The present invention provides a system and method for dividing patent claims into segments for display. A segmentation engine of a computer program searches for transitional phrases or other strings and divides the patent claims into a segment for each claim. The segmentation engine also searches for dependency references. A display engine of the program uses the dependency data to display the claims in a tree structure. The segmentation also divides each claim into subsegments containing the various components of the claim. The subsegments of each claim are displayed in a tree structure nested within the tree structure of the claims. A user may manipulate and/or select segmentation rules to determine how segmentation is carried out, or may alter display settings to determine which segments or subsegments are shown and which are hidden to expedite claim analysis.