These books collectively provide a rich tapestry of insights into the world of legal design, catering to a broad audience including legal professionals, designers, and anyone interested in making legal information and services more user-friendly, effective, and innovative.
Show, Don’t Tell! Conceptualising and Sharing Abstract Knowledge by Stefania Passera (2017): This book delves deep into the realm of legal design, offering readers a comprehensive understanding of its principles and techniques. It covers a wide range of topics, including visual communication, user-centered design, and process improvement. Aimed at lawyers, legal professionals, and designers, it provides practical guidance on how to enhance the usability and accessibility of legal documents and services, making it an essential read for those interested in this emerging field.
“Design a Better Business: New Tools, Skills, and Mindset for Strategy and Innovation” by Patrick Van Der Pijl, Justin Lokitz, and Lisa Kay Solomon (2016): While not exclusively focused on legal design, this book offers valuable insights into applying design thinking principles to improve various aspects of business, including legal services. It emphasizes user-centric approaches, prototyping, and creative problem-solving, all of which can be applied to streamline legal processes and enhance the effectiveness of legal documents.
“Legal Upheaval: A Guide to Creativity, Collaboration, and Innovation in Law” by Michele DeStefano (2018): Michele DeStefano’s book addresses the pressing need for innovation in the legal industry. It offers practical advice on incorporating design thinking, technology, and collaboration into legal practice. By emphasizing adaptability and creativity, the book provides insights into reshaping legal services to meet the evolving demands of the modern world.
Design Your Law Practice: Using Design Thinking to Get Next Level Results by Jessica Bednarz (2020): “Design Your Law Practice: Using Design Thinking to Get Next Level Results” serves as a comprehensive resource, offering an introduction to design thinking principles and showcasing their successful application within the legal services field. The book equips readers with the knowledge and tools necessary to immediately apply various design thinking approaches, leading to tangible improvements in lawyer performance and client satisfaction. It features practical case studies and contributions from experts who demonstrate how each step of the design thinking process can be tailored to address challenges specific to lawyers, law firms, and the justice system. The book also includes action-oriented summaries and downloadable design tools, allowing readers to translate their newfound knowledge into actionable steps. Ultimately, the book emphasizes the potential for increased lawyer and client happiness through the adoption of design thinking principles in the legal profession.
Legal Design Perspectives: Theoretical and Practical Insights from the field by Rossana Ducato and Alain Strowel (2021): In recent years, Legal Design has experienced significant growth as both a field of research and practical application. Its potential within the legal domain has been explored and tested in various areas, including access to justice, dispute resolution, privacy indicators, policy development, and contractual negotiation. Legal Design is an interdisciplinary field that draws from multiple disciplines and methodologies while also benefiting from insights gained from real-world legal practice. This book aims to contribute to the ongoing study and progress of Legal Design by presenting diverse perspectives and voices from scholars and practitioners actively engaged in this field. The volume includes critical essays that delve into the nature and methodologies of Legal Design, as well as practical examples from its application in practice. The contributions offer readers an up-to-date understanding of the current state of Legal Design and offer a glimpse into its potential future developments.
The Legal Design Book: Design in The 21st Century by Astrid Kohlmeier and Meera Klemola (2021): At the core of their approach to legal design lies the aspiration to produce legal information that is both engaging and easily comprehensible, all while enhancing the overall client experience. In their book, these values are prominently embodied, featuring imaginative visualizations skillfully crafted by Tobias Heumann. This book deviates from the conventional standards of legal literature. Their principal objective is to facilitate seamless access to the content, closely aligning with their central mission as legal designers: harnessing the power of design to illuminate the intricacies of the law, create user-friendly resources, and simplify the process of understanding it.
Legal Design: Integrating Business, Design and Legal Thinking with Technology by Marcelo Corrales, Helena Haapio, Margaret Hagan and Michael Doherty (2021): This groundbreaking book introduces fresh theories regarding the enhancement of the legal system’s accessibility, usability, and empowerment for individuals by integrating design principles. Through the presentation of crucial case studies and tangible instances of legal innovation, the book transcends mere discourse and actively promotes practical solutions. It presents a wealth of illustrative instances, showcasing the application of diverse design approaches, encompassing information, service, product, and policy design, in both research and practical contexts.
Law by Design by Margaret Hagan (2020): The book explores the intersection of law and design thinking. It offers a fresh perspective on how design principles can be applied to the legal field to make the law more accessible, user-friendly, and effective. Hagan’s book emphasizes the importance of understanding the needs and experiences of legal users, including clients, lawyers, and policymakers, and how design methodologies can be used to address these needs. She provides real-world examples and case studies to illustrate how design thinking can lead to innovative solutions in the legal industry. “Law by Design” is a valuable resource for legal professionals, designers, and anyone interested in improving the legal system through innovative design practices.