Legal Design – What Is It? Key Principles and Benefits

You probably know this situation: you receive a contract from your utility provider. It’s written in tiny print. Several pages of text, dozens of paragraphs, hundreds of sentences that… don’t really say anything. You see a lot of technical but unexplained terms. In the end, you’re not even sure which tariff applies to you, because the contract lists a dozen different ones. You don’t understand the agreement. You may even feel like someone is trying to trick you. And at some point, a thought pops into your head: does the law always have to be this complicated?

So, what is Legal Design?

Legal design is a modern approach to creating documents that combines law, graphic design, and user-centered thinking.
Its goal is to simplify documents (including contracts), procedures, and legal processes in a way that is clear, intuitive, and easy to understand.

Legal design is a response to the need to democratize the law, making it more accessible to people regardless of their education, legal knowledge, or experience.

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The Development of the Legal Design Concept

he growing number of legal regulations, along with their increasing complexity and level of sophistication, has naturally driven the need to seek solutions where the recipient of legal documents is placed at the center—while still maintaining all formal legal requirements.

The origins of the legal design concept are closely tied to the rising interest in the design thinking methodology. This approach focuses on user needs and on creating intuitive, effective solutions—from the user’s perspective.

This movement began to gain traction in the United States, with Stanford University playing a key role. At Stanford Legal Design Lab, research and projects were initiated that combined law, design thinking, and new technologies. This lab became a hub for experimentation and innovation aimed at improving access to law, enhancing its clarity, and tailoring legal services to meet users’ needs.

Today, this concept is evolving around the globe, including in Europe. One of the most well-known organizations supporting legal innovation is the Hague Institute for Innovation of Law, based in the Netherlands.