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Information Professional Update
Issue 6, June 2007

• Spotlight On ... New LexisNexis® Clipperpowered by Ozmosys® Helps You Create Customized Internal Newsletters
• Knowledge Exchange ... Is the Toast Burnt? Speak Up! LexisNexis is Listening
• For IPs Only ... LexisNexis Exhibit Stations to Showcase 20+ Products
• Online With ... Subsequent Case History May Not Show “Foundation Cracks”; Use Shepard’s® Table of Authorities to Choose Firm Footings
• FYI Flash ... Compile Detailed Background on Decision Makers With New LexisNexis® Executive Dossier
  

New LexisNexis® Clipper powered by Ozmosys Helps You Create Customized Internal E-Newsletters

Your practice areas need frequent updates on legal/regulatory trends in their specialties … PR wants to share details about the firm’s recent, favorable press coverage … One of Marketing’s missions is to keep senior management apprised of what your competitors are doing.

Many departments … many goals … one, easy-to-use updating package.
LexisNexis Clipper powered by Ozmosys gives you the ability to produce electronic newslettersand briefings for any group of internal recipients. Draw content from the LexisNexis services.

(If you subscribe to LexisNexis® Publisher, you can pull in alerts from LexisNexis news as well.) Or go beyond—and leverage content from other premium providers and aggregators. Include updates from the Web at large, including government agency sites, the Federal Register, RSS feeds and more than 2,000 targeted, quality Web sites and blogs.

Whereas LexisNexis® Total Alerts powered by Ozmosys allows you to combine LexisNexis and other premium/Web content into customized e-mail messages for individual professionals, reach out to like-minded groups with LexisNexis Clipper powered by Osmosys. You can:

So where does LexisNexis Clipper powered by Ozmosys fit into the LexisNexis Current Awareness offering? How is it best used? Delivered through a variety of methods and delivery times, LexisNexis Current Awareness products provide critical information to individuals and/or the entire organization.

LexisNexis® Current Awareness Building Blocks

Is the Toast Burnt? Speak up! LexisNexis is Listening!

by Michael Saint-Onge, LexisNexis Senior Librarian Relations Consultant

One of my favorite jokes is about a mother and a father whose infant son never made a sound. As the child grew, he didn’t speak. They took him to specialist after specialist, all of whom confirmed that there was nothing physically wrong with the child. One day, when the boy was 15, as his mother made his breakfast, the boy turned to her and said, “The toast is burnt.”

The mother and father looked at each other with gaping mouths, and then asked the boy, “Why haven’t you said a word up until now?”

“Well,” the boy answered, shrugging, “Up until now, everything was pretty good!”
That joke makes me laugh. I think it is human nature to keep quiet about what is working well, and to speak up only when something isn’t working quite right. The real trick, however, is voicing your concerns and suggestions and getting them heard by the appropriate people.

The good news? LexisNexis is making it easier to do just that!

Last year, the LexisNexis Presidents and CEOs Mike Walsh (legal markets) and Kurt Sanford (corporate markets) instituted an ambitious program called “The Voice of the Customer.” The goal: to capture and consolidate customer comments, gathered from more than 1,500 sales representatives, other LexisNexis employees and thousands of daily Customer Support interactions.

This feedback is compiled into a monthly report by Customer Support and sent to Sales and Marketing management for review. The report identifies top issues and trends, and targets any suggestions for appropriate action within the company.
This means your comments and suggestions are getting attention from the very individuals within the company who can act on them.

Librarians have several additional ways to make their concerns known: The LexisNexis Librarian Relations Group—the first librarian-centric group created by a major legal publisher—is a great conduit for your suggestions. In fact, it is one of the most important aspects of my job as a LexisNexis Librarian Relations Consultant. My fellow LRCs and I take this responsibility seriously. As you know, librarians are some of the most discriminating users of lexis.com®, so their suggestions are usually “spot on.” It is particularly gratifying to see our products improve as a direct result of input gathered from librarians.

Another way that librarians offer input is through the LexisNexis Librarian Advisory Board. This group of librarians, chosen from medium to large law firms across the country, has a unique perspective. They are often the first to see new products and services, and their feedback helps shape the final product. LexisNexis has found their input to be very valuable.

Lastly, there is a feedback button within lexis.com—up in the upper right-hand corner. Have you noticed it? This button links you to a feedback form that offers a convenient way for you to suggest product enhancements for the LexisNexis services at lexis.com. Product enhancements include Web site design suggestions, requests for new or improved features and functions, browser compatibility concerns, and other input on how we can make the product better. These suggestions go directly to the product developers. (Please note that this button is for product enhancements only. If you have other issues, such as data errors or account questions, Customer Support is still the best place to contact.)

Of course it isn’t possible to implement every suggestion that comes from customers. As a business, we have to weigh each suggestion against its feasibility, and prioritize accordingly, but your comments and suggestions are noticed, and ultimately the products we offer are stronger for it. So the next time the proverbial “toast is burnt,” let us know. We’re listening!

And Don’t Forget the AALL Forum …

Many top LexisNexis product experts plus marketing management, LexisNexis Information Professional Update editorial staff—and the entire team of LexisNexis Librarian Relations Consultants—make attending the AALL Annual Meeting a top priority so they can talk to you. Please take advantage of this opportunity and visit with us during the Opening Event, on the Exhibition floor, or any convenient opportunity during the meeting.

LexisNexis Exhibit Stations to Showcase 20+ Products

LexisNexis Booth 321 Exhibition Hours:    
Sunday, July 15, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Monday, July 16, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Tuesday, July 17, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Here’s another AALL meeting tradition—talking with the LexisNexis product developers and seeing the latest pipeline products. Also test drive new products or get more details on the LexisNexis resources you use most. (The LexisNexis product experts always bring their treasure chests of product features to share with their best librarian customers.)

Watch and win! This year if you view at least three demos, you’ll receive a LexisNexis tote—big enough (and sturdy enough) to hold your meeting materials and exhibit floor goodies. But stay around for at least six demos. You’ll receive the tote and a New Orleans Jazz CD. But wait! Look inside the CD jewel case and discover a LexisNexis Rewards Card worth 1,250 points. (That’s a $25 value you can use when selecting a variety of merchandise at the LexisNexis Online Rewards site. Directions on your card give you ordering details. And your LexisNexis Librarian Relations Consultant can tell you how to earn more points for larger rewards.) 

At the AALL Annual Meeting, Research Solutions reign. But, since many law librarians’ jobs are evolving to include more business—growing additional business and maintaining the bottom line—LexisNexis will showcase its full spectrum of LexisNexis® Total Practice Solutions—Research solutions,—Litigation Services solutions,—Client Development solutions and—Practice Management solutions. Don’t miss it!

Also review martindale.com®—and all of its powerful listing and profile opportunities.

 LexisNexis is Also Proud to Sponsor …

these important AALL meeting events. Locations for all these events are governed by AALL and will be announced closer to the date of the show. (Check your official program for locations.)

AALL/LexisNexis Call for Papers to Spotlight Librarian Authors

If you want to add “author” to your list of accomplishments, don’t miss this special session Tuesday, July 17, from 10:45 – 11:45 a.m. (Check your official program for location.) The award-winning authors of the 2007 AALL LexisNexis Call for Papers competition will discuss how they chose their subjects and prepared their papers, including the challenges of scheduling writing time into their full work schedules. Also get publishing advice and tips for submitting articles and paper to AALL professional literature.

Special Dinner to Honor Scholarship and Grant Recipients

The American Association of Law Libraries is committed to providing opportunities for individuals striving to become law librarians as well as to law librarians who strive to enrich their professional growth. On Monday, July 16, AALL and LexisNexis will honor 2007 and past grant and scholarship winners with a special invitation-only dinner.

LexisNexis and its family of companies have supported the AALL Grant Program almost since its inception in 1952. Today, as AALL continues to provide financial assistance to law librarians and/or graduate students who hold promise of future involvement in AALL and in the law library profession, LexisNexis continues its support.

The LexisNexis John R. Johnson Memorial Scholarship is the first AALL named and endowed scholarship. It honors the first Director of Librarian Relations at LexisNexis. In addition, the James F. Connolly Academic & Library Solutions Scholarship memorializes this Matthew Bender® executive and lifelong working support of the profession.

Watch for the names of the 2007 grant program winners and LexisNexis-sponsored scholarship winners in a future issue of LexisNexis Information Professional Update.

Subsequent Case History May Not Show “Foundation Cracks”; Use Shepard’s® Table of Authorities to Choose Firm Footings

Underpinnings … you hear it during case-law research, e.g., to check the underpinning of your case. But what does it mean?

Think of the underpinnings as the foundation. And like the foundation of a house, even an architectural masterpiece can be sitting on a foundation that’s ready to sink. The trick, of course, is to discover the foundation’s weaknesses before you build your house.

Shepard’s Table of Authorities (TOA) offers in-depth foundational analysis for your case-law research. While Shepardizing™ your case shows you how courts have treated that case subsequently, a TOA report delves into what’s happened to the cases that built the foundation of your case. It does this by showing you the cases your case cited and includes Shepard’s Signal™ indicators to show how these cases have been treated thereafter.

Here’s a hypothetical example:

A researcher Shepardizes Case A, and it seems to be good law (i.e., there is no negative subsequent treatment). But upon using the Shepard’s TOA for Case A, the researcher sees that Case A relies upon (aka “follows”) Case B, and that Case B has a red Warning Shepard’s Signal. When the researcher Shepardizes Case B, he discovers that it has been overruled or reversed (or the like) by Case C. Because Case A relies on Case B, which is no longer good law, the researcher determines that Case A itself is no longer good law.

Foundational erosion happens … probably more often than you’d like to think. In fact, written opinions are filled with discussions about undermined cases. Some more recent examples:

“Moreover, the reasoning utilized in the second case relied upon by the Fifth Circuit in United States v. Kelley 140 F.3d 596 (5th Cir. 1998) was effectively overruled by Groh v. Ramirez, 540 U.S. 551 (2004).” United States v. Evans, 2007
U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5842, --- n9 (D. Mt. 2007)

“Cunningham, the case on which Vanschoyck relies, was based on Arceneaux and the cases that have now been specifically overruled. . . . Clearly, Cunningham no longer is in accord with the precedents of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.” Vanschoyck v. State, 2006 Tex. App. LEXIS 1936, *4 (Tex. App. 2006)

Consider adding Shepard’s Table of Authorities to your standard case-law verification checks.

Let’s walk through an example. If you look at the Shepard’s report for Juncker v. Tinney, 549 F. Supp. 574, you’ll see that it hasn’t received negative subsequent treatment. (In fact, positive treatment is indicated.) But is it still good law?

You can request a Shepard’s Table of Authorities report three ways:

1. Click the TOA link at the top of a Shepard’s report.
2. Click the TOA link at the top-right side of the screen while viewing a case.
3. Click the Shepard’s tab on the main www.lexis.com menu screen and choose the Table of Authorities option tab.
   

When your Shepard’s TOA report displays, it lists cases in the following order:

Many of the features and functionality you find useful in Shepard’s Citations Service are also available through Shepard’s Table of Authorities, including the FOCUS™—Restrict By feature, “pinpoint” page citations and the ability to print
Table of Authorities reports.

Here are more details:

Compile Detailed Background on Decision Makers With New LexisNexis® Executive Dossier

Q: How many LexisNexis searches does it take to get a current snapshot of that executive on your radar screen? It could be a new client, a prospect or an opposing party. You could be looking for conflicts of interest, or just trying to gain a better understanding of a company’s leadership for an upcoming deal. Still you need all the pertinent facts.

A: One. That is, just one search in new LexisNexis Executive Dossier.

Click the Dossier link on your lexis.com menu screen, and now you have three options: LexisNexis® Company Dossier, LexisNexis® Industry Dossier and LexisNexis Executive Dossier. LexisNexis Company Dossier and Industry Dossier compile the best current business intelligence available through the LexisNexis services into a single, organized report on specific companies and industries. LexisNexis Executive Dossier brings you that same one-search convenience for compiling executive information.

Together LexisNexis Company Dossier, LexisNexis Industry Dossier and new LexisNexis Executive Dossier offer a complete corporate picture—reaching beyond news and corporate developments to include key financial health, executive backgrounds and hard-to-find details on internal corporate structures.

With a single search, LexisNexis Executive Dossier pinpoints biographical information, recent news, including negative news, legislative information, current SEC filings and recent case law associated with an executive.

And not only can you build executive profiles, but LexisNexis Executive Dossier can also compile executive lists based on a variety of criteria you select, such as job function, geographic area, company revenue or specialty—even SIC or NAICS codes. A perfect way to compile prospect lists, direct marketing target lists and more.

More than 58 million executives worldwide are covered in LexisNexis Executive Dossier, which gathers its intelligence from premiere executive resources, including S&P Corporate Register of Directors & Executives, Dun’s Decision Makers, Dun & Bradstreet® Executive Affiliations and Dun’s Principals, pluscurrent news from more than 22,000 news and business sources. All combined into one, easy-to-browse report that’s also simple to print, download or import into Microsoft® Excel® or CRM application.

You can also begin your research in LexisNexis Company Dossier, and link from the report to executive details.

LexisNexis Executive Dossier is now available through lexis.com Use it when you need it on a transactional basis. Subscriptions are also available. For more information on LexisNexis Executive Dossier—and all LexisNexis Dossier products—contact your LexisNexis account executive.

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, martindale.com and the Knowledge Burst logo are registered trademarks, and FOCUS, LexisNexis SmartIndexing Technology, Shepardizing and Shepard’s Signal are trademarks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used under license. SmartLinx is a registered trademark, and PowerInvoice, TotalPatent and atVantage are trademarks of LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. CaseMap, TimeMap, TextMap and CourtLink are registered trademarks of LexisNexis CourtLink, Inc. HotDocs is a registered trademark of Matthew Bender & Company, Inc. Matthew Bender is a registered trademark 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. LB2007-6 0507

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