Oct 20, 2026 | AI and product innovation
Bringing Trusted German Legal Content into the Classic Version of CoCounsel Legal
When a matter crosses into Germany, most legal teams face the same friction: the research tools they trust for everything else stop at the border.
In September, at the Legal Revolution conference in Berlin, we previewed a content partnership with Otto Schmidt, a leading German legal publisher, that changes that. Mutual customers can now access authoritative German law commentary directly inside the classic version of CoCounsel Legal. We also plan to bring this connection to the next generation of CoCounsel Legal, our fully rebuilt agentic AI platform now available in early access, in early 2027.
Powered by the technology infrastructure of LDA Legal Data Analytics GmbH, the Otto Schmidt Legal Data Hub brings over 120 modules of expert-authored German law commentary directly into the classic version of CoCounsel Legal’s international legal research workflow, with citations from authoritative sources.
One workflow. Every source that matters.
Legal research is rarely about finding a single source. A cross-border matter may call for German law commentary alongside primary law and drafting guidance, and the friction of moving between platforms to assemble that picture costs time and introduces risk.
The Otto Schmidt integration removes that friction. Users do not select Otto Schmidt as a source or search it separately. The research flow determines which entitled sources are relevant and pulls in Otto Schmidt commentary automatically, alongside Thomson Reuters Westlaw and Practical Law Global content and curated official legal sources. The answer comes together in one place, with the same evidentiary standard behind every citation.
CoCounsel Legal was built from the start on carefully controlled, structured workflows that attorneys could trust. Bringing Otto Schmidt into that same standard is an extension of that principle, not a departure from it.
Prof. Dr. Felix Hey, Publisher and Managing Partner of Otto Schmidt, said, “Otto Schmidt has built its reputation on the depth and reliability of its legal commentary. Thomson Reuters has built theirs on the trust of legal professionals across the world. Bringing those two together inside CoCounsel Legal means customers get authoritative German law content in a workflow that already meets the professional standard they expect from everything else they use.”
A More Connected Way to Work
As one of the world’s largest providers of legal AI technology, Thomson Reuters has the scale and expertise to bring this kind of connection to life, combining deep, jurisdiction-specific expertise with a platform trusted by legal professionals globally.
Otto Schmidt and Legal Data Analytics join a growing list of content and technology partners that extend what CoCounsel Legal can do for legal professionals working across borders. Each addition reflects the same principle: trusted, jurisdiction-specific expertise brought into the workflow attorneys already rely on, at the same standard they expect from everything else in the platform.
For legal teams whose work crosses into Germany, that friction at the border just got a little smaller.
