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Information Professional Update
Issue 5, May 2007

• TAKE A TOUR... 1) One Search … One Report … Extensive
  Public Records Coverage: Get This and More from the LexisNexis® SmartLinx® Feature 2) Take a Closer Look at the LexisNexis SmartLinx Feature
• ONLINE WITH... 1) Elsevier Full-Text Journals Now Available via www.lexis.com
• KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE ... Call It Research Linking, TOC Linking … or “How I Learned to Love URLs”
• FOR IPS ONLY ... “Inspiration From Your Peers” Contest Winner Announced
• FYI FLASH ... New Print Treatise Covers Employment Arbitration
• SPOTLIGHT ON ... Pre-Employment Screening Now Part of Business Life;
  Use New LexisNexis Solutions to Ensure Firm’s Inspection is Accurate, Compliant
• THRIFTY SEARCHER ... Dear Thrifty Searcher:
  

TAKE A TOUR . . . 1) One Search … One Report … Extensive Public Records Coverage: Get This and More from the LexisNexis® SmartLinx® Feature 2) Take a Closer Look at the LexisNexis SmartLinx Feature

1) One Search … One Report … Extensive Public Records Coverage: Get This and More from the LexisNexis® SmartLinx® Feature

The LexisNexis SmartLinx feature combines multiple public-record and private-data sources into extensive summary reports—with links back to the original source documents. In seconds, you can request a SmartLinx report for People, Business, DPPA and Locations (addresses) and spot the connections that are nearly impossible to realize with traditional source-by-source research methods.
And because so many resources are included, SmartLinx offers many valuable—and cost-effective—uses to legal professionals. For example, with SmartLinx reports, you can:

• Uncover hidden ownership of business and personal assets, mortgage liens and bankruptcy liabilities.

• Locate elusive parties, witnesses, defendants, judgment debtors, child support obligors, pension beneficiaries, heirs, relatives, neighbors and others.

• Verify background and potential credibility by checking license status, certifications, degrees and other qualifications.

• Determine conflicts of interest by tracking an individual’s business affiliations.

• Find detailed information on companies by reviewing secretary of state and SEC filings, DBA records, UCC liens and more.

• Identify name variations—including maiden names, aliases, DBA names, even misspellings.

LexisNexis SmartLinx Feature now just $99 per search!
Read more about the LexisNexis SmartLinx feature and how it can help your organization. It’s available as an add-on subscription. The powerful LexisNexis SmartLinx tools are also available on a pay-as-you-go basis for only $99 per search.  

2) Take a Closer Look at the LexisNexis SmartLinx Feature

Request SmartLinx reports on people, businesses or locations. The LexisNexis Public Records resources offered in a SmartLinx report search may include (varies by report type):

• Assets, i.e., motor vehicles, watercraft and aircraft

• Death/deceased records

• Electronic Directory Assistance (EDA)

• Marriage & divorce records

• Multiple person locator directories

• Multiple business locators

• Multiple telephone sources

• Nationwide bankruptcy, liens and judgments

• Professional licenses

• Real property records—more than 2,000 counties nationwide

• UCC lien records

• Voter registrations, incorporations

Data updates are added and available within 24 hours of receipt in most cases. Plus, reports are generated on demand so are more current.

Here’s How to Search

Select the Public Records tab on www.lexis.com  SmartLinx reports are shown right at the top of the screen. Your comprehensive SmartLinx report starts with a very simple, form-based search process. Even beginning researchers can use it effectively. But don’t be fooled. Behind the search form are some powerful time-saving features that also add great precision to your search results.

You can begin searching with as much or as little information as you have available. (If you have a permissible use under DPPA or GLBA*, you can note it and get additional, permissible data, such as driver’s license data.) Just fill in the blanks and click SEARCH. Behind the scenes, not only is your search run against multiple databases but :     

• The LexisNexis® Sounds Like Search capability is working, checking spelling alternatives for persons, cities and streets automatically—a great feature if you’re unsure of a name spelling. So if you enter Valley, you will find Vallie, Valle and Vallee as well. It’s the most robust phonetic searching available in public records reports.

• Nicknames are searched automatically, since your subject may appear differently in different public records, e.g., as Thomas, Tom, Tommie or Tommy. Guesswork is eliminated.

• Addresses within a 30-mile proximity are automatically returned within the answer set so you can easily search an entire suburban metro area. (And you can change the default on the search form as low as 0 or as high as 100 miles.)

• The current Electronic Directory Assistance listing is checked, helping you quickly determine current location information.

Easy-to-Browse Results Tables

Take a look at your search results. No traditional cite list here. Instead the easy-to-browse table saves you time in locating the right individual. The most relevant records appear first.

Note that name variations are linked to a single person. That’s because the LexisNexis search engine automatically analyzes each record to determine that the linked entities—regardless of possible spelling, formatting or other variations—are actually the same person. 

You’ll also notice red flags—risk flags for persons, addresses, phone and Social Security numbers marked for possible higher-risk circumstances that might require additional consideration.

While viewing your results table, click on the link for the person’s, business’s or location’s name to generate your SmartLinx report. Click on an address link in the table and get the opportunity to run additional reports on the address—to find neighbors, associated persons or even a full SmartLinx report on the location. Click on a phone number in the results to initiate a reverse telephone look-up search. From the SSN field, you can run a report on entities associated with that SSN number.

Browse Reports; Link to Source Content—Even “Picture” It!

An “intelligent” LexisNexis SmartLinx report organizes the extensive facts from multiple public records sources. Report content is divided into several detailed sections containing information on the subject. For example, in a person report:

1. See past and present names.
2. View a chronological summary of address history. The “as of” date on address results helps you identify when the person lived at the address. Archived address information provides deeper history, with addresses going back 10 years or more.
3. Identify relatives, business associates, neighbors, etc.
   You can link to these entities’ SmartLinx reports—no additional search needed.
4. Review liens, judgments, bankruptcies and detailed property information.
5. Link to the source documents that comprise the report.

Read the report—or visualize it! No additional charge!  Click to visualize this report link and get a graphic diagram of the report, with icons for names, addresses, associates, etc. It’s a fast, simple way to spot connections. Enlarge or reduce the graphic’s size on screen. Drag and rearrange icons to make connections more clear. Right-click on an icon to request that person’s, business’s or location’s SmartLinx report. To go back to your original SmartLinx report, just close the graphic window.

As you view your tabular report, you’ll also note a variety of source links, e.g., Link to Address Sources. These links take you to the original source documents that comprise the SmartLinx reports so you can verify your search information. Or click Sources at the top of the report or scroll to the end of the report. View these Source documents—without initiating a new search. (You only pay a Get Document charge for View a Source Document.)

When Should I Choose LexisNexis SmartLinx Reports?

LexisNexis offers a variety of report products and public records resources. What role do LexisNexis SmartLinx reports play?

By contrast, consider:

• LexisNexis® CourtLink® Strategic Profiles—for litigants, opposing counsel, etc., when you need details that can be supplied by court docket information, e.g., litigation history.

• LexisNexis® Company Dossier—when you need a current snapshot of
  a company, provided by news reports, business analyses, SEC filings, patent and trademark information, etc.

• LexisNexis® Analyzer—The first stop for fast litigation due diligence, LexisNexis Analyzer gives you a very broad view of companies, experts, judges and others from a wide range of information including public records but also news, case opinions, verdicts reports and more.

• Individual public records sources—Use these when you seek specific types of public records, e.g., mortgage records. You can use them in conjunction with LexisNexis SmartLinx. For example, SmartLinx reports do not include verdicts information, military locators and some other public records sources available through the LexisNexis services. 

ONLINE WITH . . . 1) Elsevier Full-Text Journals Now Available via www.lexis.com

Elsevier’s Full-Text journals cover a wide spectrum of subject areas and serve more than 30 million scientists, academics, health and legal information professionals worldwide. And now your researchers1 can tap into these valuable information resources—without leaving www.lexis.com 

Find pre-eminent experts, and tune in to their examinations and critiques of the scientific theories important to your legal matters. Determine standards of care. Or monitor a vast spectrum of medical, health, environmental, pharmaceutical, genetic, etc. companies—their intellectual properties and their research pipelines.

You can do all of this—and more—while using the LexisNexis commands and protocol you’ve already mastered.

Elsevier journals will be added in phases. Currently 75 Elsevier journals are available. (More are coming—up to 500 this year.) Each journal is available as an individually searchable source, available under the News & Business tab and in a variety of Legal practice area source-selection paths. Plus, you can find group source types you’re already familiar with, e.g., Elsevier Full-Text Journals Most Recent Two Years (ELSCJL;ELSCUR), Elsevier Science Journals Beyond Two Years (ELSCJL;ELSARC), or All Available Elsevier Science Journals (ELSCJL;ELSALL), your most comprehensive research option. There are also practice-area group sources for Intellectual Properties Sources (ELSCJL;ELSIP) and Health & Medical Sources (ELSCJL;ELSH&M). Or you can create and save your own source combination.

And, in addition to some familiar group sources, you’ll also discover some unique research features:

• Embedded graphics!
  Find “thumbnail” size diagrams, schematics, charts, illustrations and more within the articles. Print/download2 these miniatures with the documents via your normal LexisNexis printing functions. Or open the graphics and print/download via local PC functions.

• PDF document versions!
  Each retrieved document has an active PDF document link. Just click Access PDF version of this document at the top of each article.3 While this PDF version is not delivered when you print the document, you can link to the PDF, then print or download it via PC functions.

• Flexible searching options!
  Search specific document segments. Use LexisNexis SmartIndexing Technology™ terms to find the most current journal research and articles.

1 Not available to subscribers in law school and academic libraries.
2 According to your LexisNexis subscription agreement.
3 Separate document-access charge in addition to the transactional search charge.

KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE . . .Call It Research Linking, TOC Linking … or “How I Learned to Love URLs”

by Danielle R. Francis, LexisNexis Librarian Relations Consultant
 
So … how many of you have had this conversation?

Associate:     I can’t find volume three of (X) Matthew Bender® treatise on the shelf. Can you help me?

Librarian:     Unfortunately that volume has been missing for a couple of days. I can inter-library loan it for you or you can get it on LexisNexis.

Associate:     I need it right away, so I’ll use it online. Where is it on LexisNexis?

Librarian:     Well you click on (X) Area of Law, then on Treatises and Analytical Materials, then…

Instead … wouldn’t it be nice to say: Since it is used so often, there is a direct link to that title on your practice area portal page and on our online catalog.

The LexisNexis services have so many wonderful resources that they have to be organized in layered groups, and that can sometimes mean several clicks to get to the resource you need. But you use some titles more often than others, and there is a quick and easy way to create direct links to them.

TOC Linking, sometimes referred to as Research Linking, is a preference available through www.lexis.com, but you must turn it on. To turn it on, go to the Preferences link at the top of the main www.lexis.com menu screen. Under the Enhanced Table of Contents Display subhead, check Show TOC Linking Icons.

Now when you are viewing the enhanced Table of Contents (TOC) of any title, you will see this icon (“i”) following each section, and you are ready to begin!

Go to one of your most used titles on www.lexis.com, for example, Bender’s Federal Practice Forms. (Hint: To browse the TOC, click the Browse TOC link next to the SEARCH button in the Search form that displays when you select that source.) Here are three, easy steps to adding a direct link to this title on your catalog—or to any other electronic document, e-mail or intranet page).

1. Click on the “i” icon next to the first section of the TOC. A dialog box will open with a URL, an explanation of the URL components, and a link for more help in using the feature.
2. Under the URL, click the COPY TO CLIPBOARD button.
3. Choose where you want the link to appear, go to Edit on your toolbar and click Paste. Voila! When users click the link, they moved to the lexis.com® log-on screen. Once they sign in, the LexisNexis services open directly to the TOC of the specified title.

Some links are long, but like any URL you can edit its appearance using the Hyperlink Editor in the application you are using (CTRL K if you are in Microsoft Word).

Since Bender’s Federal Practice Forms is used by attorneys in multiple practice areas, you can place the link in as many places as you require. And TOC Linking also give you the ability to get more specific, if you choose. For example, if you are adding a link on the Bankruptcy practice area page, you can link directly to Official Forms in Bankruptcy by clicking the “i” icon next to that section header. Or you can even link directly to Form 7 Statement of Financial Affairs.

This service is also great for Law School Library Research Pages or course pages. And, if you want to get fancy, you can create actual searches or search forms using these URLs. For more information, click the Research Linking link that appears at the bottom of menu pages at www.lexis.com  Or call your LexisNexis Librarian Relations Consultant. (You can also call LexisNexis® Customer Support at 800-543-6862.) 

For IPS ONLY... “Inspiration From Your Peers”
Contest Winner Announced

Congratulations to Brenda Foote, Assistant Reference Librarian, Thompson Coburn LLP (St. Louis, Washington D.C. and Belleville, IL), the winner of the LexisNexis Librarian Relations Group’s Inspiration From Your Peers Contest drawing held first quarter 2007. Foote receives 10,000 LexisNexis Rewards points valued at $200.

Her inspiring program, named Change Your World @ Your Library, launched the firm’s new Web-based library catalog—and provided greater visibility to the library staff. Using National Library Week as the backdrop, the Thompson Coburn library staff and Client Relations department worked to produce posters and bookmarks of several firm partners and managers urging viewers to read. The “read posters” were displayed prominently throughout the firm’s office locations. “Read bookmarks” and candy greeted library patrons—and those visiting the library site discovered bios on the featured firm members.

To promote the new catalog, the library conducted daily trivia contests featuring questions relating to the catalog’s functionality. And the library’s regular Do You Know column highlighted the features of the new catalog.

Read Foote’s detailed project description—and product descriptions for a dozen additional programs—all inspiring—here!

FYI FLASH. . . New Print Treatise Covers Employment Arbitration

As more attorneys turn to arbitration to settle employment disputes, the need for an authoritative guide to employment arbitration strategies has increased dramatically. O’Meara Employment Arbitration delivers in-depth analysis of the Federal Arbitration Act as well as case law concerning the enforcement of employment arbitration agreements and appeals of arbitration awards. It explores—in detail—the design of employment arbitration plans and other unique issues facing those who administer employment arbitration programs.

This treatise also includes a circuit-by-circuit survey of law regarding the enforcement of employment arbitration agreements, a circuit-by-circuit survey of the law of appeals, and a state-by-state survey of contract law as applied to employment arbitration agreements. Practitioners from every jurisdiction in the country will find comprehensive coverage—yet provided in encapsulated format—of statutes and case law that will guide their practice in this complex area of law.

Author Daniel P. O’Meara is a Senior Fellow of the Wharton School Center for Human Resources and Managing Director of the Wharton School Center for Human Resources’ Council on Employee Relations. He is also a partner in Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads, LLP (Philadelphia) and is vice-chair of its Labor and Employment Department. He has tried to conclusion cases in AAA Employment Dispute Arbitration, AAA Labor Arbitration, and NASD Arbitration.

O’Meara Employment Arbitration is available in print at the LexisNexis Online bookstore at here.

SPOTLIGHT ON. . . Pre-Employment Screening Now Part of Business Life; Use New LexisNexis Solutions to Ensure Firm’s Inspection is Accurate, Compliant

“Pre-employment screening is no longer just about the cost of making a bad hire …  It’s also about concern for the safety of others, and your law firm’s reputation. What started as a defensive move has now become good business practice. We use LexisNexis Screening Solutions because they do it right—the right data in the right time.”
                        — Suzanne Perez, Director, Human Resources,
                             Littler Mendelson, PC

Does your library assist human resources in pre-employment screening? Perhaps you weren’t aware that LexisNexis offers firms comprehensive verification and analysis of high-risk employment elements such as education, financial history and legal standing.

With LexisNexis® Screening Solutions for Law Firms, your organization receives accurate information to authenticate the identities of individuals quickly, plus vital intelligence and analytics to help you protect and grow your firm—a valuable service when you consider that the Society of Human Resource Managers estimates more than 30 percent of job applicants “pad” their resume or provide false information.

Although a service separate from www.lexis.com, LexisNexis Screening Solutions still utilizes LexisNexis resources, including the newest technology designed to uncover links and associations between people and businesses. Plus, count on continuous updates to provide the most current results. And LexisNexis Screen Solutions offers data on more people—75 million more—than competing offerings.

LexisNexis Screening Solutions can help your firm:

• Achieve your firm’s hiring due diligence goals;

• Hire the right people the first time;

• Meet legal requirements;

• Protect the assets of your firm;

• Provide a secure professional environment;

• Avoid delays, potential errors and related costs; and

• Make the most of firm resources
  

Your firm can select the pre-set screening package best suited to the job description, or create a customized package based on special needs. Depending on the package selected, search and verification options can include:

• Identity

• National criminal search

• Criminal record search

• Civil record search

• Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) search

• FDA debarment search

• Office of Inspector General (OIG) search

• Driving record search

• Education verification

• Previous employment verification

• Professional license verification

• Drug screening

Learning to use LexisNexis Screening Solutions is simple. With Web-based training, users in most settings can be proficient in 15 to 20 minutes. And users can perform searches one candidate at a time—or upload lists of candidates and search in batches.

The secure online-management system keeps you updated on the status of each search ordered and provides estimated completion times. You can also gain access to real-time status reports of requested background checks. Plus customer service representatives dedicated to LexisNexis Screening Solutions are available to focus on your requirements.

How soon will you see results? Some information can be returned right away, while more comprehensive searches are delivered in an average of two to three days.

Another advantage … LexisNexis Screening Solutions ensures that your background checks comply with federal or jurisdiction-specific regulations. You have access to a Legal Help System featuring content by Littler Mendelson, the nation’s largest employment-law firm representing management. Included are a 50-State Compliant Disclosure and Authorization Form and articles on screening laws and regulations, plus a range of topics such as :

• Overview of the law and your liability

• Developing screening policies and procedures

• Investigating non-employees

• Investigating job applicants

• Pre-employment testing

• Overview of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)and its amendments

• Consumer report obligations

• Investigating current employees

• Preventing identity theft

For more information on LexisNexis Screening Solutions, contact your LexisNexis account executive, or call 800-631-8777.

THRIFTY SEARCHER. . . Dear Thrifty Searcher:

I read with interest the article regarding Daubert Tracker—Case Reports in Update (for February 2007). Wouldn’t case opinions pretty much provide the same information? What extra benefit do you get from searching your Daubert Tracker?
                                                                                Sign me …
                                                                                Challenge Tracker

Dear Challenge Tracker:

First, to refresh readers’ memories, here’s a re-cap of Daubert Tracker—
Case Reports:

Daubert Tracker—Case Reports offer researchers access to information associated with reported as well as unreported “evidentiary gatekeeping” cases, both federal and state jurisdictions, back to 1993. Reports are in list format for precision searching and fast review. Case summaries identify and explain the key reasons for the exclusion or admission of the challenged expert’s testimony.

While reports are organized by expert name and case, you can easily search by judge, jurisdiction (state or federal) and court. Also find out which side hired the expert, who represented for both sides—even find a link to the full-text case.

David Dilenschneider, Director of Industry Relations for LexisNexis and a former practicing litigator, notes that Daubert Tracker—Case Reports, available through LexisNexis® Total Litigator as well as in www.lexis.com, offer three significant advantages over a search through case opinions alone: 

1. Sometimes a case opinion that addresses the admissibility of expert testimony will not specifically mention the expert in question by name.  The summaries in Daubert Tracker—Case Reports actually identify the expert by name (even when the associated case opinion does not). For example, Waggoner v. Amoco Prod. Co., 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 3416 (10th Cir. 1999) refers to expert testimony but does not give the name of the expert in question; the relevant Daubert Tracker case summary indicates that this opinion relates to Nachman Brautbar). 
2. Daubert Tracker—Case Reports cover more opinions, such as state court trial opinions, than those offered by online services. This means that a Daubert Tracker—Case Report user is able to cast a wider (and different) net than when searching regular case opinions. 
3. Daubert Tracker conducts name “normalization.” Because opinions sometimes contain misspellings of experts’ names (e.g., Alan Done, a toxicologist, has had his first name spelled “Allen” in at least two case opinions and “Allan” in at least one), editors at Daubert Tracker—Case Reports double-check the spelling of each expert’s name. That way you’re sure that Allan Done referenced in Blum v. Merrell Dow Pharms., Inc., 1996 Phila. Cty. Rptr. LEXIS 122 is actually Alan Done, and the correct name is noted in the related summary.

LexisNexis™ Information Professional Update
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LexisNexis Information Professional Update is a monthly newsletter (November/December issues combined) for law-firm, law-school, corporate, and government information professionals published by
LexisNexis, P.O. Box 933, Dayton, OH 45401-0933.

Managing Editor
Barbara M. Byrd
barbara.byrd@lexisnexis.com

Contributors
Peter Adams, Beverly Burns, Kara Cox,
Jayne Nash, Carol Sandy

Legal Liaison
Shari Townsend

For comments or questions regarding legal products, contact:
Cindy Spohr, MLS
Senior Director, Librarian Relations Group
cindy.spohr@lexisnexis.com

LexisNexis, lexis.com, Shepard’s, Shepardize, and the Knowledge Burst logo are registered trademarks, and LexisNexis SmartIndexing Technology is a trademark of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used under license. SmartLinx is a registered trademark of LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. CourtLink is a registered trademark of LexisNexis CourtLink, Inc. Matthew Bender and Bender’s Federal Practice Forms are registered trademarks of Matthew Bender Properties Inc. Other products or services may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
© 2007 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier.
All Rights Reserved. LB2007-5 0407

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