legal design jams: how visualizing fosters collaboration across professional boundaries

www.mindspace.fi

Legal Design Jams:how visualizing fosterscollaboration acrossprofessional boundariesInformation Design Matters, 7.4.2014, LondonStefania Passera

what is a Legal Design Jam

interest on visualizing togetherand the good things that can come out of it

end

Overviewof thepresentation

take-away message

showing practical examples ofcollaborative behaviors duringLegal Design Jams[3 cases]

www.mindspace.fi© 2014 Stefania Passera

www.mindspace.fi

www.legaldesignjam.com#legaldesignjam

© 2014 Stefania Passera

A “hackaton” type of eventthat brings together designers,lawyers, innovators, educatorsand in general everyone who wants to improve how legal texts are designed nowadays

Between 3 and 6 hours ofeffective hands-on work to present prototypes of howa legal document could look&feel better for users!

7 LDJs and counting

>

>

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Visualizing togetherallows people with different backgroundsto collaborate ondifficult issuesthat have non-obvious solutions.


> create a co-owned external referent of an idea

Visualizing allows to

> keep focus on a task, trying to find a solution, rather than diverge on differences of opinion

> clarify complex, abstract ideas to oneself and to the whole group

> bridges & balances gaps of expertise

the so-called“boundary object” Star & Griesemer, 1989


> During the Information Design Summer School in Syros (Greece) we worked on the CISG [United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods] The participants were designers, lawyers and technical writers > Treaty ratified by 79 countries, making it one of the most successful international uniform laws. Used by many companies in international trade.

Link to the CISG Visual Booklet: http://legaldesignjam.com/2013/11/04/ldj-syros-report/

Link to the original CISG, for a comparison: http://www.uncitral.org/pdf/english/texts/sales/cisg/V1056997-CISG-e-book.pdf

LDJ on CISG


> “Plenary” discussions to synchronize efforts and being on the same page

> Showing, not telling: participants make their point across and make suggestions by showing prototypes of their idea


> Visualization is not only an outcome, but a means to, firstly, clarify the meaning of the document to oneself

> The participants cycle through increasingly more refined prototypes, that show the emerging interpretation

> Post-its and whiteboards are the best for this, as they allow quick changes and shared efforts

> Splitting in sub-teams, based on interest, for effectiveness

> More parts of the original document can be redesigned in a short time period

> Still working towards the same, shared goal


Mandatory law

Contract

Trade usage &established practices

CISG & otherdefault rules

1

2

3

4

Your contract and the law are like a series of sieves: if a provision is regulated on one of the upper layers, then the rules below do not apply.

The CISG is a set of default rules and provides a final “safety net” to the agreeing parties.

Order of application

© 2013. CISG Legal Design Jam Group @ Syros 2013

What are the obligations of the seller?

Ifthe seller is arranging the delivery, he hasto take care of all contracts for carriage

What are the obligations of the buyer?

Pay

the purchase price

at the agreed place

on time

as agreed by the parties

as generally charged forsuch goods

at Seller’s place of business

by a defined date

when taking over the goods

after having inspected thegoods

when taking over the goods,at place of delivery

Acceptdelivery

by taking over the goods

by enabling the Seller to effectuate the delivery

Options:The buyer must:

Ifthe price is fixed according to the weight of the goods, in case of doubt it is thento be determined by the net weight.

© 2013. CISG Legal Design Jam Group @ Syros 2013


LDJ on Wikimedia Trademark Policy > Two Legal Design Jams in US, at Stanford University and in San Francisco > Win-win-win: participants tested their skills on real-world documents, Wikimedia got ideas and solutions for their policies, a wide community of users will benefit from a better document

Link to the WikimediaTrademark Policy: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Trademark_policy


> A learning experience for organizations: Wikimedia’s lawyers and UX designers participated actively in both Jams

> Open for feedback, suggestions and even criticism: this is a way for them to meet potential users face to face

> No power distance, but participation from within, as peers who are also there to learn and challenge themselves


> Law students love it! “It was the most fun thing I ever did in all these years at law school!

> Design students love it! “I honestly thought that it would be very hard, and that working with legal stuff would be very boring... but I really had fun and learnt a lot!”

> Out of the comfort zone is fine, because collaboration allows to rely on different competencies: nobody needs to solve the whole problem alone


> Professionals want to take new challenges and meet other likeminded people

> A whole (Satur)day jamming, voluntarily

> Some people came from other cities, just to be there “This could be Woodstock in the legal field”

> Intrinsically motivated to collaborate


LDJ on Microsoft Store Terms of Use & Sale > With master students from KU Leuven & Tillburg University (law) and KU Leuven and Sint Lucas School of Arts (design)

> Once again, we managed to get an important organization on board, trying to aim at the win-win-win effect


> Severe time constraints (only three hours of effective hands-on work)... but so much can be achieved in such a short time!

> Time pressure pushes towards a collaborative attitude, because everyone is aware that they couldn’t make it alone

> Fast iteration and embodied communication facilitate the concretization of ideas

Version 0


Version 1 Version

2

SW

MAKE ACCOUNT

CHOOSE PRODUCT

EXISTING PRODUCT

COMPLETE PURCHASE

WHY?

RECEIVEMICROSOFT ACCEPTS$

OFFER? CANCELLATION?

: )

: (

RETURN POLICY

ARPESD

REFUND

CORRECT

ALTERNATIVE

CHOICE

Y Y

N N

PREORDER

Consumer action

Microso� action

Extra information

CONDITIONS

Version 3

© 2014. Legal Design Jam Group @ KU Leuven


> Coming well-prepared allows to work real fast

> The less time, the more structure is needed, so it is not only about visualizing, but good facilitation in general: > pre-assignment > 1 moderator per team > workshop etiquette > 1 clear task per team

www.mindspace.fi

Take-away message> Information design does not only have a value as a “finished product”, but also as a process: visualizing information is a sensemaking activity that allows people with different backgrounds to develop common understanding of a complex issue, and collaborate at its resolution.

> This enables meaningful multidisciplinary work in ways that are not enabled by written texts or discussions. ... and we need multidisciplinary approaches to solve big challenges!

> Collaborative, small scale experiments might show possible futures: let’s create impact bottom-up, let’s teach each others, let’s be first movers

© 2014 Stefania Passera

www.mindspace.fi

thank [email protected]

www.legaldesignjam.com hashtag: #legaldesignjam

legal design jams: how visualizing fosters collaboration across professional boundaries

Design

stefania passera visualization

legal design jaminterest

cisg legal design jam

original cisg

legal texts

original document

cisg visual booklet

syros greece