ICRI introduces revolutionary new legal research technology.NEWPORT BEACH Newport Beach, residential and resort city (1990 pop. 66,643), Orange co., S Calif., on Newport Bay and the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1906. It is a popular seaside resort and yachting center. Manufactures include electrical and medical equipment, computers, boats, and adhesives. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 6, 1996--Combining the best of traditional book research with all the advantages of electronic research, International Compu Research Inc. (ICRI ICRI International Coral Reef Initiative ICRI International Concrete Repair Institute ICRI Institute of Clinical Research (India) ICRI Interdisciplinair Centrum Voor Recht En Informatica ) has introduced FlexLaw, a new computer-aided legal research product available for lawyers on CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). . FlexLaw works the way a researcher thinks. It is designed to bring the research tool to the researcher by using revolutionary new technology that actually recognizes the difference between the discourse of legal doctrine Legal doctrine is a framework, set of rules, procedural steps, or test, often established through precedent in the common law, through which judgments can be determined in a given legal case. and the discourse of factual scripts as it is used in the text of thousands of court cases. One of the major advantages of traditional library research has been the way information is organized and sorted for the researcher, such as a table of contents in a book or an alphabetical index in an encyclopedia encyclopedia, compendium of knowledge, either general (attempting to cover all fields) or specialized (aiming to be comprehensive in a particular field). Encyclopedias and Other Reference Books . Of course, the primary benefit of electronic research is the speed it brings to the research process, enabling the researcher to access dozens of cases or articles in a matter of seconds. ICRI's breakthrough technology combines these benefits with the use of a patented hierarchical A structure made up of different levels like a company organization chart. The higher levels have control or precedence over the lower levels. Hierarchical structures are a one-to-many relationship; each item having one or more items below it. concepts lexicon. Unlike current electronic research tools that force users to search with very specific words and then looks to find matches, FlexLaw invites the researcher to enter a variety of terms in each of four quadrants: Concepts, Cited Cases, Statutes and Facts. After the search is run, the best matches -- ranked in order according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. how close a match FlexLaw computes them to be -- are displayed for review. "FlexLaw is more than a database of cases with a search engine," said Norman Wolfe, general manager of ICRI. "It is a knowledge system that truly assists the legal researcher by automating the research process in a way that integrates the best of the traditional world of print and the new world of information technology." The way that cases are displayed is another key feature of this new technology. FlexLaw provides an abstract of each case that allows the researcher to understand the fundamental contents without the need to read the case. Since the abstracts are created electronically, they are objective and free from interpretation -- this empowers the researcher with the ability to quickly and accurately identify on-point cases. Moreover, FlexLaw retrieves cases in ranked order and ensures that relevant documents are ranked ahead of other less-relevant documents. "The first users of our product have found that, in addition to its revolutionary new searching technology, FlexLaw provides all the expected benefits of doing research in an electronic medium -- speed, access and portability," said Wolfe. International Compu Research is the exclusive worldwide developer and marketer of FlexLaw, a revolutionary new automated au·to·mate v. au·to·mat·ed, au·to·mat·ing, au·to·mates v.tr. 1. To convert to automatic operation: automate a factory. 2. legal software tool on CD-ROM. The company has headquarters at 1401 Dove St., Suite 500, Newport Beach, Calif. 92660; 800/392-4274, with an additional office in Vancouver, British Columbia British Columbia, province (2001 pop. 3,907,738), 366,255 sq mi (948,600 sq km), including 6,976 sq mi (18,068 sq km) of water surface, W Canada. Geography . CONTACT: Teague Communications Daryn Teague, 805/287-3939 teaguecomm@aol.com (e-mail) |
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