Patent Publication Number: US-2011071856-A1

Title: System and method for dynamic real time insurance litigation management

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     An enterprise might need to manage a substantial number of litigations and potential litigations. For example, an insurance company might be associated with thousands of pending and potential civil court cases. Moreover, different parties within an enterprise may need to coordinate and exchange information about those litigations. For example, a claims adjuster or handler and legal representative associated with an insurance company may simultaneously work to resolve an insurance case file associated with a pending litigation. 
     In connection with the litigations, the claims adjuster and legal representative may need to periodically store and access documents associated with the case (e.g., medical records and accident reports). The legal representative might also need to track the amount of time he or she spends on a particular case as well as maintain a schedule including the relevant court dates, events, and deadlines. Although these tasks can be performed manually (e.g., via notations in a physical file), such an approach can be difficult when there a relatively large number of cases being handled. Moreover, manually maintaining the information can be a time consuming and error prone process. 
     In addition, a single enterprise might have offices located in different regions, and it may be difficult to coordinate efforts and gather information across those offices. For example, an insurance company might have litigations currently pending in various state courts (and each state court might be associated with a different legal representative who is admitted in that jurisdiction). 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to some embodiments, a communication device is to receive information about a plurality of insurance claims, and a processor is coupled to the communication device. A storage device in communication with said processor stores instructions adapted to be executed by said processor to, for each of the plurality of insurance claims, establish an insurance claim file associated with: (i) a litigation matter, (ii) a remote legal representative, and (iii) a remote claim adjuster. Hours associated with the remote legal representative are tracked and allocated to insurance claim files as appropriate. Legal events associated with the litigation matter are also tracked, wherein at least some of the legal events are associated with a stored document accessible to the legal representative and not accessible to the claim adjuster. A first legal event associated with a first insurance claim file is evaluated based on a pre-determined rule, and, responsive to the evaluation, an alert is transmitted to the remote claim adjuster associated with the first insurance claim file. 
     Still other embodiments are associated with a document input engine to generate document files for a plurality of insurance claim files, wherein each insurance claim file is associated with: (i) a litigation matter, (ii) a remote legal representative, and (iii) a remote claim adjuster. A client profile engine will: (i) track hours associated with the remote legal representative and allocate the tracked hours to the insurance claim files as appropriate, (ii) track legal events associated with the litigation matters, wherein at least some of the legal events are associated with a stored document accessible to the legal representative and not accessible to the claim adjuster, (iii) evaluate a first legal event associated with a first insurance claim file based on a pre-determined rule, and (iv) responsive to the evaluation, transmit an alert to the remote claim adjuster associated with the first insurance claim file. Moreover, a resources layer is provided to store the client profiles and the generated document files. 
     Other embodiments include: means for establishing an insurance claim file, for each of a plurality of insurance claims, associated with: (i) a litigation matter, (ii) a remote legal representative, and (iii) a remote claim adjuster; means for tracking hours associated with the remote legal representative and allocating the tracked hours to insurance claim files as appropriate; means for storing a document in a database in connection with an insurance claim file, wherein the stored document is accessible to the legal representative and not accessible to the claim adjuster; means for tracking legal events associated with the litigation matter, wherein at least some of the legal events are associated with the stored document; means for evaluating a first legal event associated with a first insurance claim file based on a pre-determined rule; and, responsive to the evaluation, means for transmitting an alert to the remote claim adjuster associated with the first insurance claim file. 
     In some embodiments, a communication device associated with a central litigation management server receives information from and/or transmits information to remote devices. The information may be exchanged, for example, via public and/or proprietary communication networks. 
     A technical effect of some embodiments of the invention is an improved and automated litigation management system for insurance companies and legal professionals. Moreover, some embodiments may provide benefits, such as automated notifications, for claim adjusters. With this and other advantages and features that will become hereinafter apparent, a more complete understanding of the nature of the invention can be obtained by referring to the following detailed description and to the drawings appended hereto. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is block diagram of a litigation management system in accordance with some embodiments. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a method according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is block diagram of a litigation management system in accordance with some embodiments. 
         FIG. 4  is a conceptual architecture diagram according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates an insurance claim document input process in accordance with some embodiments. 
         FIG. 6  is a block diagram of a data flow according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIGS. 7 through 9  illustrate an insurance claim processing flow in accordance with some embodiments. 
         FIG. 10  illustrates a system wherein a litigation management system is integrated with an email application according to some embodiments. 
         FIG. 11  illustrates a system wherein a litigation management system is integrated with a word processing application according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 12  illustrates a system wherein a litigation management system is integrated with a calendaring application according to some embodiments. 
         FIG. 13  is a system diagram demonstrating connections between litigation management system components according to some embodiments. 
         FIG. 14  is a business model view associated with a litigation management system according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 15  is a block diagram of a litigation management apparatus in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 16  is a tabular view of a portion of an insurance claim file database in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 17  is an example of a legal representative user interface display according to some embodiments. 
         FIG. 18  is an example of a claim adjuster user interface display according to some embodiments. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     To address some of the problems described in the background section of this application, a central, automated insurance litigation management system may be provided. For example,  FIG. 1  is block diagram of an insurance litigation management system  100  in accordance with some embodiments. In particular, a central litigation management system server  110  communicates with a remote legal representative device  120  and a remote claim adjuster device  130 . The central litigation management server  110 , legal representative device  120 , and claim adjuster device  130  may then operate in accordance with any of the embodiments described herein. As used herein, a device may be “remote” from the central litigation management system server  110  in that it is physically located distant from the server  110  and/or in that it communicates with the server  110  via one or more communication networks. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates one method that might be performed, for example, by the central litigation management server  110  described with respect to  FIG. 1  according to some embodiments. The flow charts described herein do not imply a fixed order to the steps, and embodiments of the present invention may be practiced in any order that is practicable. Note that any of the methods described herein may be performed by hardware, software, or any combination of these approaches. For example, a computer-readable storage medium may store thereon instructions that when executed by a machine result in performance according to any of the embodiments described herein. 
     At  202 , for each of a plurality of insurance claims, an insurance claim file may be established and associated with: (i) a litigation matter, (ii) a remote legal representative, and (iii) a remote claim adjuster. Note that as used herein, a “potential litigation” or “litigation matter” might be associated with any type of court case (including future, pending, and/or settled litigation matters), arbitration, or other methods of dispute resolution. Moreover, an insurance claim might be associated with a property and causality insurance claimant, a property and causality insurance defendant, a workers compensation claim, and/or an automobile insurance claim. 
     The remote legal representative might, for example, be associated with an insurance company and work on behalf of an insurance claimant. The remote legal representative could be, for example, an attorney, a paralegal, a legal secretary, or an administrator. The remote claim adjustor might, for example, work for the insurance company and attempt to settle insurance claims. 
     At  204 , hours associated with the remote legal representative may be tracked and allocated to insurance claim files as appropriate. For example, attorney time might be tracked based on the cases he or she works on during the day. Note that, according to some embodiments, the tracked hours associated with the remote legal representative are allocated to insurance claim files in accordance with at least one compliance rule. 
     A central litigation management server may store documents in a database in connection with an insurance claim file, wherein the stored document is accessible to the legal representative and not accessible to the claim adjuster. For example, a confidential memo might be accessible to the attorney working on the case but not to the claim adjuster. Note that as used herein, the term “document” may refer to any type of data file, such as a word processing file, a spreadsheet, an image or video file, or an audio file. By way of example, a stored document might be associated with an interrogatory, a court pleading, a medial document, an accident report, a police record, a deposition, a court ruling, and/or a court order. 
     At  206 , legal events associated with the potential litigation may be tracked, wherein at least some of the legal events are associated with the stored document. A legal event might be associated with, for example, a court calendar or docket date, a response deadline, a court ruling, and/or a court order. According to some embodiments, legal events are automatically tracked based upon information provided by a third party service (e.g., a third party service might calculate when a filing is due based the rules of procedure for courts in a particular state or other jurisdiction). 
     At  208 , a first legal event associated with a first insurance claim file may be evaluated based on a pre-determined rule. For example, a central litigation management system service  110  might determine that a court appearance will be required in two weeks. Responsive to the evaluation, at  210  an alert is transmitted to the remote claim adjuster associated with the first insurance claim file. The alert transmitted to the remote claim adjuster might be associated with, for example, an email message, a change in the legal representative (e.g., when a new attorney is assigned to the case), or a reminder associated with a legal event. 
     According to some embodiments, a central litigation management server may also generate reports. For example, a report might be generated to provide a quality scorecard, a financial average (e.g., an average settlement cost in a particular state), or a cycle time average (e.g. an average amount of time it takes to settle particular types of insurance claims). Note that such reports may represent information gathered across at least one of: (i) a plurality of remote legal representatives, (ii) a plurality of remote claim adjusters, and/or (iii) a plurality of insurance claim types. 
       FIG. 3  is block diagram of a litigation management system  300  in accordance with some embodiments. In this case, a central litigation management system server  310  communicates with a number of remote legal representative devices  320  and remote claim adjuster devices  330 . The central litigation management server  310 , legal representative devices  320 , and claim adjuster devices  330  may then facilitate an automated management of litigations and potential litigations. As used herein the term “automated” indicates that at least some part of a step associated with a process or service is performed with little or no human intervention. By way of examples only, the central litigation management server  310 , legal representative devices  320 , and claim adjuster devices  330  might be associated and/or communicate with a Personal Computer (PC), a notebook computer, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) an enterprise server, and/or a database farm. 
     Any of the devices described in connection with the system  300  may access information in one or more databases, such as a documents database  318 . The databases may include, for example, information about insurance claims and litigations associated with various offices or jurisdictions. Moreover, any of the devices may exchange information via a communication network. As used herein, devices (including those associated with the central litigation management system server  310  and any other device described herein) may exchange information via any communication network, such as a Local Area Network (LAN), a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a proprietary network, a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) network, a Bluetooth network, a wireless LAN network, and/or an Internet Protocol (IP) network such as the Internet, an intranet, or an extranet. Note that any devices described herein may communicate via one or more such communication networks. 
     The devices of  FIG. 3  might, according to some embodiments, be accessible via a Graphical User Interface (GUI). The GUI might be used, for example, to dynamically display information about existing insurance claims and litigations, to receive indications of new insurance claims and litigations, to provide alerts to legal representatives and claims adjusters, and/or to generate or display reports about insurance claims and litigations. 
     Although a single central litigation management system server  310  is shown in  FIG. 3 , any number of such devices may be included. Moreover, various devices described herein might be combined or co-located according to embodiments of the present invention. 
     The central litigation management system server  310  might include, for example, a communication device to receive information from a plurality of remote devices. The central litigation management system server  310  might further include a processor coupled to the communication device and a storage device in communication with the processor and storing instructions adapted to be executed by said processor to facilitate the automated management of litigations in accordance with any of the embodiments described herein. 
     The central litigation management system server  310  might also include, for example, an hour tracking engine  312  to allocate time worked to the appropriate insurance files, an event tracking engine  314  to schedule and monitor legal events, and an alert engine  316  to transmit messages to legal representatives and/or claim adjusters based on the legal events. According to some embodiments, the central litigation management system server  310  is also associated with a document input engine to generate document files for a plurality of insurance claim files. 
     Moreover, the central litigation management system server  310  might include a client profile engine that includes an interface to a third-party court calendaring service. The client profile engine might further include an interface to a word processing application, an email application, a contact management application, and/or a user calendar application. According to some embodiments, the client profile engine further executes legal conflict of interest avoidance rules. Note that the central litigation management system server  310  might further include a resources layer to store the client profiles and the generated document files (e.g., in the documents database  318 ), and an access layer to support a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for the remote legal representative devices  320  and/or the remote claims adjuster devices  330 . According to some embodiments, a resources layer may comprise or include a storage device or server. 
     In this way, the system  300  may support day-to-day operations and electronic document demands of court systems, insured&#39;s and claims customers and provide a feature-rich environment with an integrated electronic document management capability. The system  300  may also support a migration towards a paperless environment, facilitate the standardization of practices, procedures and reporting, and permit the implementation of virtual supervision and staffing models. 
     Note that the system  300  may provide scalability through significant automation and allow for virtual support and the centralization of processes. As a result, enterprise may be less dependent on physical locations with co-located attorneys and support staff. Further, work-from-home attorneys might be utilized to reduce office footprint (or remove some offices altogether) and service jurisdictions that might otherwise be too costly to support an office structure. 
     The system may also drive improved file quality and efficiency and customer service through automated diary, calendaring and time entry systems, real time notification and reporting capabilities, and substantial file supervision options. With graphically implemented application features, streamlined processes, and the ability to work anywhere, some embodiments of the present invention may reduce operating expenses and improve quality, service and work environments. 
       FIG. 4  is a conceptual architecture diagram  400  according to some embodiments of the present invention. In particular, a third party layer  410  may be provided to support, for example, office document scanning, and access layer  420  may support user interfaces. Client profiles may be stored at a configuration layer  470  and the client profiles case management system may be designed primarily as a client/server application using Microsoft SQL® Server as its Relational Database Management System (“RDBMS”). According to some embodiments, much of the functionality of the system may be provided within the client application. The client may be, for example, written primarily in PowerBuilder, Visual Basic, and .NET. This application may provide, for example, some or all of the following functionality: docketing, calendaring, and scheduling; task/to-do/tickler management; contact management and related-party functions; email and messaging management; time capture and time entry system; document management; key word searching; document assembly; conflict of interest/conflict avoidance; case information tracking/law type information management; case information reporting/management reporting; and Microsoft Exchange/Outlook® integration. 
     The access layer  420  may also support applications associated with workers compensation claims, property claims, and general liability claims. The services layer  430  may include components such as: a client profiles scanning service to direct scanned document to proper users for review and to add to case file; a client profiles indexing service to index documents for fast full text searching; a client profiles polling service to periodically poll Microsoft Exchange® for emails and calendar events for the purpose of synchronizing with client profiles; and a client profiles synchronization service to synchronize client profiles email and calendar functionality with Microsoft Exchange®. The services layer  430  may further include a data service to retrieve claim data specific to a case based on a claim number. 
     The component layer  440  may further support Microsoft Message Queuing (“MSMQ”) to synchronize to the MS Exchange server with client profiles. according to some embodiments, the resource layer  460  may support: case data extract to extract case data (e.g., a case name and claim number) to be sent to the vendor(s) for indexing and claim matching purposes; document storage to provide storage for all case related documentation; a Microsoft Exchange® integration point for email and calendaring; a claims data warehouse to store client profile data (case details, etc.) that may be loaded to the claims data warehouse for analytic reporting; and active directory to establish an identity for a logged on user; and a client profiles database storing case details, document metadata, and required application data. 
     According to some embodiments, documents may be sent to a specific legal office or a state hub for scanning (e.g., via email, fax machines, and postal mail). In other embodiments, each legal office might receive and scan its own documents.  FIG. 5  illustrates an insurance claim document input process  500  in accordance with some embodiments. Upon completion of sorting at  510  and scanning at  520 , key data on the document may be indexed and used to match the document to a case file via the service layer  430 . The document may also be classified into a document category and type. This document category and type, along with other metadata, may be sent to work management software at  530  that drives the routing and delivery of the document to the appropriate users for further processing. The scanned image of the document and its index information may be stored in a client profiles file storage system  546  of a resource layer  460  of a litigation management application  540 . Data may also be stored in an application server  542  and a database server  544 . Users can view/access these documents from the client profiles application via the data access layer  450  using legal office staff devices  550 . 
       FIG. 6  is a block diagram of a data flow  600  according to some embodiments of the present invention. Initially, a claimant  610  might file a claim with a claim handler or adjuster  620 . The claim adjuster  620  might provide a legal referral to a review process  630  handled by a managing attorney. Data may then be provided to a litigation management system  640  supported by staff and case documents may be stored at a document storage server  650  while case details are stored in a case details database  660 . 
       FIGS. 7 through 9  illustrate a more detailed insurance claim processing flow in accordance with some embodiments. At  702 , a claim adjuster reviews a claim. If it is determined that litigation is not required at  704 , the claims adjuster can simply work the claim at  706  and the process ends. If it is determined that litigation is required at  704 , the staff legal managing attorney reviews the request for litigation at  708  (and a review litigation request may be queued at  710 ). If a litigation decision of “more data” is generated at  712 , the claim adjuster may provide additional information at  714  and the process continues at  708 . 
     If a litigation decision of “accept” is generated at  712 , the process continues at  FIG. 8  and the managing attorney assigns staff to the case at  802 . The claim adjuster updates the claim at  804 . The staff legal may work the case at  806  and the claim adjuster may simultaneously work the case at  808  (and note that certain types of information may be exchanged between them during this process). The process continues until the case is resolved at  810 , at which point the claim adjuster closes the case at  812 . 
     If a litigation decision of “reject” is generated at  712 , the process continues at  FIG. 9  and the claim adjuster may refer the case to a panel at  902 . The panel may take the case and assign staff at  904 . The claim adjuster may work the case at  906  and the panel may simultaneously work the case at  908  (and note that certain types of information may be exchanged between them during this process). The process continues until the case is resolved at  910 , at which point the claim adjuster closes the case at  912 . 
     Thus, various parties may need to exchange information while processing a claim. According to some embodiments of the present invention, integration with user applications, such as Microsoft Outlook® and Microsoft Exchange Server®, may facilitate these exchanges. The integration may also provide an ability to synchronize contacts between client profiles and users&#39; contact list in Outlook®. 
     According to some embodiments, the client profiles Outlook/Exchange® integrations work via custom Messaging Application Programming Interface (“MAPI”) properties that are placed on Outlook® messages (e.g., emails, appointments, and contacts). An add-in that runs inside of Outlook may give the user appropriate UI interaction to associate Outlook® items with the appropriate matter in client profiles. Custom properties may be placed on the message when this association occurs. The actual application/services that process this information may vary based on whether the item is an email item, appointment item, or contact item. 
       FIG. 10  illustrates a system  1000  wherein a litigation management system is integrated with an email application according to some embodiments. In particular, a client workstation  1010  includes an email application that provides data to a web server  1020  and a database server  1030 . When a user associates an email item to a matter in Outlook®, custom MAPI properties may be placed on the email message. There may be a task tray application that resides on the workstation  1010  that facilitates the communication with a server-side web service. The job of the web service may be to record and store the incoming email message. The message may then indexed by a client profiles indexing service. A database record may be created (e.g., in a client profiles database  1032 ) that stores just enough information about the actual email item so that a list of messages can be displayed to the end user inside the matter. The actual .MSG file may be stored as a physical file on the network. Once the file is saved to the network it may also be indexed, making it available for ad-hoc searching within the matter. The web servicer  1020  may also be responsible for streaming stored email messages down the client workstations  1010  if a user wants to view the entire email message that is related to a matter. 
       FIG. 11  illustrates a system  1100  wherein a litigation management system is integrated with a word processing application according to some embodiments of the present invention. In particular, a client workstation  1110  includes a word processing application that provides data to a document storage server  1120  (storing case documents) and a database server  1130  (storing a client profiles database  1132 ). Note that an Office® integration might include a Microsoft Outlook® add-in, a Microsoft Word® add-in, and a client application, the task tray, which runs in the system notification area. Both add-ins may be loaded with the startup of their respective Office® application and operate by customizing the application&#39;s user interface, putting the functionality of client profiles right into Microsoft Office®. The components may be installed to the local workstation in the same directory as a case management client. 
     For all case management related operations, the Office® integration components may interact directly with the case management database. In order to authenticate the user, the add-ins may utilize the user&#39;s active directory information (SID—Security Identifier) to establish his or her client profiles identity. This mapping might be configured in the case management user setup, and may be required for the Office® integration to function. 
       FIG. 12  illustrates a system  1200  wherein a litigation management system is integrated with a calendaring application according to some embodiments. In particular an Exchange® server  1210  provides data to an operating system server  1220 , such as a Window® server. Note that the architecture for appointment integration may be significantly different than that of emails. With emails, the integration may be captured and processed at a specific point in time when the user associates the email to a matter in Outlook®. With appointments, the system  1200  may need to capture every change to calendar data, not just items related to matters. This might be done so that client profiles can provide additional insight into user calendar data as it relates to multi-user scheduling. In order to accomplish this level of integration, a Microsoft provided technology called Incremental Change Synchronization (“ICS”)  1212  may be used. 
     To achieve this integration, there may be two services involved, including a polling service  1222  that may be responsible for communicating directly with the Exchange® Server  1210  via MAPI. Each polling service installation may be configured to handle a specified number of mailboxes. As changes are received, they can be placed in a MSMQ  1224 . The second service may be a client profiles synchronization service  1226 . This service  1226  may be responsible for processing the items that are placed in the MSMQ  1224 . This may represent all of the insert/update/delete activity for appointments that are changing in Outlook®. The service  1226  may retrieve the necessary information about the appointment/meeting directly from the appropriate Exchange® mail store and synchronizes the data in a client profiles database  1228  with the data in Microsoft Outlook®. If there are custom properties on the appointment message that relate it to a matter, the service  1226  may takes this into account during the synchronization process. 
     A contact integration architecture may be very similar to what was described for the appointment integration. The same two services may be involved, the polling service and the synchronization service. One difference in the architecture for contacts might be that changes can flow both ways. Changes to contact records in the client profiles application or changes to records in Outlook® might synchronize both ways. Note that changes to corporate contact records (as opposed to personal contact records) might only flow one way (from client profiles to Outlook®). 
       FIG. 13  is a system diagram  1300  demonstrating connections between litigation management system components according to some embodiments. According to this embodiment, a number of remote legal offices  1310  executing client profiles desktop applications  1312  communicate via Multi-Protocol Label Switching (“MPLS”)  1320  with a central office  1340 . Similarly, a remote worker  1330  executing a client profiles desktop application  1332  may communicate via a Virtual Private Network (“VPN”) with the central office  1340 . Note that the central office  1340  and the remote worker  1330  might communicate in ways other than those illustrated in  FIG. 13 , such as via the CITRIX® or VMware® communication approaches. The central office  1340  might support, for example, a web server farm  1342 , an SQL server farm  1344 , an application server .NET farm  1346 , Exchange® servers, and Network Attached Storage (“NAS”) file servers  1350 . 
     According to some embodiments, an authentication desktop application may be required for user&#39;s to access an enterprise&#39;s intranet (including user name and password protection). An authorization desktop application may also be installed on the user&#39;s physical or virtual desktop. For example, a user might need to be added to an application by a designated individual. Once the user has been added, the user may be given a role suitable to the work that is to be performed. 
       FIG. 14  is a business model view  1400  associated with a litigation management system according to some embodiments of the present invention. In this case, an event  1410  might be associated with a several different claim numbers  1420  (e.g., each representing an individual involved in an automobile accident). Each claim number  1420  might be linked to a litigation management system identifier  1430 , which, in turn, may be associated with a court case file number  1440 . Note that different claim numbers  1420  could be linked to different court cast numbers  1440 , and potentially, different events could be associated with a single court case file number  1440  (illustrated by event  1412 , claim number  1422 , and litigation management system identifier  1432 ). 
       FIG. 15  is a block diagram of a litigation management apparatus  1500  in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. The apparatus  1500  might, for example, comprise a platform or engine similar to the central litigation management system server  110  illustrated in  FIG. 1 . The apparatus  1500  comprises a processor  1510 , such as one or more INTEL° Pentium® processors, coupled to a communication device  1520  configured to communicate via a communication network (not shown in  FIG. 15 ). The communication device  1520  may be used to exchange insurance claim information, for example, with one or more remote devices. 
     The processor  1510  is also in communication with an input device  1540 . The input device  1540  may comprise, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, or computer media reader. Such an input device  1540  may be used, for example, to enter information about claims, legal representatives, and adjusters. The processor  1510  is also in communication with an output device  1550 . The output device  1550  may comprise, for example, a display screen or printer. Such an output device  1550  may be used, for example, to provide reports and/or display information associated with insurance claim files. 
     The processor  1510  is also in communication with a storage device  1530 . The storage device  1530  may comprise any appropriate information storage device, including combinations of magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk drives), optical storage devices, and/or semiconductor memory devices such as Random Access Memory (RAM) devices and Read Only Memory (ROM) devices. The storage device  1530  stores a program  1515  for controlling the processor  1510 . The processor  1510  performs instructions of the program  1515 , and thereby operates in accordance any embodiments of the present invention described herein. For example, the processor  1510  may, for each of a plurality of insurance claims, establish an insurance claim file and associate it with: (i) a potential litigation, (ii) a remote legal representative, and (iii) a remote claim adjuster. Hours associated with the remote legal representative may be tracked by the processor  1510  and allocated to insurance claim files as appropriate. Legal events associated with the potential litigation may also be tracked by the processor  1510 , wherein at least some of the legal events are associated with a stored document accessible to the legal representative and not accessible to the claim adjuster. A first legal event associated with a first insurance claim file may be evaluated by the processor  1510  based on a pre-determined rule, and, responsive to the evaluation, an alert may be transmitted via the communication device  1520  to the remote claim adjuster associated with the first insurance claim file. 
     As used herein, information may be “received” by or “transmitted” to, for example: (i) the litigation management apparatus  1500  from other devices; or (ii) a software application or module within the litigation management apparatus  1500  from another software application, module, or any other source. 
     As shown in  FIG. 15 , the storage device  1530  also stores an insurance claim file database  1600 . One example of such a database  1600  that may be used in connection with the litigation management apparatus  1500  will now be described in detail with respect to  FIG. 16 . The illustration and accompanying descriptions of the database presented herein are exemplary, and any number of other database arrangements could be employed besides those suggested by the figures. For example, different databases associated with different types of policies or appointments might be associated with the apparatus  1500 . 
       FIG. 16  is a tabular view of a portion of the new work notification database  1600  in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. The table includes entries associated with new insurance policies that have been sold by producers. The table also defines fields  1602 ,  1604 ,  1606 ,  1608 ,  1610  for each of the entries. The fields specify: an insurance claim file identifier  1602 , a potential litigation identifier  1604 , a legal representative identifier  1606 , a claim adjuster identifier  1608 , and linked events and documents  1610 . The information in the database  1600  may be periodically created and updated based on information received from legal representative devices, claim adjuster devices, and/or third-party devices (e.g., a document scanning service). 
     The insurance claim file identifier  1602  might be, for example, an alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies an insurance claim currently being processed. The potential litigation identifier  1604  might indicate, for example, a court case and/or jurisdiction associated with that claim file. The legal representative and claim adjuster identifiers  1606 ,  1608  might indicate the people, offices, and/or roles work are currently working on the claim file. The linked events and documents  1610  might, for example, point to word processing documents, spreadsheets, and/or images associated with the insurance claim file (e.g., relevant medical records and court documents). 
       FIG. 17  is an example of a legal representative GUI display  1700  according to some embodiments. The display  1700  might include, for example, a claim identifier, a potential litigation, a claim adjuster, a case status, and an upcoming legal event. The display  1700  might further include, according to some embodiments, a list of documents that are associated with the claim file and available to the legal representative.  FIG. 18  is an example of a claim adjuster GUI display  1800  according to some embodiments. The display  1800  might include, for example, a claim identifier, a potential litigation, a legal representative, a case status, and an alert message. The display  1800  might further include, according to some embodiments, a list of documents that are associated with the claim file and available to the claim adjuster. Note that the set of documents available to the claim adjuster might be different than the set of documents available to the legal representative. For example, according to some embodiments, legal representatives and claims adjusters are each associated with completely separate document repositories that are not generally shared. In this case, a document might be shared or copied between the repositories only after being manually reviewed and approved by one or more appropriate parties. 
     As a result of the embodiments described herein, the efficiency and accuracy of litigation management may be improved for legal representatives, claim adjusters, an insurance company, and claimants. 
     The following illustrates various additional embodiments of the invention. These do not constitute a definition of all possible embodiments, and those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention is applicable to many other embodiments. Further, although the following embodiments are briefly described for clarity, those skilled in the art will understand how to make any changes, if necessary, to the above-described apparatus and methods to accommodate these and other embodiments and applications. 
     Although specific hardware and data configurations have been described herein, note that any number of other configurations may be provided in accordance with embodiments of the present invention (e.g., some of the information associated with the databases and engines described herein may be split, combined, and/or handled by external systems). 
     Applicants have discovered that embodiments described herein may be particularly useful in connection with automobile insurance claims, although embodiments may be used in connection other types of insurance claims (e.g., life insurance) claims. Moreover, although some embodiments have been described with respect to court litigation, note that embodiments might be useful in other dispute resolution situations. 
     The present invention has been described in terms of several embodiments solely for the purpose of illustration. Persons skilled in the art will recognize from this description that the invention is not limited to the embodiments described, but may be practiced with modifications and alterations limited only by the spirit and scope of the appended claims.