Legal design is a buzzword in the legal business, but – while the hype can be considered as a positive factor in terms of publicity – it is also dangerous because it hides challenges, struggles, and risks that we face as legal designers. In this short article I highlighted three of them.
Choosing (and balancing) the right team
Choosing the team is a crucial aspect of every legal design project. Assuming that a legal design project is not a solo effort, we need to include – I would say at least – legal professionals and visual/graphic designers[1]. The more the process is structured and complex, the more we will need design thinkers, project managers, and psychologists[2]. If in our company or firm we cannot rely on professionals with that skillset, we can ask members of the marketing or project management team. The added value will not be the same, but we will benefit from their different thinking and we’ll be able to leverage on the collaboration element. As highlighted by Heidi Gardner in her two books: Smart Collaborations, and the most recent, “Smarter Collaborations”[3], choosing someone with a perspective that is different than ours is crucial. It means leveraging both on possible conflicts and respective trust.
Unfortunately, balancing different personalities is harder than it seems. For a lawyer, it will be difficult to be constantly creative, delivering MVPs[4], and “failing fast”; for a designer, it will be difficult to understand why we spend so much time with words and clauses. Truth is, different experiences and backgrounds cause several difficulties. Priorities are different, timing is different, and expectations are different as well. If managed well, the variety of characters is a treasure, it managed badly, it can represent a risk.
Budgeting the efforts
Needless to say, a serious legal design project is very expensive. A friend of mine used to say that legal design is like high quality cuisine. If we want the 3-star Michelin restaurant, it can’t be cheap. And I agree (excluding from the pro bono efforts from the equation).
A serious legal design effort requires different professionals (see point 1). Furthermore, it requires highly skilled practitioners, both on the legal and the design part. Regarding the legal, sometimes, it is not even a matter of finding an experienced lawyer, but a lawyer with a specific experience in relation to an industry (whether telco, pharma, insurance, etc.) At Design Rights[5], we are so obsessed with this concept that only a specialist of the area can work on a legal design project.
Even this, however, has its downsides. And it is not only a matter of fees. The higher the fee, the more the budget will need to be justified, approved by several departments, and explained to various executives. Furthermore, if we are selling sometimes that is widely known (e.g. cybersecurity), the departments will have no problems in understanding what we are speaking about. But if we are talking about legal design, the scenario will be way more complicated.
Spreading the verb
One aspect of legal design is that it is not well-known, especially by the public. I tend to say: “If my mama doesn’t know it, then it means no one knows”. Now, maybe my mama knows about legal design because of my work in the field, but the concept is not very clear. The newspapers don’t speak about it. Law Schools and Design Schools lack specific courses. The average citizen feels the need to change the system in terms of clarity, equality, involvement, but lacks the awareness that professionals all over the world are intensely working on it.
Someone could say that the community is pretty active, and this is true, both on social media platforms and in terms of conferences and jams. Moreover, it is undeniable that interest in it is rising fast. But I am afraid that Linkedin algorithms and bias are shifting our perspective. Most of the people around us don’t know about it. Institutions are still communicating in cryptic way, corporate departments give priority to other issues, and law firms are not taking the opportunity.
I would also add that there is a shortage of high profile legal design projects. With limited public visibility, it is very unlikely that the process is revealed, or that an impact analysis is provided. Unfortunately, this could happen also because of NDAs or willingness of the clients not to mention the project/the process in order to not provide an advantage to competitors.
The positive factor is that, when the word is spread – there is enthusiasm all around. Students love it, citizens appreciate its value, and everyone is more aware of the need for clearer regulations. So I guess that – even taking into account all the difficulties – legal design’s success will only be a matter of time.
Conclusions
The pros of legal design are way more than the cons, but it would be risky to consider only the positive aspects of the discipline. I am quite convinced that, in a visual and client-centric work, the space for legal design projects will always be more. Being aware of costs, risks, and opportunities can be a good way to face challenges properly. And spread better the seeds of a unique, fascinating, movement.
Marco Imperiale
Head of Innovation, LCA Studio Legale; Visiting Researcher, Harvard Law School
[1] Various forms of design can be related to legal design: design thinking, visual design, information design, graphic design, service design.
[2] The role of psychologists and economists would be crucial in terms of impact analysis of legal design projects
[3] H. Gardner, Smart Collaborations (HBR Press, 2016); H. Gardner, I. Matviak Smarter Collaboration (HBR Press, 2022)
[4] Minimum Viable Products
[5] Design Rights is the joint collaboration of LCA Studio Legale and Mondora SB for legal design projects, workshops, and consulting. For further information www.designrights.it
