I am working to compile a very complex legal database. I want to use the case
number as the primary Key. The problem comes in that each case there are
multiple defendants and claimants. I don't know how to place more than one
piece of information in each or how I can work around this. Ultimately I want
to be able to search and organize the information by Claimant, defendant,
perpotrator, etc. Any suggestions would be helpful

Try something like this:

tblCases
CaseNumber (PK)
<Other Case Related Information>

tblParticipants
ParticipantID (PK)
ParticipantLastName
ParticipantFirstName
<Other Participant Related Information>

tblParticipationType
ParticipationTypeID (PK)
ParticipationType

tblCaseParticipation
CaseNumber (FK) (PK)
ParticipantID (FK) (PK)
ParticipationTypeID (FK) (PK)

That should give you what you are looking for.

HTH

Sharkbyte




"ALoecher" wrote:

> I am working to compile a very complex legal database. I want to use the case
> number as the primary Key. The problem comes in that each case there are
> multiple defendants and claimants. I don't know how to place more than one
> piece of information in each or how I can work around this. Ultimately I want
> to be able to search and organize the information by Claimant, defendant,
> perpotrator, etc. Any suggestions would be helpful

Are you quite certain that CaseNumber will be unique? It seems to me that
if your customers have issues heard in more than one court, each court might
use the same "number" without realizing that other courts have also...

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Office/Access MVP

"ALoecher" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3EE3B04F-C3FC-4F97-BE53-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I am working to compile a very complex legal database. I want to use the
>case
> number as the primary Key. The problem comes in that each case there are
> multiple defendants and claimants. I don't know how to place more than one
> piece of information in each or how I can work around this. Ultimately I
> want
> to be able to search and organize the information by Claimant, defendant,
> perpotrator, etc. Any suggestions would be helpful