EP1242949A1

EP1242949A1 - Legal information distribution system and method

Info

Publication number: EP1242949A1
Application number: EP00980503A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Dov. L. Seidman
Original assignee: LRN Legal Knowledge Co
Current assignee: LRN Legal Knowledge Co
Priority date: 1999-11-16
Filing date: 2000-11-16
Publication date: 2002-09-25
Also published as: MXPA02004906A; WO2001037178A1; CA2396326A1; AU1775601A; EP1242949A4; JP2003515226A; CN1409846A

Abstract

This invention claims a method for electronically distributing legal information by storing said legal information in a legal information database, storing information about authorized users who have access to the legal information in an authorized user database, generating customized legal information based upon the information in the authorized user database, and transmitting that customized legal information to a user.

Description

LEGAL INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND METHOD

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION r This patent application claims priority of provisional application number 60/166,359, filed November 16, 1999, the disclosures of which are incorporated fully herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The current invention relates generally to the provision of legal knowledge over the ι Internet. More specifically, the current invention relates to a system for providing corporate specific legal information over the Internet.

We live in a world of complex legal issues. These issues affect many different activities of both individuals and corporations. In order for corporations to minimize losses due to legal expenses and illegal activity, it is important for the corporation and its employees , r to have access to legal information.

Often employees of a corporation have common legal questions that can be answered in some type of handbook. Law however, is constantly changing, and a handbook does not keep up to date with the most recent advances in the law. Therefore, the handbook must be constantly revised at considerable expense. Further, the handbook is cumbersome, and may _Q not be utilized because of its complexity. The handbook is limited in the type of information that it can contain, and cannot easily lead an employee to the correct source for questions that are not covered in the book.

With the introduction of the Internet, it is possible to update information as soon as the law changes. Furthermore, it is possible to create a reference source, with all types of links 5 between different content areas, so that a user can quickly find information about a legal issue. The information can be presented in a variety of formats, including audio, video, and animation as well as text.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Q The present invention seeks to combine the benefits of the Internet with the complex legal needs of corporations. The present invention is to a system and method for electronically distributing legal information. The information is distributed via a server to a user terminal over a computer network. In an embodiment of the present invention, legal information is stored in a legal information database connected to the server. User 5 information is stored in an authorized user database also connected to the server. The server customizes legal information based upon information in the authorized user database, and then communicates the customized legal information to the user terminal.

In an embodiment the legal information is divided into modules, the modules are aggregated together to form customized legal information; and the aggregated modules are transmitted by the server to the user terminal. Each module may have a tutorial, a quiz, 1 frequently asked questions, lists of tips, contact information, a handbook, and links to additional sources of information. The tutorial, quiz, frequently asked questions, lists of tips, contact information, handbook, and links to additional sources of information are all r customizable based on the user information in the authorized user database.

In one embodiment, users are authenticated prior to accessing the information. In an embodiment, the server receives a user name and password from a user. The server compares the received user name and password with user names and passwords stored in the authorized user database to find a match. Once a user has been authenticated, all of the interaction with ι Q the user may be tracked in a tracking database. In an embodiment, each module, lesson and test provided by the server to the user terminal is tracked. Data in the tracking database may be reported to the user and to a third party.

In an additional embodiment of the present invention, the server provides tests regarding legal knowledge to a user terminal. A user takes the test and submits the test results ι c to the server. The server tracks the test results and stores the test results in the tracking database coupled to the server. As with other data in the tracking database, the test results may be reported to the user and a third party.

In an embodiment, a user's legal information may be determined by the user's employer. Alternatively, a user may select the legal information to be provided to them by 2ø submitting their job responsibilities, preferences and interests to the server. Additionally, the user may enter their occupational level of management. The server selects legal information for the user based on their job responsibilities, preferences, interests and management level.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 25 These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for distributing legal information in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention; -i FIG. 2 is a flow diagram showing login and use of a system for distributing legal information in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a web page of a system according to one embodiment of the present invention, showing an introduction page;

FIG. 4 is a web page of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention, ^c showing a login page;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram showing user authentication in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a portion of a web page of a system according to one embodiment of the present invention, showing an area where a user enters their job responsibilities; 1

FIG. 7 is a portion of a web page of a system according to one embodiment of the present invention, showing an area where a user enters their management level;

FIG. 8a is a portion of a web page of a system according to one embodiment of the present invention, showing a list of modules;

FIG. 8b is an additional portion of a web page of a system according to one embodiment of the present invention, showing a list of modules;

FIG. 9 is a web page of a system according to one embodiment of the present invention, showing a module introduction; i FIG. 10 is a web page of a system according to one embodiment of the present invention, showing a tutorial introduction;

FIG. 1 1 is a web page of a system according to one embodiment of the present invention, showing lessons and chapters;

FIG. 12 is a web page of a system according to an embodiment of the present

I 5 invention, showing detailed lesson information;

FIG. 13 is a portion of a web page of a system according to one embodiment of the current invention, showing a handbook page;

FIG. 14 is a web page of a system according to one embodiment of the present invention, showing frequently asked questions;

20 FIG. 15 is a portion of a web page of a system according to one embodiment of the present invention, showing a top ten list;

FIG. 16 is a web page of a system according to one embodiment of the present invention, showing the corporation's policies on an issue;

FIG. 17 is a web page of a system according to one embodiment of the present

2 invention, showing contact information on an issue.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A system for a legal information distribution system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 1. The system of FIG. 1 has

20 multiple user devices 220a-220n coupled to information servers 222a-222m through one or more remote communication interfaces. In the embodiment described, the remote communication interface comprises the Internet, although in alternative embodiments the remote communication interface comprises an Intranet or other computer to computer interface. o The Internet has recently been popularized by the rapid success of the World Wide

Web (WWW or Web). The Web links together a variety of computers from around the world and various topics in a non-sequential web of associations which permit a user to browse from one topic to another, regardless of the format and order of topics. Users access and browse the Web using a web browser that generally resides and is executed on the user's computer. Commercially available web browsers such as Netscape's Navigator™ and

- Microsoft Internet Explorer™ are very common and accessible by personal computer (PC) users. The web browser allows a user to retrieve and render hyper-media content from the network of computers within the Web, including text, sound, video and other types of data. This hyper-media content is stored on different web sites.

Web sites are locations on server computers that are accessible through the Internet. A variety of information, such as hyper media contents and databases can be stored on a web site and be accessed by users with computers connected to the Internet. One of the applications of the Web is its capability to link a web site with a database so users can search

10 for information. In essence, the web site becomes the user interface (UI) for database applications enabling a user to select search criteria and execute searches of a database that resides on a remote computer. To serve up pages, web sites need a server (a host computer) and server software that runs on the server. The host computer manages the communication protocols and houses the pages and related software required to create a web site on the

15 Internet. Host computers spread throughout the Internet can house different web sites.

The Internet works based on a client/server model. In this model, a client computer communicates with a server computer on which information resides and the client computer depends on the server to deliver requested information and services. These services may involve searching for information and sending it back to the client, such as when a database

2 on the Web is queried. Other examples of these services are delivering web pages through a web site, and handling incoming and outgoing e-mail. Typically, the client is a PC user using a browser to connect to and search the servers. The servers (also known as hosts) are usually more powerful computers that house the data and databases. The client/server model enables the Web to be conceived of as a limitless file storage medium distributed among

25 thousands of host computers, all accessible by any individual PC user.

The web site and the hosts that make up the World Wide Web need to have unique locations so that a client computer can locate and retrieve information and web pages. For example, the unique identifier for a host computer is called an IP (Internet Protocol) address and the unique identifier for a web site (web page) is called the URL (Uniform Resource on Locator). A URL indicates where the host computer is located, the location of the web site on the host, and the name of the web page and the file type of each document among other information.

Home and small business users connect to the Internet through Internet service providers using modems and common telephone or cable networks. Wireless and satellite

-jr connections are also possible. Larger businesses typically obtain access to the Internet through their private computer networks, using appropriate safeguards to prevent unauthorized access by outside parties to a company's private network.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a typical Internet client/server environment used by the users and servers in one embodiment of the present invention. User devices 220a-220n used by the users are connected to the Internet 221 through communication links 233a-233n. Optionally, a local network 234 may serve as the connection between some of the user devices 220a-220n, such as the user device 220a and the Internet 221. Servers 222a-222m are also connected to the Internet 221 through respective communication links. Servers 222a- 222m include information and databases accessible by the user devices 220a-220n. In one embodiment of the present invention, databases for storing legal information reside on at least one of the servers 222a-222m and are accessible by users using one or more of the user devices 220a-220n to obtain legal information.

In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the user devices 220a-220n typically includes a central processing unit (CPU) 223 for processing and managing data; and a keyboard 224 and a mouse 225 for inputting data. A main memory 227 such as a Random Access Memory (RAM), a video memory 228 for storing image data, and a mass storage device 231 such as a hard disk for storing data and programs are also included in a typical user device. Video data from the video memory 228 is displayed on a Display screen 230 by a video amplifier 229 under the control of the CPU 223. A communication device 232, such as a modem, provides access to the Internet 221. Optionally, one or more of user devices 220a-220n may be connected to a local network 234. An Input/Output (I/O) device 226 reads data from various data sources and outputs data to various data destinations.

Servers (hosts) 222a-222m are also computers and typically have architecture similar to the architecture of user devices 220a-220n. Generally, servers differ from the user devices in that servers can handle multiple telecommunications connections at one time. Usually, servers have more storage and memory capabilities, and higher speed processors. Some server (host) systems may actually be several computers linked together, with each handling incoming web page requests. In one embodiment, each server 222a-222m has a storage medium 236a-236m, such as a hard disk, a CD drive, or a DVD for loading computer software. When software such as the software responsible for executing the processes in FIGs. 2-17 is loaded on the server 222a, an off-the-shelf web management software or load balancing software may distribute the different modules of the software to different servers 222a-222m. A server may utilize an operating system such as DOS, Microsoft Windows, or Linux. The server may use off the shelf, or open source software to generate and serve web pages. In an embodiment, the server uses Apache to generate and serve web pages. The page generating software generates web pages that have, for example, hypertext markup language (HTML) and Javascript components. Additionally, the server may be protected from unauthorized access by the use of a firewall, such as one produced by Checkpoint. Therefore, in one embodiment, the computer program responsible for executing the present invention resides on one or more servers. Databases to carry out the processes of FIGs. 2- 17 can be created, maintained and edited in many different types of database software including Access, FoxPro, and Oracle. In one embodiment of the present invention the database software is Oracle 8.x. An exemplary web site location 235 is shown on server 222a in FIG. 1. The web site 235 is the UI for accessing the database described below. The web site 235 has a unique address that is used by the users to access server 222a (in this example) and the web site location on the server 222a. The computer software for executing the processes of the present invention may also reside on the web site 235.

An overview of the process of using the system is shown in FIG. 2. First, a user obtains access to the system by authenticating themselves, Box 30. Next, a user is presented with a selectable list of modules, including an indication of their progress within each module, Box 32. Once a user selects a module, the user is provided with a selectable list of lessons and a review quiz, Box 34. Once the user selects a lesson, the user is prompted to select a chapter within the lesson from a list of chapters, Box 36. Once the user is ready, the user takes the review quiz for a module, Box 38, and if passed successfully completes the module. A user can move to and from modules, lessons and chapters at will. In an embodiment, the system is organized around a company specific web site. The web site is password protected so that only company authorized personnel have access to the contents. An authorized user database containing information about authorized users is accessible by the server. The authorized user database contains user names and passwords for all authorized users. In an embodiment of the present invention, a corporation provides the information about the employees that will have access to the server to generate the authorized user database. In a first embodiment, the corporation loads user information into a data file and sends the datafile to a registration server. The data file may contain, for example, a user I.D., password, first name, middle initial, last name, e-mail address, employee I.D., as well as additional fields defined by the corporation. A corporation may derive the data file from currently existing corporate employee database files. The file is named so as to indicate whether the employees in the file are being added, modified, deactivated, or deleted from the authorized user database. The registration server generates the authorized user database from the data file. In the first embodiment, the employee users will not have the ability to modify their personal information and future modifications are done via data files.

In order to ensure that the data file can be successfully interpreted by the registration server to generate an accurate authorized user database, guidelines are provided for the data file. Once the registration server receives the data file, the registration server conducts a check of the data file to ensure that the guidelines were followed. First, any file naming guidelines are checked, and if okay, the data guidelines are checked. If all of the guidelines were not followed, the data file is returned to the user along with an explanation of which guidelines were not followed.

In a second embodiment, the initial registration is conducted via data file as explained above. However, new employees are allowed to self register via a self-registration page that is presented to the user by the server. A new user may be prompted to enter corporate 1 identification in order to authorize the registration. Further, existing employee users may have the ability to modify their personal information. Thus, future modifications may be done by data file, by allowing new users to add themselves, and by allowing existing users to modify their personal information.

In a third embodiment, the individual users self-register via a self-registration page that is presented to the user by the server. Regardless of how the users are registered, once registration is complete, all use of the website can be tracked and reported as explained below. In addition to supplying information about all authorized users, the corporation selects the information modules that are available to the authorized users. The corporation may also customize the look and feel of the web site, and information taught to users. Additionally, the corporation may select specific messages to be displayed to a user upon the happening of an event, such as the successful completion of a module. _j 5 As shown in FIG. 3, the web site has an introduction screen to tell viewers where they are and what the site is intended to accomplish. The introduction screen contains a hotlink button 10 for registered users, that when selected, provides the user with a login screen, shown in FIG. 4. If the system is set up to allow new users to register themselves, then the introduction screen also contains a hotlink button for new users to press (not shown). When 0 a user presses the new user button, the server generates a new user data entry page, and sends the new user entry page to the user. The new user data entry page prompts a user to enter some of, for example, a user I.D., password, first name, middle initial, last name, and e-mail address.

As shown in FIG. 4, a login page according to an embodiment of the present invention 5 has a user name entry box 12, where a user places a previously assigned user name. The login page also has a password entry box 14 where the user enters a previously created and assigned password. Once the user has entered their user name and password, the user presses the login button 16.

An overview of the user name and password authentication process is shown in FIG. 5. When the user presses the login button on the login page, the server obtains a user name from the user name entry box and a password from the password entry box, Box 40. The user name is compared to the user names in the authorized user database in connected to the server, Box 42. If the user name is not found in the authorized user database, the server generates and re-transmits the login page to user and prompts the user to enter another user name and password. If the user name is found in the authorized user database, the password is compared to the password stored in the database on the server for the found user name, Box 44. If the password does not match the password stored in the authorized user database, then the user the server generates and re-transmits the login page to user and prompts the user to enter another user name and password. If the password matches the appropriate password stored in the authorized user database connected to the server, then the system generates a module page and sends the module page to the user.

In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, a new user, not associated with a pre-registered corporation, self registers with the system. A new user data entry page prompts a user to enter some of, for example, a user I.D., password, first name, middle initial, last name, and e-mail address. Additionally, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the new user data entry page presents the user with a list of checkboxes. The user checks off the duties that they are responsible for, or that they wish to learn more information about. This enables the system to tailor the issues presented to the user based on the user's responsibilities and interests.

In one embodiment of the current invention, the duties that the user is given the option of selecting include: authorizing employee investigations, communicating with competitors, communicating with the media, conducting performance evaluations, contracting with vendors, dealing with government officials, dealing with officials of foreign companies, dealing with officials of domestic companies, determining product/service pricing, entering into contracts, interacting with government regulators, interacting with securities analysts, interviewing prospective employees, making pricing decisions, making purchasing decisions, negotiating contracts, owning company securities, participating in industry associations, seeking advice from counsel with corporate staff attorneys, serving on another company's board of directors, serving on your company's board of directors, setting purchasing guidelines, terminating employees, testifying before governmental agencies, and trading your company's securities.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, also on the new user data entry page is another list that enables the user to select their management level. In one embodiment of the current invention, the user may choose senior executive, junior executive, management or staff. This enables the service to tailor the legal information to the types of responsibilities that someone in the user's management position is likely to encounter.

Once the user has selected the duties that they have and the management level that applies to them, the user submits their request for information to the system. In one embodiment, the system contains a database of modules, indexed by the activity that they relate to and the management level that they apply to. Once the user's choices have been submitted, the system selects modules and displays them for the reader on a module list page. The module list page displays the list of modules applicable to the user based on the selected job duties and management level, and the user is given the opportunity to select a module to learn about in more detail.

Regardless of whether the user is a registered employee of a corporation that has chosen the available modules, or an individual who has had modules selected for them based on responsibilities, interests, and position, the user is presented with a list of modules on a module page, as shown in FIGs. 8a and 8b. In an embodiment, the system allows for tracking 1 of which modules a specific user has viewed and whether a user has completed a given module. In one embodiment, the system tracks which module a specific user has viewed by constantly updating a tracking database that is linked to the authorized user database. The

5 tracking database contains a field for every module, and the field contains a first value if the user has not viewed the module, a second value if the user has viewed a portion of the module, and a third value if the user has completed a module. When the server constructs the module page, the server also checks the tracking database and indicates, next to the module, whether the user has viewed, started or completed the module. ι o Following a selection by the user of one of the modules on the module list page, the system generates and provides the user with a module summary page, as illustrated in FIG. 9. The module summary page contains a brief summary of the legal area and provides the user with the option to learn more about this area. The module summary page contains links to available resources including a tutorial with a review quiz, a handbook entry, frequently 5 asked questions in the area, a top ten list of important things to remember about the module, a link to communicate with an attorney specific to this area about a particular problem, and a link to third party information sources. If the user is accessing a corporate customized web site the module summary page also contains a link to the company's policies with regard to the area. In an additional embodiment, the module summary page contains a link to the quiz 0 contained within the tutorial.

In one embodiment, shown in FIG. 10, when the user selects the tutorial from the module summary page, the server generates and sends a tutorial introduction page to the user. The system organizes the tutorial by lessons. The tutorial introduction page provides links to every lesson, so that a user may skip to the area that interests them. The system also 5 provides a review quiz for each module and a link to the review quiz is found on the tutorial introduction page.

In one embodiment of the current invention, the questions in the review quiz are multiple choice, where the user simply chooses the letter of the answer that they believe is correct. In another embodiment of the current invention the questions are true or false. In yet 0 another embodiment, the review quiz combines both multiple choice and true or false question formats.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the system tracks whether a user has accessed, partially completed, or completed each lesson or quiz in a given tutorial. The system does this by constantly updating the tracking database that is linked to the authorized 5 user database.

The tracking database contains a field for every lesson of every module, and each field may contain a first value if the user has not viewed the lesson, a second value if the user has viewed a portion of the lesson, and a third value if the user has completely viewed a lesson. The tracking database also contains a field for each quiz in each module. Each quiz field in the tracking database may contain values indicating that a user has not taken the quiz, taken 1 the quiz, failed the quiz, passed the quiz, the number of questions that the user answered correctly on the quiz, or the percentage of questions that the user answered correctly on the quiz. A prior determination is made what number of questions must be answered correctly to pass the review quiz for each module. The number of questions, is programmed into the server, and the actual score obtained by a user is compared to the passing score to obtain values for the tracking database. In an embodiments, failing scores are not counted. In another embodiment, a user may retake the review quiz a pre-specified number of times.

Before constructing the tutorial summary page, the server checks the tracking database ι o to see which lessons have been viewed and completed, and whether the quiz has been taken and successfully completed. When the server constructs the tutorial summary page, next to each lesson and the quiz, the server indicates the status of the user's progress with regard to each lesson and the quiz. In another embodiment of the present invention, the server stores the amount of time a user spends in a given lesson and module and saves the amount of time

15 to the tracking database.

Once the user selects a specific lesson, the system generates a page, as shown in FIG. 1 1 , showing chapters within the lesson and sends the chapter selection page to the user, so that a user can skip to a particular chapter within the lesson. Once a user selects a chapter the server generates a chapter page that contains specific information and sends the chapter page to the user. For example, FIG. 12 illustrates an introduction chapter to a tutorial on

Advertising. The chapter page also contains links, if applicable, to the next chapter or the previous chapter.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the user cannot take the module review quiz until they have completed each of the lessons in the module. When the user selects the 5 quiz link from the module menu, the system checks the tracking database to verify that the user has completed all of the lessons in the module. If the user has not completed all of the lessons in the module, then the system returns the user to the module introduction screen and generates an error page notifying the user that the user needs to complete all of the lessons before they can take the module review quiz. 0 In an alternative embodiment, the user can select to test out of the lessons in a given module. The user can select the review quiz without completing one or more of the lessons within the module. If the user successfully completes the review quiz, the server records the successful result in the module review quiz field in the tracking database and places a value in the module field of the tracking database indicating that the module has been completed. In an embodiment, shown in FIG. 13, the page selected by the user is a handbook entry page. The system organizes the handbook as one large entry that has a series of sub-modules that the user may jump to by selecting a module organized jump link presented to them by the service in a separate section of the page.

In another embodiment, the web page selected by the user is a list of frequently asked questions. As shown in FIG. 14, the frequently asked question page lists the frequently asked questions for that module. The question are selectable by the user. When the user selects a question, the system opens a new browser window on the user's computer, and generates and sends to the user an answer. In one embodiment of the current invention, the system organizes the list of frequently asked questions by sub-topic and the user is prompted to select the sub-topic that interests them.

In another embodiment, shown in FIG. 15, the web page selected by the user comprises a list of the top ten things to remember about the module. Each of the things to remember may contain a link to the particular tutorial or handbook section that discusses it. In another embodiment, shown in FIG. 16, the module detail page selected by the user comprises a page showing the specific policies of the company that they work for with regard to the issue. This page contains a list of policies. In another embodiment of the current invention, this page also contains a company's specific forms and document templates for documents related to the area of the law being researched. In another embodiment, the module detail page selected by the user is a page showing links to relevant legal information, FIG. 17. The information may be from third party vendors or government web sites. The system provides the user with the option of selecting one of these links and moving their Internet browser from the legal service website page, directly to the third party site. The system contains links to government agencies, trade associations, and other relevant entities.

In another embodiment, the module detail page selected by the user is a page showing the contact information for in-house or outside counsel of the corporation. Alternatively, if the user is an individual, the contact information page may have links to attorneys in the user's area who specialize in the area of law being researched. Access to the data in the tracking database provides employers with information about which employees have completed legal training, how much usage the site is getting, and what areas of the site are of most concern to employees. The service tracks the identity of a site user by tracking the activity of a user once the user has logged into the system using their user name and password. Access to the data may be in the form of reports generated for either the corporation or an individual user. In a first embodiment of the present invention, the system generates a report that shows a user's activity in each of the lessons in each of the available modules. In additional embodiments, a report is generated by the system that shows whether a user completed the quiz in each of the available modules, and the results of the quiz in terms of passing, failing, percentage of questions correct, and number of questions correct.

A user with special privileges in the authorized user database is given an additional hotlink to a report manager page on the module list page. If a user presses the report manager hotlink, the server generates and transmits a report manager page. The report manager page has a hotlink for searches on several different search criteria. In one embodiment, a user can search the tracking database for information based on any number of criteria and generate a report about all users.

In an additional embodiment, a user can get a virtual report card that shows their status in each lesson and review quiz in each module. A user with special privileges can create a virtual report card for other users as well as themselves. A user with special privileges can search for a particular user by entering, for example, the user's L.D., last name, or first name.

Additionally, a user with special privileges can export a report from the tracking database, into another database software application. In one embodiment, the exported report may include user profile information such as a user I.D., first name, middle initial, last name, e-mail, client specific fields, and a user registration date. The exported report may also include the following information for each module based on the user, the module number, the module name, the status of use with regard to each lesson, the time spent in the module, any module review quiz results, and the number of different times that the user visited the module.

The preceding description has been presented with reference to the presently preferred embodiment of the invention. Workers skilled in the art and technology to which this invention pertains will appreciate that alterations and changes in the described system can be practiced without departing from the spirit, principles and scope of this invention. Accordingly, the present invention provides for a system for distributing legal information. Although this invention has been described in certain specific embodiments, many additional modifications and variations would be apparent to those skilled in the art. It is therefore to be understood that this invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described. Thus, the present embodiments of the invention should be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention to be determined by the claims supported by this application and their equivalents rather than the foregoing description.

Claims

1. A method for electronically distributing legal information comprising the steps of: storing legal information in a first database; storing user information of users who have access to the legal information in the first database in a second database; generating customized legal information based upon the user information in the second database; and transmitting the customized legal information to a user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the legal information is divided into modules; the modules are aggregated together to form customized legal information; and the aggregated modules are transmitted to a user.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the legal information in each module further comprises at least one of a tutorial, a quiz, frequently asked questions, lists of tips, contact information, a handbook, and links to additional sources of information; and the at least one of a tutorial, frequently asked questions, lists of tips, contact information, a handbook, and links to additional sources of information is customized based on the user information in the second database.

4. The method claim 3 further comprising: receiving authentication information from a user; authenticating the user based on user information in the second database.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising: tracking at least one of the modules, lessons, and tests provided to the user; and reporting the at least one of the modules, lessons, and tests provided to the user to at least one of the user and a third party.

6. The method of claim 4 further comprising the steps of: transmitting a test to a user; receiving test results from the user; tracking the test results received from the user; and reporting the test results received from the user to at least one of the user and a third party.

7 The method of claim 4 herein the user information in the second database further comprises an employer identifier; and an employer specifies the modules to be transmitted to the user having a specific employer identifier.

8. The method of claim 4 further comprising: receiving at least one of job responsibilities, preferences and interests from a user; receiving a management level from a user; selecting modules for a user based upon the at least one of job responsibilities, preferences, interests and management level of the user.

9. A system for distributing legal information to users comprising: an information server coupled to a computer network; a user terminal coupled to the computer network; a first database coupled to the computer network for storing legal information; and a second database coupled to the computer network for storing user information about users with access to the information server; wherein the information server is configured to receive requests for information from the user terminal, aggregate legal information from the first database based on user information stored in the second database, and transmit the legal information to the user terminal.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the server is further configured to aggregate legal information based upon the requirements of a user's employer.

11. The system of claim 9 further comprising a tracking database coupled to the computer network; wherein the server is further configured to track the information provided to the user terminal in the tracking database.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the server is further configured to transmit tests based on legal information to the user terminal, receive responses to the test from the user terminal, and track the test responses in the tracking database.

13. The system of claim 12 further comprising a third party terminal; wherein the server is further configured to transmit a report of information provided to the user terminal and test responses received from the user terminal to the third party terminal.

14. A computerized method for creating a course of legal studies over a computer network comprising the steps of: storing information about a plurality of legal topics; 1 storing information about a plurality of authorized users; receiving a request by a user using a terminal coupled to the computer network for legal information;

5 aggregating information about a plurality of legal topics based on information about an authorized user; and transmitting the aggregated legal information to the user.

15. The computerized method of claim 14 further comprising: prompting a user ι o to enter authentication information including a user name and password; receiving authentication information from the user; and comparing the authentication information from the user to stored authentication information to determine authorization.

15 16. The computerized method of claim 15 further comprising tracking the aggregated legal information provided to the user.

17. The computerized method of claim 14 wherein the information about a plurality of legal topics comprises at least one of tutorials, quizzes, frequently asked questions, lists 0 of tips, contact information, a handbook, and links to additional sources of legal information.

18. The computerized method of claim 17 further comprising transmitting a quiz to a user terminal coupled to the network; receiving quiz results from the user terminal coupled to the network; comparing the quiz results to a preselected benchmark; storing the 5 quiz results; and reporting the quiz results to the user terminal coupled to the network.

19. A computer readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions including instruction for distributing legal information, the instruction, when executed by a microprocessor cause the microprocessor to perform the steps of: 0 storing information about a plurality legal topics; storing information about a plurality of authorized users; receiving a request for information from a user; prompting the user to enter authentication information; authenticating the user based upon the authentication information entered by the user 5 in comparison with stored authorized user information; aggregating a portion of the stored information about a plurality of legal topics; transmitting the aggregated portion of the stored information about a plurality oflegal topics to the user; and storing tracking information about the transmitted information.