Thomson Reuters Acquires ThoughtTrace
Thomson Reuters announced today that it has acquired ThoughtTrace, a business providing a document understanding and contract analysis platform.
When the agreement was announced in March, Kriti Sharma, chief product officer for the Thomson Reuters LegalTech product portfolio noted: “We are excited to have ThoughtTrace joining our organization, and this acquisition brings additional technology and expertise to further the AI and analytics capabilities in our LegalTech platform. Thomson Reuters has long been a leader using AI and machine learning, and this will accelerate advancements in multiple areas, including contract analysis, contract lifecycle management and legal workflows.”
Reaction among journalists and industry influencers to the announcement of an agreement was positive. In Artificial Lawyer, Richard Tromans noted ThoughtTrace complements the Thomson Reuters product portfolio.
“Why does this deal matter?” Tromans asked in March. “Scale is the simple answer. TR [Thomson Reuters] has the ability to roll out this capability to a very broad audience, potentially having an impact on customers of the well-known brands in this market. …[I]t strengthens TR’s hand and provides those looking for NLP-driven review tools with another option that they may not have considered before.”
In Legal IT Insider, Caroline Hill noted that ThoughtTrace “uses machine learning software to help legal teams clean up and search their contracts, saving a significant amount of time on the likes of due diligence but also more BAU lease reviews.” She added that one ThoughtTrace client is using it “to proactively manage its assets and be more strategic in its decision making.”
On May 10, Sharma will be at CLOC Global Institute participating on the panel: “The Modern Legal Department Transformation and Next-Gen Tech for Legal Ops.” During the session, Sharma and panelists will discuss the pressures legal operations professionals face and how they can be the enabling force for modern legal departments. Their discussion will explore how technology can support legal ops professionals’ efforts to empower workflow efficiency, spend management, and talent productivity. Thomson Reuters and ThoughtTrace will have a presence at the annual event.
Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
