Introduction
With the evolution of the nature and complexity of civil cases, it has become imperative that the law firm develops and implement a case tracking and management systems (CTM). The CTM is geared towards achieving efficiency and overall effectiveness in the process of filing, early phases, pretrial, trial, judgment, appeals, and enforcement of civil cases. The CTM also factors in the cases that are poached by twists and turns making it easier to recover and proceed. For a local firm that works and specializes in civil matters, a CTM would prove to be critically instrumental in comprehensive monitoring and tracking of a civil case from the time a plaintiff files a case against a defendant to the final resolution of the case in question.
This class name is called case participants. The participants are the objects of the class, and they are the plaintiff(s) who files a civil case, the defendant(s) whom the case is filed against and the witness or witnesses who testify for or against either the plaintiff or the defendant. All their attributes are depicted in the object class UML below. Additionally, the particular behavior elicited by the objects in their object instances is also shown. For example, when a plaintiff feels that he/she has been hurt, offended, or wronged by someone, who is called the defendant, the plaintiff’s behavior will evoke a response from the defendant inform of an answer to the lawsuit after being served (Whitten, Barlow, & Bentley, 1997).
Generalization/specialization relationships
In the above UML representation, the plaintiff, the defendant, and the witness object instances are seen to have a common ground on generalization where they implicitly share some attributes regarding comprehensive personal data such as Name, Nationality, Residence, Sex, Age, Marital Status and Employment status. It common for some objects and classes to share some attributes and behavior. Conversely, the same or different classes may also exhibit varied differences in attributes (CFG, 2001). The object case instance on generalization is indicated by the use of faint continuous blue lines. However, the object instances also have some notable differences represented as specializations with dark continuous black lines.
Object/class associations, and object/class association table
It is imperative to note that objects and classes for any UML representation do not solely or definitively exist in isolation. It, therefore, elicits the concept of relationships between the object instances and classes within the legal framework of the elements and participants of the local civil law firm. The specific relationships between the model design are shown below.
Object class association between a plaintiff and the complaint filed against a defendant.
Object class association and the multiplicity association
Aggregation relationships, and aggregation relationship table
Some object instances in the case tracking occur as part of the whole and are not affected by any change in the system which represent the situation regarding aggregation while others occur in the context of the entire system but are directly affected by any change in the system amounting to a compositional form of aggregation. For instance, if the plaintiff withdraws a motion, then the entire civil lawsuit is disbanded and considered as resolved by default. This type is termed as composition since the lawsuit will exist only and only if the plaintiff persists with the lawsuit. Conversely, if a participant such as one of the witnesses withdraws, then the case will not be affected and will continue as planned with the defendant side looking for more witnesses (Whitten, Barlow, & Bentley, 1997). The UML representation of the aggregation relationship about the construct of primary aggregation and compositional aggregation id depicted diagrammatically below.
Conclusion
For a freelance system on case tracking on the local law firm, a significant amount of consideration, management, manipulations and improvisation forms the fundamental tenet of the design approach. The system is, however, effective in that it manages to capture all the aspects of the cases from the time they are presented to the time they are adjudicated. Factors such as objects, classes, relationships, associations, aggregation, composition prove to be the consolidation avenues for ensuring a fully functional and efficient system.
References
CFG. (2011). Case tracking and management guide: Centre for democracy and governance. Washington DC: Bureau of Global Programs, Field Support, and Research.
Whitten, J. L., Barlow, V. M., & Bentley, L. (1997). Systems analysis and design methods. McGraw-Hill Professional.
