Computerized system and method for creating aggregate profile reports regarding litigants, attorneys, law firms, judges, and cases by type and by court from court docket records

• US 9,734,241 B2
• Filed: 06/21/2005
• Issued: 08/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RELX Inc. (RELX PLC)
• Original Assignee: LexisNexis Group Inc. (RELX PLC)
• Inventors: Slovak, Marc B., Stehr, Kevin R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gilkey, Carrie S
• Application Number:
  US11/157,177
• Publication Number:
  US 20060129593A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,438 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/313 Selection or weighting of terms for indexing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/338 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/345 Summarisation for human users
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/18 Legal services

Abstract

Computerized method for aggregating relevant information from court records and presenting such information in electronic reports including tables and charts. There are five types of reports that focus on cases filed by Litigant, Attorney or Law Firm, Judge, Court, and Nature of Suit. A History option also is provided, in which are grouped all reports previously run by the user in one table. The user inputs a time frame and identifies specific reporting entities. The process accepts these inputs and constructs a list of cases that meet the specified criteria. The information in the list is presented to the user as a multi-part report containing tables and charts of aggregate information of particular interest to the user. Most report sections allow for “drilldowns” that bring additional specific focus to the reports. The reports are also configurable in a variety of ways including selecting graph types and section inclusion/exclusion.

Claims

1. A method for aggregating and presenting relevant information implemented using a programmable data processing apparatus having computer-readable memory storing a database, the method comprising the steps of using said programmable data processing apparatus to:

store a set of data, received from a public records host server, in a plurality of computer-readable database tables in the database;

present a user with a first interface to choose a strategic profile report wherein a set of computer-executable instructions, associated with each strategic profile report, is configured to query one or more of said computer readable database tables to produce said chosen strategic profile report;

receive a strategic profile report selection;

query at least one of said computer-readable database tables based on computer-executable instructions associated with said strategic profile report selection;

generate a second interface comprising a set of hyperlinks wherein each of said hyperlinks represents a discrete data point, which is displayed as the text portion of each of the hyperlinks, and, upon selection, executes an associated set of computer-executable instructions to

construct a query using said data point as an input parameter;

query and filter said computer-readable database tables using said query;

generate a third interface comprising a subset of data from said computer-readable database tables filtered by said data point.

2. A method for aggregating and presenting relevant information from public records as claimed in claim 1 wherein

said strategic profile report is chosen from the group consisting of:

a litigant strategic profile report;

an attorney strategic profile report;

a judicial strategic profile report,

a court strategic profile report; and

a nature of suit strategic profile report; and

said computer-readable database tables comprise;

a docket table configured to store data comprising a list of cases and their causes of action;

a litigant table configured to store data comprising a unique list of litigants;

a litigant link table configured to store data comprising litigants from said list of litigants, a set of cases associated with each of said litigants, and a position for each of said litigants in each of said set of cases;

an attorney table configured to store data comprising a unique list of attorneys and their law firms,

an attorney link table configured to store data comprising a relationship, if applicable, between each litigant in said list of litigants and each attorney in said list of attorneys where a given attorney represented a given litigant and each case from said list of cases involving said given attorney;

a judge table configured to store data comprising a list of judges; and

a judge link table configured to store data comprising a relationship, if applicable, between each judge in said list of judges and each case in said list of cases that a given judge participated in.

3. A method for aggregating and presenting relevant information as claimed in claim 2 wherein each hyperlink, in said set of hyperlinks in said second interface, for an “

attorney strategic profile report”

further comprises one or more aggregations chosen from the list consisting of an aggregation of clients represented by said attorney;

types of cases represented by said attorney, judges said attorney has appeared before, states/courts said attorney has appeared before, and other attorneys said attorney has worked with.

4. A method for aggregating and presenting relevant information as claimed in claim 2 wherein each hyperlink, in said set of hyperlinks in said second interface, for a “

judicial strategic profile report”

further comprises one or more aggregations chosen from the list consisting of cases a judge has presided over, attorneys appearing before said judge, and types of cases said judge has presided over.

5. A method for aggregating and presenting relevant information as claimed in claim 2 wherein each hyperlink, in said set of hyperlinks in said second interface, for a “

nature of suit strategic profile report”

further comprises an aggregation of cases according to their case type.

6. A method for aggregating and presenting relevant information as claimed in claim 2 wherein each hyperlink, in said set of hyperlinks in said second interface, for a “

court strategic profile report”

further comprises an aggregation of cases filed in a court selected by said user.

7. A method for aggregating and presenting relevant information as claimed in claim 2 wherein each hyperlink, in said set of hyperlinks in said second interface, for a “

litigant strategic profile report”

further comprises an aggregation chosen from the list consisting of an aggregation of

a set of cases naming a litigant provided as a search parameter;

a set of types of cases in which said litigant appears;

a set of states and courts in which said litigant has appeared; and

a set of attorneys/firms representing said litigant.

8. A method for aggregating and presenting relevant information as claimed in claim 7 wherein each of said query steps queries said docket table, litigant table, and said litigant link table.

9. A system configured to generate a set of reports:

at least one computer-readable memory configured with a set of database tables storing attorney names, litigant names, docket information, judge names, litigant names and a set of linkages between

a set of litigants and a set of cases;

a set of attorneys and a set of litigants; and

a set of judges and a set of cases;

a first processor, programmed with computer program instructions to produce a first machine, configured to generate a first interface to receive a user-selected strategic profile report wherein said report focuses on an entity chosen from the list of a litigant, an attorney, a judge, a court or a nature of suit;

a second processor, programmed with computer program instructions to produce a second machine, configured to query one or more of said database tables wherein said database tables queried depends on said user-selected strategic profile report;

said second machine configured to generate for graphical display a second interface comprising a set of hyperlinks associated with said strategic profile report wherein a textual component associated with each hyperlink displays a count of cases calculated by said strategic profile report;

said second machine configured to generate for graphical display a third interactive user interface, upon clicking a hyperlink, further comprising a set of computer-executable instructions to construct a query, by querying one or more of said database tables associated with said hyperlink wherein said query constructed from said computer-executable instructions encoded in said hyperlink uses a data point represented by a text portion displayed as said hyperlink as a variable in said query to retrieve a subset of data from said database tables.

10. A system configured to generate a set of reports as claimed in claim 9 wherein a litigant strategic profile report comprises:

for each type of case said litigant is associated with, a set of hyperlinks displaying how many of each type of case;

for each attorney representing said litigant, another set of hyperlinks displaying how many cases each attorney has represented.

11. A system configured to generate a set of reports as claimed in claim 9 wherein an attorney strategic profile report comprises:

for each type of case said attorney is associated with, a set of hyperlinks displaying how many of each type of case;

for each judge said attorney has appeared before, another set of hyperlinks displaying how many times said attorney has appeared before each judge;

for every other attorney said attorney has worked with, a third set of hyperlinks displaying how many times said attorney worked with each of every other attorney.

12. A system configured to generate a set of reports as claimed in claim 9 wherein a judicial strategic profile report comprises:

an area comprising a set of hyperlinks displaying how many attorneys have appeared before said judge; and

another area comprising a set of hyperlinks displaying the types of cases said judge has presided over.

13. A system configured to generate a set of reports as claimed in claim 9 wherein a nature of suit strategic profile report comprises a set of hyperlinks displaying how many cases associated with a nature of suit are pending.

14. A system configured to generate a set of reports as claimed in claim 9 wherein a nature of suit strategic profile report comprises a set of hyperlinks displaying how many cases associated with a nature of suit are pending.

15. A system configured to generate a set of reports as claimed in claim 9 wherein said underlying data is represented as an aggregate in one or more hyperlinks and further wherein said second machine is configured to generate for graphical display a fourth interface, based on computer-executable instructions associated with said hyperlinks representing said underlying data.

16. A system configured to generate a set of reports as claimed in claim 15 wherein said fourth user interface displays a case represented by a hyperlink from said series of hyperlinks representing said underlying data.

17. A system configured to generate a set of reports as claimed in claim 9 wherein if a user selects a report focusing on a judge, said second processor queries at least said database tables comprising judge names, docket information, and a set of linkages between said judge names and said set of cases.