Anyone interested in improving the user/reader-friendliness of contracts?
Helena Haapio
2010-04-14 14:28Very few people enjoy reading contracts. Many sign contracts without reading them, and for good reasons. Yet in order for people to do (or refrain from doing) what the contract requires them to do (or to refrain from doing), people should read their contracts. Especially people in business should. Mere reading is of course not enough - people should understand their contracts as well. Are there lawyers or non-lawyers in or outside this group interested in developing the reader/user-friendliness of contracts and related documents? Anyone aware of research related to visualizing contracts or contract law?
Hinweise zur bestehenden Moderationspraxis
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Kommentare als Feed abonnierenHelena, Yes I'm very interested to collaborate on this topic.
I agree with your assessment. I think contracts in their current form are outdated. They look like oatmeal flakes (a 'random' collection of small letters, fine print), whereas users - both professionals and individuals - expect information to be packaged in a form that fits their needs. (a granola bar). Legal information needs to be packaged in a form that allows users to easily find out what they need to know and what they need to do. Lawyers have a big responsibility to invent and create packaging formats that protect the legal quality of the content, while also making the content user-friendly and accessible for their end users. And of course lawyers don't have to completely reinvent the wheel. A lot of other high-density information domains have created effective formats for information design and display. This expertise can be transferred and tailored for the legal domain.
It is time to raise the standard and quickly innovate the way legal information is being delivered. I believe many effective design solutions are out there, and it is up to the legal community to take three important steps:
1) Change mindset: "Yes" we need new forms, and "yes" we can create them, while honoring the essential values and needs of the legal domain. State-of-the-art lawyers think about a large-scale redesign of the legal information they are creating and sending into the world.
2) Educate: State-of-the-art lawyers can learn from the pioneers in the field of multisensory law and legal information design. They read their work, look at their examples, hire them to train their lawyers, and hire them to inspire innovative thinking within legal organizations.
3) Implement: If a commercial or public organization aims to be or have 'a-state-of-the-art' legal organization, that truly values transparency and user-friendliness, it is a vital necessity to give priority to projects on redesign of legal formats, in the form of paper and printwork as well as in online and digital formats.
An example of a design solution is a visual index or dashboard to create a multi-layered entrance into contracts and other sets of regulations. For more information, please visit www.goodmoodlaw.com and www.legalvisuals.nl