Immigration Law Interactive Drafting System

Immigration Law Interactive Drafting System

Matthew Bender's newest addition to their Authority series is their second venture into the world of immigration forms.

The new product, called Immigration Law Interactive Drafting System (IDS), enters what is becoming a crowded field of immigration forms programs. Even Matthew Bender's previous forms program, the Electronic Immigration Lawyers Assistant (EILA), is now an independent product.

The practice of immigration law requires the completion of numerous forms. Much of the information is repetitive, making forms programs imperative to eliminating the constant retyping of information.

IDS utilizes Capsoft's HotDocs and therein lies one of its main problems. In an age when users are looking for ways to allow their staffs to think less about file management and more about getting the correct and complete information on the forms, IDS requires you to work first in HotDocs and then again in IDS. They do, at least, remind you to do so, but it is extra work.

A reminder feature pops up whenever you complete a form to notify you if everything has not been filled in on that form. This feature -- absent from other immigration forms programs I've seen on the market -- is extremely important since forms will be rejected if you don't give an answer in every box. With IDS, however, it's difficult to put an answer in every box the first time around because certain boxes that require dates will not accept "n/a" unless you edit them manually after completing the form.

IDS also defaults too quickly to addendums. Their ETA-750B is a particular problem. In my region, the Department of Labor requires that you fill in all the boxes on the form before putting anything on an addendum. Further, instead of creating additional subsections for item 15 of that form, as other forms systems do, IDS goes to a plain paper addendum after item 15c. With government employees used to looking for boxes, this is not good methodology.

The Supplement 1 to the I-129 (for additional employees) is another problem. The system will only take five additional aliens. The actual government form has room for 10. If you happen to be representing a minor league hockey team with 14 H-2B aliens, it's back to a typewriter. The system will not even default to a plain paper addendum for this part of the I-129 form.

IDS is a bit pricey at $505. I have found only one other immigration forms system that costs more.

A Matthew Bender spokesperson indicated that when there are updates, subscribers will be informed of the cost of the new forms. Their first update, dated December 1997, is available for download for free from the Matthew Bender Web site. Unfortunately, there have not been any additional updates as of May 1998. The Prevailing Wage form for the State of Texas was changed Feb. 27, 1998. This means that the version supplied on the current IDS system isn't supposed to be used any longer.

In immigration law, the selection and completion of forms is the practice of law. Which forms were selected to go on a system tells you a lot about the product. IDS does not have the EOIR-29, EOIR-40, I-192, I-612 or N-565. They do have the G-325B and G-325C, which are not found on most other systems, even though the G-325C is only used in overseas refugee processing, rarely done by most attorneys. Inter-
estingly enough, the system contains the DS-1743, which was discontinued in 1991.

A good immigration forms software package will increase a law firm's efficiency. Forms can be corrected much more quickly when they are stored on a computer, as long as they are the correct versions of the forms. An inquiry to Matthew Bender regarding how they will know when there is a new form or a change on a form elicited a response from their spokesperson that the government will inform them.

In this field, older versions of forms are often rejected by government agencies. When that happens, your client may lose the ability to stay in the United States. Considering how important it is for the practitioner to have the correct version of a form, the company producing the forms package must take a proactive approach to keeping the proper versions of the forms on their system. Matthew Bender is a large enough company to do this. It remains to be seen if they will.

Matthew Bender
(800) 533-1637
www.bender.com
DOS, Windows

$505

Reviewed by Eugene J. Flynn, Esq., attorney, certified in immigration and nationality law, Dallas, Texas

Aug/Sep '98 Issue

PROS
If every box has not been filled in on a form, the system will tell you.

CONS
Expensive. Missing current forms, and contains out-of-date forms. The integration between HotDocs and the client database needs to be improved -- it's almost like running two separate programs.

VERDICT
Not recommend it at this time because of above Cons and since Matthew Bender does not seem to have a system in place for the replacement of outdated forms.