Creating products that lawyers love (sic!) –

design in legal technology

Anna Ronkainen, Chief Scientist, TrademarkNow,President, Finnish Legal Tech Forum (etc. etc.)anna@tmnow.com @ronkaineLegal Design Summit, Helsinki 2016-11-16

Hello, what’s this?

@ronkaine#legaldesign

But is this really a problem?

In the medical sector, it sure is...

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..seriously!

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(Viitanen et al 2011)

Anybody think it’sreally any better for legal software?

What is usability?

What is usability?

“Usability is the extent to which a system can be used by specific users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use.”

ISO 9241-210

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What is usability?

“It is important to realize that usability is not a single, one-dimensional property of the user interface. Usability has multiple components and is traditionally associated with these five usability attributes:

•  Learnability: The system should be easy to learn so that the user can rapidly start getting some work done with the system.

•  Efficiency: The system should be efficient to use, so that once the user has learned the system, a high level of productivity is possible.

•  Memorability: The system should be easy to remember, so that the casual user is able to return to the system after some period of not having used it, without having to learn everything all over again.

•  Errors: The system should have a low error rate, so that users make few errors during the use of the system, and so that if they do make errors they can easily recover from them. Further, catastrophic errors must not occur.

•  Satisfaction: The system should be pleasant to use, so that users are subjectively satisfied when using it; they like it.”

Nielsen 1993

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mental model

high-level represented

model

low-level represented

modelimplementation model

Levels of usability

Levels of usability: legal tech

mental model

high-level represented

model

low-level represented

modelimplementation model

Levels of usability: law

mental model

high-level represented

model

low-level represented

modelimplementation model

§§

How to implement usability

•  evaluation of current systems and processes

•  field studies

•  mock-ups, paper prototypes

•  iterative development

•  heuristic evaluation by an expert

•  end-user usability testing

How to implement usability

•  evaluation of current systems and processes

•  field studies

•  mock-ups, paper prototypes

•  iterative development

•  heuristic evaluation by an expert

•  end-user usability testing

These guys get it

@ronkaine#legaldesign

Software is not always the answer!

Our project management solution:

(for the first 3 years)

The devil is in the details...

icons for classes of goods and services

relevance ranking

all important information at a glance

most important information all at the top of the details page

state-of-the-art line break technology

state-of-the-art bullet point technology

cryptic codes, explanation links to a pdf document

graphic representation and its description interjected by the list of goods and services

codes expanded and linked to longer explanations (when available)

In conclusion...

Good usability is good for

•  increased productivity•  reducing training and support costs•  speeding up development•  speeding up legal processes•  quality of legal decisions•  occupational well-being

So why isn’t there more of it in the legal field? And why (almost) no research?

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[ADVERTISEMENT] More on legal tech...

•  Finnish Legal Tech Forum, legaltech.fi

•  Helsinki Legal Tech Meetup, meetup.com/Helsinki-Legal-Tech-Meetup (next: Nov 21)

•  my Introduction to Legal Technology course (Turku), slides at slideshare.net/ronkaine

...and on shower taps, usability, and everything:

•  Donald Norman: The Design of Everyday Things (MIT Press)

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THANK YOU!

www.trademarknow.com slideshare.net/ronkaine @ronkaine