M. Lee Smith forms groundbreaking network. (Launches).

M. Lee Smith Publishers, which offers more than 130 publications for human resources professionals, business executives, and attorneys, earlier this month launched a nationwide network of employment law attorneys.

The National Employers Counsel Network comprises employment law firms from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, whose attorneys provide editorial content for M. Lee Smith Publishers' 51 state-specific employment law letters. Each of the law firms generally represents management on employment and labor issues and disputes.

Law firms in the network can help employers, for example, by advising on policies and procedures, Family and Medical Leave Act, and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, harrassment and discrimination issues, wage and hour claims, and many other legal matters. Even if an employer has local counsel, publisher M. Lee Smith says, the network can connect companies with qualified counsel in other parts of the country "when legal matters cross state lines, as they often do."

In addition to the U.S. law firms, the network includes the largest law firm in Canada--McCarthy Tetrault. The firm has offices in most of the country's provinces, and its attorneys regularly contribute articles to Smith's Employment Law Letters on Canadian employment law issues for U.S. employers.

"Through their membership in NECN, each law firm will not only have its visibility enhanced within its own state," Smith says, "but also will be able to help businesses in other states with in-state employment law issues. The fact that NECN is the only network of its kind with a large national subscriber list is an enormous advantage over other networks."

P.O. Box 5094. Brentwood, TN 37024, 615-373-7517, fax [phone], www.mleesmith.com