Attorney terminal having outline preparation capabilities for managing trial proceedings

Abstract

The present invention provides attorney terminals which operate using an outline for storing, associating and managing case evidence, case law and work product for a given lawsuit at issue. Accessed through attorney terminals, the outline is structured based on a hierarchical categorization of the lawsuit into the law and fact at issue. Associated with each categorization entry in the hierarchical outline are groupings of case law, case evidence, relevance and draft discovery information for rapid access by the attorney. Each categorization entry in the tailored outline provides instant access to case law via headnotes, treatise selections, seminal cases, and preset searches. The disclosed invention also automatically: 1) tracks the use of Exhibits in a proceeding; 2) generates draft portions of a pretrial order including jury instructions; and 3) generates time-lines for analysis and use during a proceeding. Draft interrogatories, document requests and deposition or trial questions are also provided.

1 . In a computer network having an attorney terminal and an outline library, a method used by the attorney terminal for preparing for examination of a witness in a legal proceeding comprising the steps of: 
 providing access to an outline library comprised of a plurality of categorization entries;    enabling selection of at least one of said plurality of categorization entries; and    providing access to the selected ones of said plurality of categorization entries during a legal proceeding.    
   
   
       2 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein at least one of the selected plurality of categorization entries comprises a plurality of draft examination questions, and said method further comprising the step of displaying selected ones of said plurality of draft examination questions during a legal proceeding.  
   
   
       3 . In a computer network having an attorney terminal and an outline library containing draft questions, a method used by the attorney terminal during the examination of a witness in a legal proceeding comprising the steps of: 
 providing access to an outline library comprised of a plurality of categorization entries;    extracting at one of said plurality of categorization entries having a draft question; and    selectively displaying the draft question to permit formulation of a question for the witness.    
   
   
       4 . In a computer network having a computer terminal for managing a lawsuit, an outline accessible by the computer terminals comprising: 
 a plurality of categorization entries related to issues in a lawsuit;    a first data item of case law information relating to one of said plurality of categorization entries; and    a second data item of case evidence information relating to one of said plurality of categorization entries.    
   
   
       5 . The outline of  claim 4  further comprising means for associating said first data item with said second data item.