If law is a business of packaging information, then static and dynamic legal information are like Christmas wrapping paper and shiny boxes.
Static and dynamic information are shorthand for two different approaches to creating innovative legal products that are intended for a wider audience. It is a taxonomy we work with in my classes to help my students make sense of what they are creating.
It is a big deal to decide if you are going to go towards a static or dynamic approach. They vary greatly by user needs, potential impact, and investment (financial and otherwise) into building and maintenance.
Static legal information
Static legal information is what you see is what you get. It is a general legal guide, a visualisation, a signed pdf, a poster on public transport. It can be in the form of a physical object, a leaflet, a print, or a website.
No matter who looks at it, it will be the same. Neither the text nor the visual will change depending on the user.
Your key tools will be tons of user research, strong information architecture, and graphic design software.
Pros and cons
Static legal information is a good first step for legal scale. You can inform a lot of users of their rights and obligations. If it is done well, it can give the user a lot of clarity in an easily digestible form.
The tricky part is that you need to make sure that it is relevant for your audience in its entirety – because you do not have the option to personalise it later when you find out who your user is. This means that you need to specifically design it to attract the right kind of audience you are shooting for, and make sure that your visual is not misleading to anyone in a different situation.
Second it is somewhat difficult to gather feedback data on this type of legal information. You can use a tool like lyssna or put a questionnaire in front of your testers, but the data will never be as granular as when tracking usage of an app.
Thirdly, it may not prove to be as profitable as dynamic legal information. Sure, people outside of the legal profession may pay for the occasional law book (x for dummies, I am looking at you), but there is arguably a lot less potential for moneymaking if that is your objective.
Dynamic legal information
Dynamic legal information is a processor that takes your input and gives you more or less personalised output.
The beauty of it is that after you put in your information, you (hopefully) get back only the bits that are actually relevant to you.
These are all the smart contracts, chatbots, expert systems, document automations, contract lifecycle management software, Generative AI, and more.
The key tools are usually software-powered (although I guess that you could get creative). That means that a good start is to do a quick visualisation or prototype (in pen and paper, Figma, or anywhere else that helps you understand what are you building and how it should respond to your user needs). You will still need to think about the User Experience (UX), information architecture as well as performance.
Pros and cons
Dynamic legal information is great for giving somewhat personalised outcomes to your users. You can scale this and potentially turn a profit (if that is what you are after), all while gathering feedback usage data that can help you improve.
On the other hand, dynamic legal information will almost always take more time and resources to develop, so you should put some extra time into pondering your return on investment (ROI).
While doing so, bear in mind that it will likely need to be updated and maintained, so it is usually not a one-and-done investment.
Which one to choose?
This decision depends among other things on user needs, frequency of usage, willingness to invest resources, complexity of legal rules, and what sort of business impact you are looking for.
The best way to figure out what you need is to employ design methods (here is a general intro to legal designa here is one for law firms a one for in-house and legal operations).
For example, if you are a legal operations specialist looking to simplify the sales process, you may create static legal information to describe the legal touchpoints in the contracting proces. You can outline which docs should your sales team use in each stage. But then you may opt for dynamic legal information in the form of document automation to enable your sales team to get first drafts quicker.
Another example: if you are looking to explain a certain legal rule to someone, sometimes a good poster will do. But if there are tons of exemptions and the regulation is really complex, you might want to opt for something more interactive.
Ultimately, it is best advice to be mindful and intentional and give some thought to what format you choose – the impact may stay with you for a while.
Shrnutí na konec
Static and dynamic legal information is a decision you need to take each time you are creating a legal product intended for a wider audience.
Each one has different advantages and associated costs, so it is advisable not to take this decision lightly in the early stages of your product development.
Still wondering how to take on the legal innovation journey and where to start? Browse more topics from the legal tech encyclopaedia to get more food for thought.
Baru
