METHOD OF DOING BUSINESS PROVIDING LITIGATION SERVICES USING A VIRTUAL SCRIPTING ROOM

• US 20110106716A1
• Filed: 11/04/2010
• Published: 05/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nicholas T. Hariton
• Original Assignee: Nicholas T. Hariton
• Inventors: Hariton, Nicholas T.
• Granted Patent: US 9,792,584 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/311
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/18 Legal services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

A method for preparing a presentation connects a plurality of geographically dispersed contributors to a controller through a network to collaborate to prepare the presentation, allows the contributors to propose contributions to the presentation residing on storage devices under the control of the contributors, makes the proposed contributions available for viewing and comment by all contributors, allows the controller to select one or more of the proposed contributions, and provides the controller access through the network to the storage devices to retrieve the selected contributions for inclusion into the presentation.

Claims

1. A method for providing litigation services, said method comprising:

locating a person, designated to be a scripting controller, at a first location including a computer connected to a network;

providing software to run at least in part on the computer at the first location, the software operating to

a) cause a draft multimedia litigation script to be visible on a plurality of computer monitors connected via the network to a plurality of contributors, at least one of the contributors being located at a location remote from the first location, the draft multimedia litigation script including at least an outline of at least one of an opening statement, witness testimony and a closing statement,

b) display changes to the draft litigation script, proposed by any of the plurality of contributors, in real time to all of the plurality of contributors and to the scripting controller,

c) accept input, in real time, received from any of the plurality of contributors concerning a particular proposed change, for display to all of the plurality of contributors, and

d) selectively revise the draft litigation script under the control of the scripting controller to include the particular proposed change after the input concerning the particular proposed change has been reviewed by at least some of the plurality of contributors and the scripting controller to create a revised litigation script; and

using the revised litigation script to organize a presentation of evidence in support of litigation.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the software further comprises:

providing video teleconferencing software to present real time views of the scripting controller and the contributors to each other at least during selectively revising the draft litigation script.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein using the revised litigation script to present evidence in support of litigation further comprises:

retrieving at least a portion of the evidence via the network from the remote location.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the revised litigation script includes retrieval path data permitting the evidence to be retrieved via the network.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein using the revised litigation script to organize a presentation of evidence in support of litigation further comprises:

organizing the evidence in an initial sequence; and

modifying the initial sequence of the evidence into a different sequence in said presentation of evidence in response to events occurring, or the non-occurrence of events expected to occur, in a court room.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing separate video monitors in the first location for display to each remotely located contributor.

7. The method of claim 1 including operating said software to also display proposed changes to the script proposed by a remotely located contributor at a different time.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein using the revised litigation script to organize a presentation of evidence in support of litigation further comprises:

providing a copy of the presentation being made in real time for remotely located potential contributors.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the first location is a virtual scripting room.

10. The method of claim 1 including presenting said presentation of evidence in at least one of a court room, a conference room, an arbitration facility and a mediation facility.

11. A method for providing litigation services to a plurality of clients, said method comprising:

identifying the first location of claim 1 as a central location used by a group of persons providing litigation services for preparing litigation scripts; and

repeating the method of claim 1 for a plurality of different clients at different times to produce a customized revised litigation script for each client.

12. A method for providing litigation services for a client, said method comprising:

identifying the first location of claim 1 as a location, under the control of said client;

moving a group of persons to the first location to provide said litigation services relating to a plurality of different litigation matters; and

repeating the method of claim 1 for each litigation matter to prepare a plurality of revised litigation scripts as directed by said group of persons for the client.