Robert Ambrogi Blog
Wolters Kluwer today brought generative AI to its VitalLaw legal research platform, launching new capabilities for users to locate and chat with legal information and get answers to legal questions, as well as to generate summaries and first drafts of compliance checklists or other key documents.
This development combines these generative AI capabilities with the VitalLaw library of legal resources that covers 25 practice areas, including tax, securities, privacy, and labor and employment.
With the new VitalLaw AI, users can summarize legal documents and dynamically interact with them. Users can now directly chat with VitalLaw content, generate executive summaries, and create checklists.
An AI-generated answer to a legal question.
Wolters Kluwer says the feature also significantly enhances the speed and clarity of legal research and analysis.
By leveraging generative AI, the platform enhances the ability of users to perform natural language searches and get immediate, AI-powered answers, along with related questions, similar to a familiar Google-style search experience.
What that means is that, instead of the traditional list of search results, VitalLaw provides an answer to the user’s question. It also points to the sources that were used to develop the answer.
An editorially curated answer to a legal question.
One of VitalLaw AI’s defining features is its “Editor in the Loop,” which provides answers to commonly asked questions that have been pre-vetted by a WK expert for accuracy. These answers – WK calls them “golden answers” – are continually enhanced through review of the outputs and user feedback, giving thumbs up or down to the answers they receive.
If the answer VitalLaw AI provides is one of these Editor in the Loop answers, rather than one generated by AI, it is flagged as such.
The AI then enables multi-turn conversations, allowing legal professionals to engage with selected documents, ask follow-up questions, and refine their research with ease. A user might select several treatises, for example, and begin a conversational chat. The platform will also assist the user by providing suggested prompts.
After the user selects documents, VitalLaw suggests prompts, such as to create a summary.
Ken Crutchfield, vice president and general manager of legal markets at Wolters Kluwer, said that VitalLaw AI extends the traditional legal research workflow by offering tools for drafting key deliverables.
In addition to chat-based interactions, the platform helps users create first drafts, compliance checklists, and other essential documents, Crutchfield said. This streamlined functionality boosts attorney productivity and improves client outcomes.
Wolters Kluwer said that VitalLaw AI provides generative AI capabilities within a safe and familiar environment where legal professionals can conduct research without compromising sensitive data.
The platform’s AI-generated answers are complemented by related questions frequently asked in similar research contexts, to help ensure a comprehensive exploration of each topic.
Using the AI assistant to generate a checklist.
In addition to the capabilities announced today, Wolters Kluwer plans to introduce document-upload features, allowing legal professionals to upload client data and cross-reference it with VitalLaw’s content.
The company will also continue to invest in features like horizon scanning, which will predict outcomes based on current and past data, and Smart Charts to modernize AI capabilities and ensure legal professionals are equipped with the best tools for advising clients.
Crutchfield said that Wolters Kluwer followed a thoughtful and cautious approach to rolling out VitalLaw AI, gathering customer feedback through an alpha program to refine the product before full commercial release.
This deliberate strategy was aimed at ensuring the platform meets the high standards of accuracy and usability that legal professionals expect.