Alarmed about the disruption, the employer called Steven Hurd, a partner at the New York law firm Proskauer in its labor and employment law department.

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For its big customers, Reed Elsevier is building a global internet law source, so that a corporate lawyer in New York, say, can quickly retrieve French labor case law in English.

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The appointee will also have the ability to break municipal labor contracts starting later this month when a new state law takes effect.

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He has served as deputy mayor and labor commissioner in New York City and is senior counsel with the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld.

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More importantly, the New York law grants enforcement power to the state's Department of Labor.

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