Practical guidance offering with ‘how to’ information, model documents and in-depth information eases burden of time-intensive activities; allows for more strategic and focused use of resources

November 1, 2012 — LexisNexis® Legal & Professional, a leading provider of content and technology solutions, today announced the debut of a new practical guidance resource for corporate legal departments. The Lexis® Practice Advisor Corporate Counsel module offers insights and resources addressing the topics, transactions and perspectives most critical to in-house practitioners. It includes step-by-step ‘how to’ information, sample documents with practical annotations and deeper legal analysis, focused on the pertinent steps of a transaction from beginning to end. Putting key resources and guidance at in-house lawyers’ fingertips, the Corporate Counsel module simplifies and accelerates the execution of routine transactional matters and ultimately allows a more focused and effective execution of transactional and general business matters.

“Today’s corporate practitioners are facing unprecedented pressures. They need to handle a broad range of legal transactions that require deep knowledge of best practices, regulations and industry issues, all while tasked to limit both staff and use of outside counsel resources for mission-critical activity,” said Suzanne Petren Moritz, vice president and managing director for Lexis Practice Advisor. “With guidance, content and tools directly applicable to corporate transactions, Lexis Practice Advisor‘s Corporate Counsel module allows in-house attorneys to spend more time on the finer points of negotiating and executing a deal, and less on handling or supervising routine issues.”

The Corporate Counsel module was developed with input from more than 350 in-house attorneys and features a step-by-step, instructive format, which presents only content that is relevant to the transaction at hand, saving users time spent on sifting through irrelevant documents or information. The module’s guidance and commentary is written by leading practitioners at respected law firms, such as Winston & Strawn LLP, Littler Mendelson, Perkins Coie, and Murray, Hogue & Lannis, as well as a dedicated team of former in-house attorneys, enabling users to draft documents and negotiate transactions efficiently, confidently and in-line with current legal and market trends.

“In my role as General Counsel, it is important that I can quickly educate myself on areas of the law that I do not deal with on a daily basis, so I can address a particular issue or intelligently direct outside counsel to do so,” said A. Brad Busscher, General Counsel at Incapital LLC, a beta tester of the Corporate Counsel module. “Lexis Practice Advisor is easy to use and may translate to reduced expenditure.”

The content within the Corporate Counsel offering contains step-by-step, ‘how to’ practical guidance, checklists and model documents with alternate clauses that cover transactions in all 50 states. Attorneys new to in-house practice can quickly become familiar with a wide range of transactions and general business matters, select the right templates and checklists to start the process; and more seasoned corporate attorneys can refresh their knowledge of specific topics, particularly as laws change rapidly and are often not standardized across jurisdictions. Every topic and transaction in the Corporate Counsel module includes hand-picked, relevant content from across the Lexis portfolio. It also contains access to analytical material from Matthew Bender® and cases, codes and regulations relevant to corporate attorneys.

The Lexis Practice Advisor Corporate Counsel module complements a legal department’s existing contracts database and legal research subscription and is available as a stand-alone product or in conjunction with a lexis.com® subscription. The Web-based product is offered on an annual all-inclusive, flat-fee subscription basis with unlimited access and downloads, making it a predictable cost for in-house legal departments.

The Lexis Practice Advisor Corporate Counsel module follows the successful introduction of the Business Law module in January 2012, the Financial Restructuring & Bankruptcy module in May 2012 and the California module in August 2012. Additional Lexis Practice Advisor modules will be available in early 2013, including ‘Securities & Capital Markets’ and ‘Mergers & Acquisitions.’ More information about the Lexis Practice Advisor offering is available at http://www.lexisnexis.com/en-us/products/lexis-practice-advisor.page.

Screenshots of the Lexis Practice Advisor Corporate Counsel module can be downloaded here:


About LexisNexis Legal & Professional
LexisNexis® Legal & Professional is a leading global provider of content and technology solutions that enable professionals in legal, corporate, tax, government, academic and non-profit organizations to make informed decisions and achieve better business outcomes. As a digital pioneer, the company was the first to bring legal and business information online with its Lexis® and Nexis® services. Today, LexisNexis Legal & Professional harnesses leading-edge technology and world-class content, to help professionals work in faster, easier and more effective ways. Through close collaboration with its customers, the company ensures organizations can leverage its solutions to reduce risk, improve productivity, increase profitability and grow their business. Part of Reed Elsevier, LexisNexis Legal & Professional serves customers in more than 100 countries with 10,000 employees worldwide.