Legal design for practice, activism, policy and research

This paper offers an integrated introduction to how, conceptually, to think about what design

can do for law; where, empirically, to find examples of legal design; and how, normatively, to

assess it. It begins by highlighting three lawyerly concerns: the need to communicate; the

need to balance structure and freedom; and the need to be at once practical, critical and

imaginative. Next the paper highlights three features of designerly ways: a commitment to

communication, an emphasis on experimentation, and an ability to make things visible and

tangible. It is proposed that designerly ways can directly improve lawyerly communication;

and that they can also generate new structured-yet-free spaces in which lawyers can be at

once practical, critical and imaginative. The paper then provides examples of legal design in

action across four fields of lawyering: legal practice, legal activism, policy-making and legal

research. Emphasis is placed throughout on the need for a critical approach to legal

design—that is, for legal design to be thought about and done with a commitment to

avoiding, exposing and remedying biases and inequalities. In that spirit, the paper concludes

with an assessment of some of the risks associated with legal design.