Legal Design
Legal Design is an interdisciplinary approach that applies Design Thinking methods to law in order to turn complex legal texts into clear, visual and engaging documents. Coined in 2014 by Margaret Hagan at Stanford, Legal Design has gained real traction in France, where 48% of legal departments have adopted it according to Juridy (2025).
Legal Design grew out of the conviction that law can be made accessible to everyone without sacrificing its rigour. Coined in 2014 by Margaret Hagan at the Stanford Legal Design Lab, it combines the methods of Design Thinking — empathy, ideation, prototyping, testing — with legal expertise to create documents, contracts and interfaces that put the user at the centre.
In France, Amurabi, founded by Marie Potel-Saville, is a pioneer in turning contracts, terms and conditions and legal notices into visual, understandable materials. According to a Juridy (2025) study, 48% of French legal departments have already tried Legal Design, a sign of growing adoption across large companies.
Legal Design applies to a wide range of use cases: visual contracts with pictograms and diagrams, user journeys for online legal platforms, simplified privacy policies, or training materials for business teams. It fits seamlessly into a broader legaltech strategy, alongside CLM, no-code and electronic signatures.
Related terms
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