Westlaw is the Thomson Reuters legal research service. It is sold together with Practical Law, a library of how-to guidance, templates and checklists, and with CoCounsel Legal, a generative and agentic AI product grounded in Westlaw and Practical Law content. All three are delivered as hosted services, so they are licensed under the Services provisions of the Thomson Reuters General Terms: a non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, non-transferable right to access, view and use the Services solely for the customer’s own internal business purposes.[1] Commercial detail, such as the number of users, the jurisdictions and the term, sits in the Ordering Document, except for the published online plans described below.
Products and editions
Thomson Reuters publishes plan pages for the following legal products in the United States:
| Product | What the vendor says it is | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Westlaw Advantage | An advanced legal research platform that combines trusted legal content with AI-powered tools, including Deep Research, Litigation Document Analyzer, Complaint Analyzer, Claims Explorer and AI Jurisdictional Surveys | [2] |
| Westlaw Edge | AI-enhanced research with plans listed for law firms and corporations | [3] |
| Practical Law | How-to guidance, templates and clauses, with plans for law firms, general counsel and government | [5] |
| CoCounsel Legal | A single AI solution for research, document analysis and drafting grounded in Westlaw and Practical Law | [6] |
| CoCounsel Essentials | AI document analysis, review and drafting, with integrations for Westlaw and Practical Law subscriptions and Microsoft 365 | [7] |
The Westlaw Advantage page distinguishes Westlaw Advantage from Westlaw Edge with AI-Assisted Research: both answer legal questions from expert legal content, but Westlaw Advantage uses agentic AI to carry out multistep processes without being prompted.[4] It also mentions the related products CoCounsel Legal, CoCounsel Essentials and Practical Law as separate products.[4] For a licence position this means that adding AI features may be a change of product on the order, not an included upgrade; the Westlaw Advantage plan states that it includes new features released during the initial contract term, so a customer does not need to change plan to receive them.[2]
Published online plans for Westlaw Advantage
Westlaw Advantage is the one legal product whose online plan prices appear in the page text. The FAQ states that pricing starts at $256.75 per month for single-circuit coverage and $399.75 per month for all states and federal coverage.[2] The coverage tier, not a user count, is therefore the published pricing dimension for law firms.
| Coverage | Starting price (online) | Multi-year saving |
|---|---|---|
| Single-circuit | $256.75 per month | 12% for 2 years, 18% for 3 years |
| All states and federal | $399.75 per month | 12% for 2 years, 18% for 3 years |
The same FAQ states that a 2-year subscription saves 12% and a 3-year subscription saves 18%.[2] Three limits apply. Online pricing is available only for law firms with up to 10 attorneys; a larger firm must contact sales for pricing and plan information.[2] The online pricing is available to new customers only, and existing customers are directed to account support.[2] The Westlaw Edge page repeats the new-customers-only statement but, in the page text retrieved, shows no amount.[3] Pages are undated, so the amounts are a point-in-time observation, not a price list.
Counting users and access
The General Terms do not define a user metric. They do require that password-protected access be individual: passwords must be kept confidential, sharing passwords is strictly prohibited, and each user must immediately change credentials that have been disclosed to an unauthorised third party.[1] The practical counting rule for a licence manager is one credential per named individual, reconciled against the Ordering Document. Three clauses affect who may benefit from the content:
- The customer may not allow third parties to access, use or benefit from the Property, or use it on a white-labelled basis, but a firm in the business of providing legal advice may use the Services for its clients in the ordinary course.[1]
- Limited extracts may be downloaded and printed for internal business purposes and distributed infrequently and ad hoc, if they have no commercial value, are not a substitute for the Services and credit the source.[1]
- Automated access is not permitted: the customer may not scrape, automatically access or copy the Property, or connect it automatically to other data, software or networks, without prior written authorisation.[1]
Because the customer must not use the Property to develop, train or improve AI technologies, content exports from Westlaw cannot be used as training data for internal models.[1] This restriction was at issue in the ROSS Intelligence litigation covered in Thomson Reuters v. ROSS Intelligence.
Excess use, renewal and price changes
Use beyond the Ordering Document scope is billed at the order rate or current standard pricing, whichever is greater, and Thomson Reuters can review compliance during the term.[1] Unless the Ordering Document says otherwise the Agreement renews automatically each year unless either party gives 30 days’ written notice, and charges may rise at the start of a renewal term on 60 days’ notice.[1] Multi-year terms change that calendar: the Westlaw Advantage FAQ links its lower pricing to longer subscription terms and says new features arrive during the initial contract term without a plan change.[2]
Public records, CLEAR and supplier terms
Westlaw also carries public-records data that is shared with the CLEAR product. A separate document of supplier additional terms and disclaimers, headed “Updated May 14, 2026”, lists database-by-database conditions.[8] For motor vehicle, driver’s licence, state boat or similar data, the customer may be required to acknowledge compliance with the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act and state law and to choose a permissible use, and Thomson Reuters stores each search with its permissible use and date.[8] Several court-record sources carry their own conditions, such as a rule that Cook County incarceration data may not be shared with named federal immigration-enforcement agencies, and a restriction that California sex offender registry data may be used only to protect a person at risk.[8] These supplier terms rank above the Ordering Document under the General Terms’ order of precedence when they are third-party provider terms.[1] The third-party index lists Westlaw, CLEAR and DMS Integration terms under the Legal heading.[9]
CoCounsel inside the legal products
CoCounsel Legal and CoCounsel Essentials are generative AI products, so the Additional Terms for Services with Generative AI Skills apply on top of the General Terms.[10] The CoCounsel Essentials page states that Westlaw and Practical Law subscriptions can be connected to CoCounsel, so the existing Westlaw and Practical Law entitlements should be checked alongside the CoCounsel order.[7] Prompt, content and Output terms are covered in CoCounsel and generative AI terms.
Practical points
- Record the jurisdiction coverage and term for each Westlaw plan; they are the pricing dimensions the vendor publishes.
- Do not benchmark an existing account against online prices: they are stated to be for new customers and firms of up to 10 attorneys.
- Keep a list of which individuals hold credentials and remove leavers, because credentials may not be shared.
- Check whether an added AI feature is part of the existing plan or a separate product on the order.
Out of scope
This article does not cover Westlaw Classic or other legacy Westlaw plans, plans for corporations and government customers beyond the product names shown, non-US versions of Westlaw and Practical Law (for example the UK JCT and Land Registry terms), or the editorial content of the products.