The primary challenge is to design an app that will revolutionise legal information access by striking a balance between simplicity and credibility. The aim is to bridge the information gap through an ecosystem that offers a one-stop solution for understanding law, personalised guidance and connecting with professionals.
Research
User Research
Rocket Lawyer
Rocket Lawyer provides individuals and small businesses with legal services, including digital tools for document creation and a chat feature that lets you connect to specialist offering information with limited legal jargon, along with access to lawyers for reliable counsel.
Co-counsel
Co-counsel is pioneering legal assistant exclusively available in the USA, summarises extensive legal documents to generate informed insights and answers, offering features like contract drafting with minimal legal jargon, primarily targeting lawyers and businesses.
Anthropic
The AI, Claude, offers a versatile Legal Language Model (LLM) summarising conversations and organising information clearly. It analyzes PDFs, introduces complex legal topics in simple terms, and provides concise 2-3 sentence summaries at the end.
User Research
We wanted to understand the problem in more detail, so we decided to implement 2 methods of research. Quantitative and Qualitative Research methods.
Our main objectives were:
to understand how people find/access legal information;
what are the topics they search for;
how do they feel during the process;
what they think of AI and what is their experience in using it.
A survey was sent out to gain insight on what kind of legal information do people look for and also their experience, if any, on using AI.
We conducted 15 short interviews to gain insights on how people look for legal information, learn more about their behaviour whilst doing so.
Define
"The legal topic it’s very delicate. If I ask the AI tool how to cook a pizza I wouldn’t think a lot about it but talking about legal information, I think it’s important to check."
Nina, 34, Start-up Founder
“It's stressful when you're already in a difficult situation (needing legal help), you go to legal sites and are faced with complex writing.”
Leo, 42, Marketing Executive
Archetypes
EMILY
the Under Pressure Freelancer
Limited income.
Basic Legal knowledge.
Occasional legal needs.
She has occasional legal needs that is work related (e.g. clients not paying, tax, contract drafting, Intellectual property/copywrite)
ETHAN
the Frugal Startup Founder
Frugal.
Intermediate legal knowledge.
Regular legal needs.
He has legal needs for his start-up (i.e. policies, contract drafting, Intellectual property/copywriting, business tax, insurance, fundraising, bankruptcy, liability, etc..)
DANIELLE
the Stable Full-time Employee
Stable income.
Intermediate legal knowledge.
Occasional legal needs.
She has personal and work legal needs (i.e. tax, small claims, civil cases, workplace grievances)
Use Cases
While analysing our findings from user interviews, we identified that these are the most common use cases or scenarios when seeking out legal information.
As a user, I would like to understand legal documents so that I can protect myself and my business.
As a user, I would like to incorporate AI into my business so that I can deal with my legal queries more efficiently.
As a user, I would like to become more familiar with legal processes so that I can gain more knowledge on business law.
As a user, I need a way to create contracts for my new employees myself, so that I no longer need to consult a legal expert.
To see a holistic view of current user’s journey we got together for another workshop to map the experience highlighting key points in the journey, and empathise on how they feel and what they think on each step.
This allowed us to pinpoint opportunities where Lawseek-o app can come in.
Problem Statement
LawSeek-O needs to provide a product that is low cost, jargon-free, and brings efficiency in the way users access credible legal information because the legal world can be confusing and expensive.
Exploration
Armed with all the research we had done plus defining what we had found, our team had ideation sessions to come up with different solutions. I had come up with the following features.
ideation sessions: 8 bad ideas, 8 good ideas
Category Options
Ability to select categories right from the beginning. This should help AI answer queries within that category.
AI Language Options
Allow user to pick AI language, Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced depending on their legal literacy.
Add Source
Include source or citations to show credibility.
In-app Glossary
Highlighting legal terms and giving the ability to show definition for jargons that cannot be simplified.
Upload Document
Add an ability to upload a document for lawyers or for AI to review or summarise.
Supply Templates
For more simple documents, there will be an ability to download legal templates.
I talked to a systems developer to understand how chat AI works. We discussed the features I had in mind, and if these solutions are feasible from a technical standpoint.
ai processing a prompt
personality prompt
Mapping out various user flows
I built different user flows based on the use cases we have put together: a user who is a business owner where they use Zen chat app to help assist with the required legal documents for their business.
sign up flow
Text prompts & attachments flow
Delivery
I started prototyping on the new feature ideas, and try to figure out how they can all come together for the app, I created sketches → then to low-fidelity → high-fidelity prototype. I recruited potential users to test.
Some of the goals for the user testing are to:
explore the chat application and start chatting.
find legal jargon definition.
ask Zen chat to review or summarise a document they will provide.
ask Zen chat for legal templates.
change preferences.
Solutions
Key Finding #1: Legal topics can be intimidating because of the jargon.
Solution #1: Customise the way AI speaks.
During the sign up process, I have added options to select the level of understanding and the option of preferred conversation style. This will allow for either simpler way for the AI to answer when the user is a Beginner or leaving in the legal jargons when the user is Advanced.
Solution #2: In-app glossary.
Certain legal terminology remains inherently complex and resistant to further simplification. To address this challenge, I have introduced a feature designed to clarify intricate legal jargon. A glossary that allows for the identification and definition of specific legal terms or phrases.
Key Finding #2: Access to legal documents are a common need.
Added feature #1: Supply legal document templates.
LawSeek-O already offers access to legal documents, so why not also offer templates? This would be a valuable resource for individuals like our user persona, Ethan, who frequently require business-related legal documents.
Added feature #2: Upload a document.
I have incorporated a feature that enables users to upload a document for examination, pinpoint any inaccuracies, and cross-reference it with the AI database pertaining to the subject. The system autonomously assesses the accuracy of the information and offers guidance on necessary revisions along with explanations.
Additionally, I've introduced another functionality that allows the AI to condense the content in the document and present a simplified explanation of its contents.
Key Finding #3: Certain legal issues are intricate and complex, it is necessary to get the guidance of legal experts.
Solution: Access to legal experts within the app
Users have the option to submit a case for review by LawSeek-O. The team will then assign an expert in the relevant topic to provide assistance. They can discuss the case on the platform inbox.
Additional Feature
Organise chats and legal documents
Another feature is one that enables users to organise their chats and saved legal documents. Users can create folders to categorize related topics, ensuring convenient access to any information they may need.
Final Design
The Zen chat web application also covers a short sign up process plus "How-to" screens that can be accessed anytime on the Help page.
Outcome
The app simplifies the process of finding legal information by presenting it in language accessible to users. It provides much needed legal resources which otherwise could be a difficult task to get. It offers assistance for simple legal issues and requirements and, for more complex situations, it includes an option to connect with lawyers.
Next Steps
More testing: Sending prototypes back to potential users to gain more feedback and tweak the product as necessary.
Legal marketplace: Build a network of legal experts that users can be connected to through the site.
Dashboard for legal experts: Create UX and UI lawyers/experts portal where they receive a case to review.
Design a phone version: Go back to conducting more research and understand whether people would see the need for legal information on the go.
