THOMSON REUTERS CORP 
By NEW YORK, Jan. 28, 2013 - Thomson Reuters today announced the launch of Thomson Reuters Concourse, a powerful new matter-centric suite of integrated tools and information designed expressly for corporate counsel and the law firms that support them. Concourse is cloud-based and built around an intuitive dashboard, and provides an integrated, collaborative platform to support the mission-critical functions of the corporate legal department.
Whether a law department is large or small, Concourse connects both its legal practice and business operations together like never before. The suite offers a holistic approach to connecting the key tools, people and data that corporate counsel rely on.
Concourse (www.thomsonreuters.com/concourse) is part of a stable of new products introduced today by Thomson Reuters. According to President of Thomson Reuters Legal Mike Suchsland, these products showcase a new vision for how the business approaches product design and engages customers. "At the heart of legal workflow is the matter - it is the central organizing principle for how a lawyer spends his or her day, uses our products, interacts with clients and engages with the legal system," Suchsland said. "Thomson Reuters Concourse and the other workflow solutions we're introducing support a matter-centric workflow. They're cloud-based, so they're mobile, secure and sync across all the devices attorneys today use in their work, as well as integrated and highly collaborative."
The role of the general counsel has grown in scope and complexity as companies navigate myriad regulatory, environmental, financial and operational gauntlets - and the legal issues that commonly accompany them. Thomson Reuters Concourse is a next-generation platform composed of purpose-built integrated tools that streamline law department operations, including matter-centric collaboration with outside counsel, as well as the practice of law.
"Until now, the corporate counsel workflow comprised a lot of discrete technology tools and point solutions that didn't connect or work together," said Eric Laughlin, general manager of the Thomson Reuters Corporate segment. "Thomson Reuters Concourse organizes and integrates key aspects of the corporate counsel workflow: it's organized around matters, provides integration between and among key tools and is searchable with a common data ecosystem for in-house and Thomson Reuters content. And, Concourse is built on cloud and mobile technologies that put new freedom in the hands of corporate counsel."
Getting organized
Organization is at the heart of Thomson Reuters Concourse. The Concourse dashboard surfaces the mission-critical data and action items. Concourse leverages the tools that corporate counsel already rely on, including WestlawNext®, Microsoft Outlook® and Microsoft Windows Explorer®.
Two new workflow modules - Matter Room and Legal Hold - are built natively within Concourse and represent the first in a family of new tools Thomson Reuters is building for legal departments. Matter Room allows matter-centric document organization and access, and enables documents, people, email and legal information all to be searched at once using the same powerful search technology behind Westlaw. And Legal Hold is a repeatable, automated and defensible workflow tool that supports the legal holds notification and tracking process. In the near future, corporate counsel also will be able to access the popular Serengeti Tracker from the dashboard, as well as legislative alerts through Capitol Watch and current awareness reflecting the breadth and unique insights of the world's largest news gathering organization.
Laughlin said Thomson Reuters Concourse integrates key corporate counsel tasks and tools, and sets a new standard for collaboration between corporate counsel and outside counsel.
"We talked at length with in-house attorneys, and a consistent theme was the difficulty in accessing previous work product, advice notes from counsel on similar matters, and - perhaps most importantly - email that contains information relevant to current issues," Laughlin explained. "We built the Matter Room so that all of the information and knowledge work of corporate and outside counsel can be organized and accessible to inform the matter at hand, which can save both time and money."
Wherever you are
The cloud-based architecture of Thomson Reuters Concourse allows work to be managed continually across multiple devices, so a matter started this morning in the office can be shared with outside counsel via smartphone during a working lunch and reviewed on an iPad® on the train ride home. Concourse solutions are built for the mobile experience, and the convenient, single sign-on makes for seamless access to all of the applications and tools on the Concourse dashboard.
"As we talked with corporate counsel, it was clear that their job extends far beyond the boundaries of their office," said Laughlin. "We wanted to create a platform that was mobile first, with collaboration tools that would simplify the often complex interactions between corporate and outside counsel."
Suchsland said corporate counsel commonly serves in a key strategic role, advising their companies on issues as diverse as business development, acquisitions, complex litigation and risk management. "Thomson Reuters is renowned for offering the best information and tools to support these activities, and we are uniquely positioned to bring them together in an integrated, collaborative environment.
"We designed Thomson Reuters Concourse to work the way corporate counsel does," he added. "It gives corporate counsel a true view of the business through a legal lens, bringing their work, as well as opportunity and risk, into sharper focus."
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial and risk, legal, tax and accounting, intellectual property and science and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs approximately 60,000 people and operates in over 100 countries. For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.
Microsoft Outlook® and Microsoft Windows Explorer® are either registered trademarks or trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
iPad is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Scott Augustin
Director, Communications
Tel: +1 651.848.5793
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