Law Times

Page 8 June 15, 2015 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com Time for a design-based approach to legal problems? By Marg. BruineMan For Law Times s the legal profession changes, so, too, may the ways people think about the challenges the law presents. For Margaret Hagan, that has meant taking a page out of the textbook of other professions. While studying law at Stanford Law School, an in- stitution known for its unique approaches to the legal system and its Center for Legal Informatics, Hagan stumbled into a design class. The idea of applying a de- sign approach to non-traditional areas piqued her inter- est, so she took more courses in the area. While studying law, it became clear the legal pro- fession has been in the midst of transitioning from its many traditions and Hagan saw that the typical career paths of the past were closing up. She credits law schools for including discussions on the future of law in their curriculum and challenging students to talk about what they'd do about it. "Those new models of legal education are really ex- citing," says Hagan. Hagan's own answer was to apply design thinking to the law. She experimented with how design could invig- orate legal services while on contract with the school. And while she did accept an offer from a traditional law firm, she knew it wouldn't be permanent in her case. She's now applying the design approach to projects and teaching the concept to law students while work- ing in Stanford's design and law schools. Through the resulting Legal Design Initiative, Hagan and others research best practices and the tools to help innovate legal services through an open-source ethic. They also train those interested in how design and technology help resolve problems in the world of law. From there, they create concept designs for new legal products and services and build them out. "It's a really creative way to kind of figure out the root problems in a challenging area," says Hagan. "Immediately, a light went off in my head on how we could bring this to law." Her approach is more reliant on collaborative ef- forts and not necessarily on technology, although it could play a role. She describes it as a way of figur- ing out what the actual problem is, getting a bunch of ideas on the table, digging into them, and testing them before building them out. The idea of a broad rather than a linear focus helps see beyond the obvious be- fore digging deeper to resolve the issues. It begins with establishing and following a pro- cess prior to building out through discussions and engagement with those involved. A new startup com- pany, Hagan says by way of example, may not consider hiring a lawyer but may simply rely on coffee-table discussions for legal advice. So the challenge is how to identify the issues in order to get the company the le- gal support it requires. A design thinker needs to adopt a mindset to "think really big to try to crack open what's really pos- sible," says Hagan. And then there are the mechanics involved by examining, brainstorming, and building a design for a legal web site or document by adopting the best practices. Nicole Aylwin's work as assistant director at Os- goode Hall Law School's justice innovation hub, the Winkler Institute for Dispute Resolution, includes a similar approach. "We're interested in how it applies to the justice sys- tem," says Aylwin, who's also executive director of the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice. Aylwin incorporated design thinking into the social innovation lab on family justice and mental health, a partnership between Legal Aid Ontario and the Ontario Psychological Association aimed at find- ing ways to improve access to justice for those with mental-health issues in the family law context. By bringing together a cross-section of stakeholders, the project drew representations of what a friendly, sup- portive, accessible, and timely system could look like. Ryerson incubator brews innovative legal concepts By Marg. BruineMan For Law Times s discussions continue about the profession's future and the need to consider new business models, Ryerson University has launched its Legal Inno- vation Zone aiming to help move the pro- cess along by fostering solutions to improve Canada's legal system and services. Dubbed Canada's first legal incuba- tor, the goal of the Legal Innovation Zone is to support and develop solutions by leveraging a culture of innovation. By drawing on international relationships and advisers, it aims to help entrepre- neurs, companies, groups, and law firms modernize the law. When former attorney general Chris Bentley took on the job as executive di- rector of the Law Practice Program at Ryerson, he received office space within the DMZ (formerly the Digital Media Zone) that helps drive innovative start- ups. Encouraged by its energy and drive, he began to put together a similar project aimed at the legal profession. "I made the pitch to the university that we need to do this," says Bentley, who's now also executive director of the legal incubator. In justifying the need for a legal incu- bator, Bentley refers to his experience as a criminal lawyer and attorney general and points to the huge impact of R. v. Askov. The 1990 Supreme Court of Canada de- cision established the criteria for assess- ing delays in the criminal justice system and resulted in tossing tens of thousands of cases out of court. But in the 18 years that followed, he says, the system was progressively get- ting slower. He launched Justice on Tar- get as a means of getting it back on track by reducing adjournments and getting to decisions faster by adopting, in part, lean practice principles. Bentley says he relived those experi- ences while working on the Law Practice Program. And he once again came back to the idea of making systemic improvements without having a large cash infusion. He figured the profession could perhaps ben- efit from the incubator approach. The resulting concept behind the le- gal incubator has a triple focus: individ- ual entrepreneurs with ideas; law firms, companies or groups with an innovation agenda; and working toward a 21st-cen- tury legal system. "[You] don't necessarily need to recre- ate the wheel but you do need to use the wheel," says Bentley. "The innovation has to start with making use of what we got with minimal or no investment." The justice system, he adds, suffers from the "momentum of inertia" and it needs to evolve to properly support society. The idea, then, is to pick a project, fo- cus on one or two points, and give those working on it the freedom to innovate by providing the necessary support while examining the cost of not doing it. The incubator provides space to the innovators and connects them with the legal support they require to further their projects. Work began before the official launch on April 29. At the launch, Attorney General Mad- eleine Meilleur said innovative solutions through technology and processes are part of her mandate as her ministry seeks ways to improve access to justice and solve related problems. Her ministry has an innovation office that's working on a partnership with the Ryerson incubator. Through the min- istry's efforts, Ontario now has a Small Claims Court electronic filing service that allows users to file any time of day. During the pilot period, almost 20 per cent of users filed claims outside of tra- ditional business hours. Another change involved posting dockets and other court information online a day in advance. "I truly believe that you will be part of the change in the justice sector that will better serve the needs of Ontarians," Mei- lleur told those gathered for the launch of the legal incubator. Asha Soares and Lucas Litwiniuk have been working with the incubator to de- velop Kabuk, a business that connects clients with lawyers by allowing users to request consultations online. Potential clients search for legal providers by area of practice, geographic location, and other options. The service also works as a means for legal providers to source new clients. "We've been working on our software since the middle of 2012," says Soares, who hails from business and the financial sector. "If you're an innovator working in a vacuum . . . it's hard to make the right solutions that will actually be adopted. There are a ton of solutions out there." The pair has been able to work in Ry- erson's space at the incubator while draw- ing on the expertise of lawyers and get- ting exposure to the legal profession just as they prepared to launch their product. Every startup, they say, needs to be part of a community in order to thrive. And at the incubator, they have the opportunity to meet and work with people willing to push for change. The incubator doesn't focus on a par- ticular aspect of the business of law as all parts of the legal system are game. And ac- cess to justice or the lack of it will remain an underlying theme. The expectation is it will be able to sustain itself over time. "This is going to be fascinating," says Bentley. "This is not an academic think-tank. This is a do tank." LT 'This is not an academic think-tank,' says Chris Bentley. Focus on Legal Innovation A A See New, page 9

• Cover