Systems and methods for managing documents for law firms

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017344947-A1
Application number	US-201715633481-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 26, 2017
Priority date	Dec 30, 2002
Publication date	Nov 30, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present inventors devised unique systems, methods, interfaces, and software for managing and leveraging knowledge in law firms and potentially other enterprises. For example, one system provides a single user interface for researching case law for online legal research service and identifying and accessing law-firm documents.

First claim

1 - 11 . (canceled)

12 . A system for a knowledge management system comprising:
a processor; and a memory that contains instructions that are readable by the processor and cause the processor to:
receive a query that indicates at least one legal topic;
provide a response to the query indicating each work-product document and each case law document that matches the at least one legal topic; and
indicate, in the response provided to the query, a reliability of each work-product document using:
a validity indicator for each work-product document the validity indicator for each work-product document indicating a validity status of at least one case cited within each work-product document; and
a rating indicator for each work-product document, the rating indicator for each work-product document indicating a user rating of each work-product document based on previous users of each work-product document.

13 . The system recited in claim 12 , wherein the query indicates the at least one legal topic from a hierarchy of legal topics.

14 . The system as recited in claim 12 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
receive a second query for a particular case law document; and provide a second response to the second query indicating each work-product document which includes at least one legal citation associated with the particular case law document according to a depth-of-treatment value, the depth-of-treatment value indicates a degree to which each work-product document evaluates the particular case law document.

15 . The system recited in claim 14 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
index each work-product document according to a hierarchy of legal topics based on the at least one legal citation and the set of text; and index each case law document according to the hierarchy of legal topics.

16 . The system recited in claim 14 , wherein the degree to which each work-product document is evaluated is based on at least a count that each legal citation references the particular case law document.

17 . The system recited in claim 14 , wherein, each work-product document and each case law document is associated with a respective date, wherein, the second response is organized according to the depth-of-treatment value and a chronological order based on the respective date.

18 . The system recited in claim 12 , wherein the query is an enterprise search query.

19 . The system recited in claim 12 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
determine the validity status of the at least one case cited within each work-product document, resulting in the validity indicator used in the indication of reliability of each work-product document.

20 . The system recited in claim 12 , wherein, prior to providing the response, the processor is operable to:
retrieve each work-product document that matches the at least one legal topic from a first database; and retrieve each case law document that matches the at least one legal topic from a second database.

21 . The system recited in of claim 18 , wherein the first and second databases are separated by a firewall.

22 . The system recited in claim 12 , wherein the processor further converts at least one work-product document of the each work-product document into a markup language.

23 . The system recited in claim 12 , wherein the query is received from an agent of a law firm, via a user-device, wherein each work-product document comprises internal law-firm content including at least one of briefs, client letters and legal memoranda.

24 . The system recited in claim 12 , wherein, each work-product document and each case law document is associated with a respective date, wherein, each work-product document and non-work product document that matches the at least one legal topic indicated by the response, is organized according to a chronological order based on the respective date.

25 . The system recited in claim 12 , wherein the processor is further operable to:
provide the hierarchy of legal topics for display on a user-device; and indicate a number of work-product documents associated with each legal topic of the hierarchy of legal topics.

26 . The system recited in claim 12 , wherein each work-product document is associated with an indicator that identifies an author of the work-product document and an office location of the author.

27 . A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media having software encoded thereon, the software, when executed by a processor, operable to:
index at least one work-product document from a law firm according to a hierarchy of legal topics based on at least one legal citation and at least a set of text corresponding to the at least one work-product document, each legal citation further associated with a case law document having legal precedence; receive a query that indicates at least one legal topic from the hierarchy of legal topics; and provide a response to the query indicating each work-product document that matches the at least one legal topic and each case law document associated with each legal citation corresponding to each work-product document; and indicate, in the response provided to the query, a reliability of each work-product document using:
a validity indicator, the validity indicator indicating a legal precedence validity status of each case law document associated with each legal citation corresponding to each work-product document; and
a rating indicator, the rating indicator indicating a user rating of each work-product document based on previous users of each work-product document.

28 . The non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 29 , wherein, the software, when executed by the processor, is further operable to:
index each case law document according to the hierarchy of legal topics, and wherein, when the response to the query further indicates each case law document that matches the at least one legal topic.

29 . The non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 30 , wherein, the software, when executed by the processor, is further operable to:
determine the validity indicator for each case law document.

30 . A method for facilitating a knowledge management system comprising:
receiving at least one work-product document from a law firm, each work-product document including at least one legal citation and at least a set of text, the at least one legal citation associated with a non-work-product document having legal precedence; indexing each work-product document according to a hierarchy of legal topics based on the at least one legal citation and the set of text; indexing each non-work-product document associated with the at least one legal citation included in each work-product document according to the hierarchy of legal topics; generating a validity indicator that indicates a validity status of the legal precedence for each non-work-product document associated with the at least one legal citation included in each work-product document; generating an indicator that indicates a user rating of each work-product document based on previous users of each work-product document; receiving a query that indicates at least one legal topic of the hierarchy of legal topics; and providing a response to the query indicating each work-product document and non-work-product document that matches the at least one legal topic, the response indicating a reliability of each work-product document using the validity indicator for

Assignees

• Thomson Reuters Global Resources

Inventors

• Rhoads Forrest
• Liggett Trace

Classifications

• G06Q10/10 Primary

  Office automation; Time management · CPC title

• G06Q50/184

  Intellectual property management · CPC title

• G06Q50/18

  Legal services · CPC title