Practice Tools

Baker & McKenzie, C.C.H. Go Global

Baker & McKenzie and C.C.H. Inc. have joined forces to produce the new C.C.H. Global Employment Law Guide, which is available by subscription on the Internet.

The service is produced with content from Baker & McKenzie's Global Labor, Employment & Employee Benefits Practice Group, the two groups report.

It is designed for human resources directors, CEOs and legal counsel, and delivers comprehensive information about the employment and immigration laws of international companies, including those in Europe and the Middle East, North America, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region. The guide also covers tax treaties between countries, and income tax laws for businesses.

Other topics include benefits, pensions and compensation, sexual harassment, terminations, workplace privacy, employee discrimination, work councils and employee transfers.

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ELLA 2000

Laurdan Associates Inc., based in Potomac, Md., has released the newest version of its Employment-Labor Law Audit (ELLA 2000). The service is designed to audit employment practices and serve as a risk assessment tool. It provides employers with questions to ask about their employment practices and helps them detect human resources problems.

New features include a Web-based version that offers instant access to federal and state employment laws, regulations, and guidelines.

ELLA 2000 also incorporates recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions and E.E.O.C. guidelines into its questionnaire database, and has added two new audit areas: "Employee Retention" and "Human Resources Benchmarking."

HR management areas covered include the hiring process; sexual harassment; the Americans with Disabilities Act; the Family Medical Leave Act; retention; wage and hour; termination, metrics and "RHR best practices."

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DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Online Products

Global Arbitration Mediation Association Inc., based in Conyers, Geo., has announced the release of two new online products.

The Arbitration.com E-Directory, and the Mediation.com E-Directory provide dispute resolution "neutrals" with a forum to showcase their training, experience and specializations, and to provide parties with the ability to select facilitators whose backgrounds are most appropriate to the specific dispute.

The databases on both sites support searches using a variety of criteria, including alternative dispute resolution experience, education, credentials, subject matter expertise, associations, geographic location, video conferencing capability, and hourly rate information, the company reports.

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ClaimNegotiator

ClaimNegotiator is an Internet-based program for conducting online legal negotiations and mediations between parties at multiple locations.The new service has been developed by TIS Worldwide and ClaimResolver.com,(a Web site devoted to online claims resolution).

ClaimNegotiator can be used by anyone with a Web browser, and can also be used in conjunction with telephone conference calls, according to TIS. The system features a Domino Release 5 Application Server, from Lotus, as well as Lotus Sametime (realtime collaboration tools.)

Claimants, defendants and their attorneys can use the program to discussing settlements, discovery disputes and litigation schedules. Discussions can be conducted via live Web conferences that feature real-time chats, application and document sharing, and whiteboard functionality, says TIS Worldwide.

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CONFLICT CHECKING

New Matter Intake

LegalKEY Technologies Inc., of Dallas, says its New Matter Intake System helps firms automate the process of accepting a new client.

The program helps firms check for client conflicts, enter billing information and assign client matter numbers and billing codes.

The program also provides password-protection, with staggered levels. It can run on a Web site, or LegalKEY can serve as an application service provider, offering installation, training and 24-hour customer support.

New Matter Intake integrates with other LegalKey products, including its Conflicts of Interest program and other billing systems, the company says.

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CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION

CLE4me.com

CLE4me.com is the new companion Web site to Legal EdNet.com. Subscribers can create a Continuing Legal Education that suit their profile and type of practice. The site will send out e-mail alerts concerning CLE deadlines, and allows users to post and read course reviews, and participate in discussion groups for CLE programs.

Non-subscribers can also use the site to research CLE programs and purchase CLE CD-ROMs or CLE related products.

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IMMIGRATION

Immigration Forms

DataTech Software Inc., of Harrisburg, Pa., has released an addition to its Quick&Easy automated forms software.

The new immigration automated forms package contains 35 petitions, applications, notices and other items for practicing immigration law in the U.S.

Users enter data via screens that duplicate the forms, and the software calculates math functions, conducts a spell check and corrects continuations and field overflow, the company says.

Quick&Easy places all information in the proper fields and automatically formats and prints continuation sheets. Once all information is entered, the information can be transferred to other forms and printed.

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REAL ESTATE

Power Closer

Power Closer 3.0 creates HUD-1 or HUD-1A settlement statements for residential real estate closings, says Argosy Legal Systems, of Atlanta. It also produces a trust account balance sheet, separate informal buyer and seller closing statements and one or more seller's 1099 Taxpayer ID certificates.

Information can be exported to accounting software for check writing, trust reporting and reconciliation. The software also works with word processing programs to customize documents. Users can search and create reports by seller name, tax ID, property address or legal description.

Users can "check out" closing information to a laptop, make corrections in the field, and then check the program back into its main system, the company says. All calculations can be over-ridden.

The software runs on Windows 3.1 or Windows 95/NT or higher, and requires 4 MB RAM and 5 MB hard disk space.

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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Legal I.T.

IT's Legal: Making Information Technology Work, is a new book by John Irving, an information technology consultant and joint chair of the U.K.-based Society for Computers & Law.

The book offers advice to help firms when selecting an IT system. It discusses which type of systems automate necessary functions and explores to possibility of utilizing online applications and application service providers (ASPs).

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LEXIS Clause Libraries

LEXIS has released its new Clause Libraries, a collection of clauses from Matthew Bender designed to assist lawyers in finding the appropriate clause for transactional documents or litigation-related filings. The service is available on CD-ROM and can be used with either Microsoft Word or Corel WordPerfect.

The Clause Libraries are divided by practice areas including banking/computer/copyright/corporate/ law, estates, gifts and trusts, mergers and acquisitions, and uniform commercial code. The practice areas can also be subdivided by jurisdiction. Users can copy and paste needed clauses right into working documents, the company says.

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