Better Legal Services and Content Through Legal Design

Humans have always designed their environment and the objects they use. Design is about improving the functionality and usability of various products, services and user interfaces. Examples of design can be found everywhere if we stop to observe our surroundings – from tangible industrial product design to more intangible service design. Design is solution-oriented activity that focuses on solving problems or meeting needs from the user's perspective. Design thinking aims to find better solutions for the user experience. To achieve this goal, designers use various methods, tools and processes that are central to design projects. Design is therefore not just about aesthetics, which can often be the first thing that comes to mind when we think about design.

So, how does this relate to legal services and content?

Legal design is one sub-field of design that utilizes the same design methods, tools and processes with the aim of finding solutions to problems or responding to user needs. In legal design, the focus is specifically on legal services and content, the quality of which is improved through design methods, thereby increasing user satisfaction. Legal design can target concrete legal documents, such as contracts and legal opinions, but it also involves the broader systematic implementation of customer comprehensibility and user-centricity into the processes and services of those operating in the legal field.

Legal design is not a new phenomenon, although the term is believed to have first appeared at the beginning of the millennium. The background influences of legal design thinking include preventive law research and the development of legal principles such as legal certainty and access to justice.

At Merilampi, we have trained internally in the basics of legal design thinking and have built the customer-centric approach at the heart of design thinking into our operating methods. This is reflected in our services in that, in addition to our strong legal expertise, we prepare and communicate information in a customer-centric manner, taking into account linguistic, structural and visual design methods. We explain complex processes and difficult-to-understand matters through illustrative infographics and visual presentation methods. This reduces misunderstandings, saves time and helps build trust between the parties. Through legal design, we offer each client the best possible customer experience – in a clear and understandable format.