Systems, Methods, Software, and Interfaces for Formatting Legal Citations

• US 20160005137A1
• Filed: 09/17/2015
• Published: 01/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH (The Woodbridge Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Reuters Global Resources
• Inventors: Steensgard, David
• Granted Patent: US 9,760,961 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2228 Indexing structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/18 Legal services
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/02 of the type wherein the student is expected to construct an answer to the question which is presented or wherein the machine gives an answer to the question presented by a student

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed towards a citation formatting system and a method for operating an online research service for providing legal citations. The exemplary system provides the citation formatting function in a client-server architecture, receiving citations from a user'"'"'s client access device over a computer network and communicating citation format suggestions back to the client access device for possible insertion into a document on the access device.

Claims

1. A citation formatting system associated with facilitating legal research, the system comprising:

a database including a plurality of law-related documents associated with legal research;

a citation data structure including one or more formatted citations associated with at least one of the law-related documents, the citation data structure being indexed and including a document identifier logically associated with at least a first citation formatted according to a citation standard, the citation standard being based on one or more of a bluebook standard, ALWD standard, and citation format preference associated with a user; and

a server coupled to the database and to the data structure, the server configured to;

retrieve a citation using a citation-finder module, from a word-processing document of a client access device, the retrieved citation associated with a specific law-related document;

determine whether the specific law-related document represented by the retrieved citation exists in the database using a citation-identifier module which parses at least a portion of the formatted citation, the citation-identifier module integrating with the word-processing document;

transmit at least a portion of the formatted citation to a citation-formatter module for retrieving citation data from law-related documents corresponding to at least one of the retrieved citations;

determine, using the citation-formatter module, whether the specific law-related document represented by the formatted citation matches an existing law-related document in the database;

transmit an error message to the client access device if the formatted citation does not match an existing law-related document in the database;

identify at least one formatted citation using the citation-identifier module which processes the citation data structure text including the document identifier corresponding to the law-related document in the database represented by the retrieved citation; and

transmit the identified at least one formatted citation to the client access device for optional substitution of the retrieved citation in the word-processing document with one of the transmitted at least one formatted citation, the client access device including at least a word-processing interface region for editing the retrieved citation.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein a formatted citation of the identified at least one formatted citation includes one or more parallel citations for the available law-related document.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein a formatted citation of the at least one formatted citation includes a first citation referencing the available law-related document, a second citation referencing an available law-related document that is historically related to the available law-related document, and one or more indicators indicating whether or how legal reasoning in the available law-related document has been treated by the historically related document.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the parallel citations are formatted according to jurisdictional selections that identify one or more state or local court jurisdictions.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein a formatted citation of the identified at least one formatted citation includes a first citation referencing the available law-related document and a second citation referencing a predecessor available law-related document related to the available law-related document.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to:

generate a table-of-authorities based on one or more formatted citations in the word-processing document; and

insert the table-of-authorities into the word-processing document.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to substitute the citation in the word-processing document with a selected one of the transmitted at least one formatted citation based on selection received from a user of the client access device.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the client access device substitutes the citation in the word-processing document with a selected one of the transmitted at least one formatted citation based on selection based on selection by a user of the client access device.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to:

match a law-related document available in the database to the retrieved citation; and

retrieve from the data structure at least one formatted citation for the available law-related document.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to:

determine a suggested law-related document available in the database for the retrieved citation when the retrieved citation does not match any law-related documents in the database; and

retrieve from the data structure at least one formatted citation for the suggested law-related document.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured

to retrieve a citation from a word-processing document of a client access device by receiving from the client the word processing document including the citation;

and

to identify text in the word processing document as the citation intended to represent a law-related document.

25. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is configured to retrieve a citation from a word-processing document of a client access device by receiving from the client access device the text extracted from the word-processing document identified by the client access device as a citation intended to represent a law-related document.

28. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured

responsive to a determination that the unique law-related document represented by the retrieved citation does not exist in the database, retrieving additional information from the word-processing document to make a determination whether the unique law-related document represented by the retrieved citation that does not exist in the database due to a database error, or due to an error in the retrieved citation;

and

transmitting to the client device the result of the determination whether the unique law-related document represented by the retrieved citation that does not exist in the database due to a database error, or due to an error in the retrieved citation.

7. A citation formatting system associated with facilitating legal research, the system comprising:

a database including a plurality of law-related documents associated with legal research;

a citation data structure including one or more formatted citations associated with at least one of the law-related documents, the citation data structure being indexed and including a document identifier logically associated with at least a first citation formatted according to a citation standard, the citation standard being based on one or more of a bluebook standard, ALWD standard, and citation format preference associated with a user; and

a processor, operatively coupled to the database and to the citation data structure, the processor being configured to;

retrieve a citation using a citation-finder module, from a word-processing document of a client access device, the retrieved citation associated with a specific law-related document;

determine whether the specific law-related document represented by the retrieved citation exists in the database using a citation-identifier module which parses at least a portion of the formatted citation, the citation-identifier module integrating with the word-processing document;

transmit at least a portion of the formatted citation to a citation-formatter module for retrieving citation data from law-related documents corresponding to at least one of the retrieved citations;

determine, using the citation-formatter module, whether the specific law-related document represented by the formatted citation matches an existing law-related document in the database;

transmit an error message to the client access device if the formatted citation does not match an existing law-related document in the database;

identify at least one formatted citation using the citation-identifier module which processes the citation data structure text including the document identifier corresponding to the law-related document in the database represented by the retrieved citation; and

transmit the identified at least one formatted citation to the client access device for optional substitution of the retrieved citation in the word-processing document with one of the transmitted at least one formatted citation, the client access device including at least a word-processing interface region for editing the retrieved citation.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein a formatted citation of the identified at least one formatted citation includes one or more parallel citations for the available law-related document.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein a formatted citation of the at least one formatted citation includes a first citation referencing the available law-related document, a second citation referencing an available law-related document that is historically related to the available law-related document, and one or more indicators indicating whether or how legal reasoning in the law-related document has been treated by the historically related document.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein formatted citation of the identified at least one formatted citation includes a first citation referencing the available law-related document and a second citation referencing a predecessor available law-related document related to the available law-related document.

11. The system of claim 7, further comprising generating a table-of-authorities based on one or more formatted citations in the word-processing document and inserting the table-of-authorities into the word-processing document.

21. The system of claim 7, further comprising substituting the citation in the word-processing document with a selected one of the transmitted at least one formatted citation based on selection received from a user of the client access device.

22. The system of claim 7, further comprising matching a law-related document available in the database to the retrieved citation and retrieving from the data structure at least one formatted citation for the available law-related document.

23. The system of claim 7, further comprising determining a suggested law-related document available in the database for the retrieved citation when the retrieved citation does not match any law-related documents in the database and retrieving from the data structure at least one formatted citation for the suggested law-related document.

26. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

retrieving a citation from a word-processing document of a client access device by receiving from the client the word processing document including the citation, and identifying text in the word processing document as the citation intended to represent a law-related document.

27. The system of claim 7, wherein retrieving a citation from a word-processing document of a client access device comprises receiving from the client access device the text extracted from the word-processing document identified by the client access device as the citation intended to represent a law-related document.

29. The citation system according to claim 7, wherein the means operative coupled to the database and to the data structure is further operative

responsive to a determination that the unique law-related document represented by the retrieved citation does not exist in the database, for retrieving additional information from the word-processing document to make a determination whether the unique law-related document represented by the retrieved citation that does not exist in the database due to a database error, or due to an error in the retrieved citation;

and

for transmitting to the client device the result of the determination whether the unique law-related document represented by the retrieved citation that does not exist in the database due to a database error, or due to an error in the retrieved citation.

12. A method of formatting citations associated with facilitating legal research, the method comprising:

retrieving by a server a citation from a word processing document of a client access device, the retrieved citation associated with a specific law-related document;

retrieving a citation using a citation-finder module, from a word-processing document of a client access device, the retrieved citation associated with a specific law-related document;

determining whether the specific law-related document represented by the retrieved citation exists in the database using a citation-identifier module which parses at least a portion of the formatted citation, the citation-identifier module integrating with the word-processing document;

transmitting at least a portion of the formatted citation to a citation-formatter module for retrieving citation data from law-related documents corresponding to at least one of the retrieved citations;

determining, using the citation-formatter module, whether the specific law-related document represented by the formatted citation matches an existing law-related document in the database;

transmitting an error message to the client access device if the formatted citation does not match an existing law-related document in the database;

identifying at least one formatted citation using the citation-identifier module which processes a citation data structure text including a document identifier corresponding to the law-related document in the database represented by the retrieved citation; and

transmitting the identified at least one formatted citation to the client access device for optional substitution of the retrieved citation in the word-processing document with one of the transmitted at least one formatted citation, the client access device including at least a word-processing interface region for editing the retrieved citation.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises substituting the citation in the word-processing document with a selected one of the transmitted at least one formatted citation.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

generating a table-of-authorities based on one or more formatted citations in the word-processing document; and

inserting the table-of-authorities into the word-processing document.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein identifying at least one formatted citation comprises:

matching a law-related document available in the database to the retrieved citation; and

retrieving from the data structure at least one formatted citation for the available law-related document.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein identifying at least one formatted citation comprises:

determining a suggested law-related document available in the database for the retrieved citation when the retrieved citation does not match any law-related documents in the database; and

retrieving from the data structure at least one formatted citation for the suggested law-related document.

30. The method of formatting citations according to claim 12, further comprising

responsive to a determination that the unique law-related document represented by the retrieved citation does not exist in the database, for retrieving additional information from the word-processing document to make a determination whether the unique law-related document represented by the retrieved citation that does not exist in the database due to a database error, or due to an error in the retrieved citation;

and

for transmitting to the client device the result of the determination whether the unique law-related document represented by the retrieved citation that does not exist in the database due to a database error, or due to an error in the retrieved citation.