Patent ID: 8161060

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, at a conflicts management system, a conflict search request having a request type selected from one of a plurality of request types defined by the conflicts management system and identifying a first party representing a potential new client and a second party to whom the first party is known to be adverse; selecting a query to be processed and one or more rules to be evaluated based on the request type, the query and the one or more rules part of a risk matrix that maps customizable queries and customizable rules to request types, the queries and rules for use in assessing risk that would be undertaken by engaging the first party, or a party determined to be related to the first party; executing the query against a data source to identify additional parties related to the first or second party and to identify party attribute data associated with one or more parties, the party attribute data for use in evaluation of the one or more rules; evaluating, using a hardware processor, the one or more rules using as input any one or more of the first party, the second party, any identified additional parties, or any identified party attribute data; based on a result obtained from evaluating the one or more rules, assigning to the first party and any identified additional party to which the first party is related a risk score representing a measure of risk that would be undertaken if the first party or any additional party to whom the first party is related is engaged as a client; displaying a conflict report including the first party, and any identified additional party to which the first party is related, along with their respective assigned risk scores; receiving user-input indicating that a particular party included in the conflict report having a risk score that exceeds a threshold risk score does not represent an actual conflict; prompting for and receiving information relevant to the reason why the particular party does not represent an actual conflict; and utilizing the received information to modify one or more rules used in assigning the risk score to the particular party.