My presentation on the "Legal Design Jam" workshop format at the IDA Conference "Information Design Matters" in April 2014, London.

1. www.mindspace.fi
Legal Design Jams:
how visualizing fosters
collaboration across
professional boundaries
Stefania Passera
Information Design Matters, 7.4.2014, London

2. what is a Legal Design Jam
interest on visualizing together
and the good things that can
come out of it
showing practical examples of
collaborative behaviors during
Legal Design Jams
[3 cases]
end
Overview
of the
presentation
take-away message
www.mindspace.fi © 2014 Stefania Passera

3. www.mindspace.fi
A “hackaton” type of event
that brings together designers,
lawyers, innovators, educators
and in general everyone who
wants to improve how legal
texts are designed nowadays
Between 3 and 6 hours of
effective hands-on work to
present prototypes of how
a legal document could
look&feel better for users!
7 LDJs and counting
www.legaldesignjam.com
#legaldesignjam
© 2014 Stefania Passera
>
>
>

4. Visualizing together
allows people with different backgrounds to collaborate on
difficult issues that have non-obvious solutions.
www.mindspace.fi © 2014 Stefania Passera

5. Visualizing allows to
> create a co-owned external referent of an idea
> 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
www.mindspace.fi © 2014 Stefania Passera

6. LDJ on CISG
> 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
www.mindspace.fi © 2014 Stefania Passera

7. > “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
www.mindspace.fi © 2014 Stefania Passera

8. > 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
www.mindspace.fi © 2014 Stefania Passera

9. > 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
www.mindspace.fi © 2014 Stefania Passera

10. 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.
1
Mandatory law
2
Contract
3
Trade usage &
established practices
4
CISG & other
default rules
Order of application
© 2013. CISG Legal Design Jam Group @ Syros 2013

11. What are the obligations of the seller?
If
the seller is arranging
the delivery, he has
to take care of all
contracts for carriage
What are the obligations of the buyer?
The buyer must: Options:
Pay
the purchase price
at the agreed place
on time
as agreed by the parties
as generally charged for
such goods
at Seller’s place of business
when taking over the goods,
at place of delivery
by a defined date
when taking over the goods
after having inspected the
goods
Accept
delivery
by taking over the goods
by enabling the Seller to effectuate the delivery
If
the price is fixed according
to the weight of the goods,
in case of doubt it is then
to be determined by the
net weight.
© 2013. CISG Legal Design Jam Group @ Syros 2013

12. 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
www.mindspace.fi © 2014 Stefania Passera

13. > 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
www.mindspace.fi © 2014 Stefania Passera

14. > 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
www.mindspace.fi © 2014 Stefania Passera

15. > 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
www.mindspace.fi © 2014 Stefania Passera

16. 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
www.mindspace.fi © 2014 Stefania Passera

17. > 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
www.mindspace.fi © 2014 Stefania Passera

18. www.mindspace.fi © 2014 Stefania Passera
Version
1
Version
2

19. SW
CONDITIONS
MAKE
ACCOUNT
CHOOSE
PRODUCT
EXISTING
PRODUCT
OFFER? CANCELLATION?
COMPLETE
PURCHASE
MICROSOFT RECEIVE
Y Y
N N
WHY?
$ ACCEPTS
: )
: (
RETURN POLICY
ARP
ESD
REFUND
ALTERNATIVE
CORRECT
CHOICE
PREORDER
Microso action
Consumer action
Extra information
Version
3
© 2014. Legal Design Jam Group @ KU Leuven

20. 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 © 2014 Stefania Passera

21. 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
www.mindspace.fi
© 2014 Stefania Passera

22. www.mindspace.fi
thank you! stefania.passera@aalto.fi
www.legaldesignjam.com hashtag: #legaldesignjam