What I’ve learned from user research is that the legal service experiences outlined above are immensely frustrating for clients due to having to retell traumatic stories, getting bounced back and forth, and waiting for long periods of time without any information on what the next steps will be. This is where design tools can be applied.
Mapping a client journey from the beginning of their legal issues through to the predicted resolution or common outcome, including all the pain points they experience and services they interact with, provides a holistic, empathetic view of what it’s like to experience a problem and where design solutions can help. This is because legal design solutions are best uncovered through user research that focuses on how people experience the problem. Legal design solutions built off this research could include increasing information-sharing tools between organisations, like shared portals and databases for client notes, or referral links sent to mobile phones.
Legal design can also borrow design and technology inspiration from what works well in other sectors, like using designs for digital trackers from parcel delivery companies to let legal aid clients track the progress of their grant of aid. Another example is using digital screens in courts to show wait times and room numbers to improve the physical environment of a waiting room and court navigation using what we can learn from architects and experience designers.
Well-researched design solutions are sensitive to technology capabilities and desirability within an organisation and among that organisation’s client base. Sometimes, legal solutions are tech-centric, like building a divorce chatbot for Reddit. Other times, non-digital solutions are best, like creating more effective partnerships and co-locating legal aid with support services.
In short, legal design is about creating better ways to provide accessible information, develop self-help tools, and deliver services that meet clients needs. Human-centred design—an approach that puts the people with the problems at the centre of the solution—can be used to redesign legal service delivery, implement innovative legal technology, reach more people, and plan for a better future.