour<\/a> to keep charging proper value for a service that takes less and less time, the AI universe is eventually going to move away from flat fees to consumption pricing out of necessity. And when that happens, firms are going to have to be ready to get actionable work in a cost-effective manner.<\/p>\n

\n

The next generation of CoCounsel Legal helps [Greenberg Traurig\u2019s] lawyers turn insight into action by combining trusted legal content, agentic intelligence, and workflow execution in a single experience, grounded in the transparency and accountability of our Fiduciary-Grade AI\u2122 standard.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Digging into what that means in practice with Matthew Beekhuizen of Greenberg Traurig, it struck me that \u2014 after months of AI companies preaching \u201cagentic\u201d as a never-ending automation train that leaves a lawyer to sort it all out on the back end \u2014 the Thomson Reuters workflow that Greenberg Traurig\u2019s been working with is designed to give the lawyer easy opportunities to jump into the process and check in. I\u2019ve mused that \u201chuman-in-the-loop\u201d doesn\u2019t mean anything if the human comes in at the end and is invited to scrounge around through a giant log of agent actions. That would be \u201cauditable,\u201d but it\u2019s not a realistic prospect. Beekhuizen described the CoCounsel interface as psychologically inviting of lawyer involvement.<\/p>\n

Hasker added that the CoCounsel skills will take drafting briefs down from 20 or 30 hours down to two or three. But \u2014 and this is the critical part \u2014 not down to two or three minutes<\/em>. Theoretically, one could build something that speedruns to a final draft, but that draft is going to suffer. There\u2019s a sweet spot that allows the human to remain engaged, to check as the process develops, and to engage in real-time to guide the agentic process along the path.<\/p>\n

Human-in-the-loop always read like an afterthought. You tell someone you\u2019re keeping them \u201cin the loop\u201d when you\u2019re about to forget to invite them out. Alas, it became the industry catchphrase and we all had to live with it. But the human needs to be centered<\/em> \u2014 in the thick of the process as it develops. The trick isn\u2019t keeping the lawyer in the loop, but making the loop somewhere a lawyer would want to be.<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Dispatches From The AI Bubble: ILTACON 2025<\/a>
Legal AI And The \u2018New And Improved Detergent\u2019 Problem<\/a>
Thomson Reuters Rebuilt CoCounsel: A Pivot<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last August at ILTACON, Thomson Reuters CEO Steve Hasker told me about the company\u2019s decision to acquire a bunch of genius scientists building a smaller, more manageable legal model. It stood out because everyone crammed into that exhibit hall couldn\u2019t wait to explain how embedded they were with OpenAI or Anthropic. And Thomson Reuters was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":161526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Headshot-300x200-7YI3Wt.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}