An emerging discipline in recent years, Legal Design offers particularly interesting perspectives for legal professionals.
The genesis of Legal Design
Coming from the United States, Legal Design or Design Thinking emerged in 1999 in New York. Designer Candy Chang created an infographic aimed at making street vendors in the city aware of their rights. Thanks to this infographic, it simplifies the maze of regulations then applicable in the Big Apple. Design Thinking was then theorized in 2014 by Margaret Hagan, lawyer and designer, working with Stanford University. She popularized the concept in particular thanks to her Tumblr, lawdesigntech.
Since Stanford's Legal Design Lab, many imitators have followed suit. Taught in some law schools (such as ERAGE, the Grand Est School of Lawyers) and also studied at universities (the Legal Design Assas association, the first of its kind in France, founded in 2016 with the journal IllustrAssas ), Legal Design is gaining ground among legal professionals. Widely used in the UK, French government agencies are also trying to adopt it, as exemplified by the French tax administration, which created infographics in 2018 to explain the withholding of taxes at source.
The result of the merger of three disciplines
This new concept is a revolution in the world of law made possible thanks to the possibilities offered by the latest technological advances. Legal Design is located precisely at the confluence of three disciplines. First of all, the design which allows the creation of attractive visual content. Then, the user experience (UX), that is to say how the user perceives the tool used and whether he can easily use this tool. Finally and of course, we must add the legal expertise of legal professionals allowing the dissemination of reliable legal information.
To summarize in a few words, what is Legal Design? It's a concept that aims to translate legal text into images. It therefore seeks to create simplified and visual legal documents using diagrams, graphics, tables, infographics, etc.
The observation of legal complexity
The observation made by Legal Design incubators is the same: legal information is often abstract and obscure, too often resorting to complex jargon for the uninitiated. In addition, the information is often poorly presented and unattractive, with a cluttered layout.
Far from being a simple cosmetic issue, this concept is based on the obvious: legal information should be clear and accessible to all.
Offer visual supports
The use of a visual aid greatly facilitates the understanding of legal dynamics. The educational aim of these documents for the general public is certain.
Take, for example, a long and tedious list of terms and conditions that we often only glance at. Translated into visuals with colors , boxes, symbols, arrows , bold, underlining, etc., it immediately becomes more structured, much more pleasant to read, and easier to understand!
Jarvis Legal draws inspiration from Legal Design principles for the decision-making tools integrated into its software platform. Say goodbye to complicated reports; Jarvis simplifies your life by using on-demand generated graphical reporting elements . Your data can be presented as tables, graphs, tree diagrams, with various colors and layouts, facilitating informed decision-making.
Facilitate the lawyer-client relationship
Legal design contributes to improved access to justice. By promoting understanding and accessibility of legal information, it enables lawyers to communicate more effectively with their clients.
The overall approach conveyed by this concept is fueled by the desire to put the user at the center by offering them more intuitive content. In this way, it enriches the customer relationship by allowing richer and more fruitful interactions.
A real shock of simplification for professionals, Legal Design is above all an opportunity to question and reinvigorate one's practices to make them more accessible.