Electronic management and distribution of legal information

摘要

The invention provides systems, methods, and computer programs for fulfilling requests from users wanting current information related to legal or other topics designated by the users from lists of available topics. Information related to available topics is classified by type, and at least two types of information related to the designated topic(s) and/or type(s) are provided to the user. Optionally the information, when provided, is displayed on a computer display, or provided in other physical or electronic form, and is sorted according to the type or class of information to which the information belongs. The invention also provides for the gathering and making available of such information, and for the automatic updating of information in the selected legal or other professional topic(s) without intervention by the user on a periodic and/or continual basis.

主权项

1. A system for providing legal information comprising associated items of legal information and content, the system comprising:
at least one computer and a plurality of user terminals which communicate over a network; at least one database associated with the at least one computer storing the legal information in association with a plurality of legal topics and a plurality of types of legal information; and a computer readable medium or media storing programming that causes the at least one computer to:
access within the at least one database a plurality of items of legal information responsive to a request received from a user terminal, each item of legal information being associated with one or more respective topic tags and one or more respective type tags, each topic tag identifying a legal topic or subtopic associated with the associated item of legal information and each type tag identifying a type of legal information corresponding to the associated item of legal information;cause each item of legal information associated with the accessed information to be provided for display on a display device associated with the user terminal from which the request was received, automatically tabulated by the respective type tags and configured to be selectable at the user terminal to provide a request for display on the display device of the content associated with the selected item;automatically and periodically access the at least one database to determine whether new legal information responsive to the request is stored within the at least one database while each item of legal information associated with the previously accessed legal information is provided for display on the display device; andif new legal information responsive to the request is stored within the at least one database, provide for display on the display device each item of legal information associated with the new legal information, together with each item of legal information associated with the previously accessed legal information all tabulated by type.