Episode 26: Proactive Legal Information Design with Helena Haapio and Rob Waller

Making legal information more comprehensible and easier to use is a central theme in legal design. It is also a topic that has recently gained increasing research interest, sparking new ideas on how to enhance the usability of contracts and other legal documents in practice. After all, as research has shown, understanding what a document says is all about human metacognition. If users are enabled to connect the content of a legal document with ideas that are meaningful to them, it can help avoid “cognitive accidents” and work as a proactive method to promote legal wellbeing of the users and other parties. When users can understand what is expected of them, legal conflicts and misbehavior due to misunderstandings are less likely to occur. In this episode we have the honor to interview two pioneering experts in the field of legal information design, Helena Haapio and Rob Waller. Helena Haapio is a lawyer and a contract strategist at Lexpert Ltd, and an associate professor of business law in the University of Vaasa, Finland. Rob Waller is an experienced information designer, researcher, consultant and a teacher, and the current President of the International Institute for Information Design. Rob and Helena share insights from their various projects and collaborations, like the contract simplification project with an energy industry facility and Canadian aboriginals. We also hear what proactive law is, and practical tips about how to improve the usability of legal documents. If you want to know what makes a good (legal) document, tune in!