Contract Design School
for change-ready lawyers
The ultimate legal design course for user-friendly contracts
Contract Design School is a self-paced online course that teaches you how to use legal design to create legal documents and contracts that are easy to understand. You get:
You’ll learn the human-centric lawyer mindset, get the framework, and all the tools you need to draft contracts and legal documents your clients will actually understand.
If you’re ready to deepen your understanding and get practical skills in legal design, this course is for you.
Contract Design School is for you if
This course is your blueprint for applying legal design and aligning your curious and thoughtful nature with your legal work! You can start using the practical learnings and tools in your work immediately.
The best way to learn legal design is to do it — and you’ll do legal design in the course.
Anyone can learn to use legal design, including you. Legal design is above all a
new mindset and a way of working. The course will fuel your soulful, experimental, and human-centered thinking and approach.
What’s inside
But most of all, Contract Design School will give you the boost and confidence to leap from a traditional lawyer to a human-centered lawyer using legal design. You’ll be confident to explore new possibilities in law and use your legal skills to deliver legal services the way you always wanted to.
What, when, how?
The course is self-paced to fit your busy schedule.
You’ll get six modules covering every step of the contract design process. You’ll know how to confidently apply human-centric legal design principles to any scenario and create an effective, user-friendly contract.
You can work through the modules at your own pace.
Work at your own pace
Are you thinking “This course is for me, but I have no time?”
You’ll have ongoing access to all the course materials for 12 months after you join. So, if you get busy at work or life gets in the way, you can watch the sessions and work through the course in your own time and style.
Bonus
The Essential Legal Design Toolbox
Our Lawyers Design School – Legal Design Cards are digital, compact, portable, and a treasure trove of inspiration (and highly sought after in the design community).
With step-by-step instructions, they provide strategies and techniques to employ whenever you draft a document or craft any written piece.
To amplify and sustain the impact of your course, think of these cards as your everyday go-to toolbox. They are your constant companion, ensuring innovative and effective solutions are always at your fingertips.
Use them to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, making your legal documents clear and creative.
Bonus
Legal Design & AI lesson & worksheet
Discover the power of GenAI for contract simplification. The package includes
You’ll discover how to effectively use legal design in your AI prompts, transforming complex contracts into simplified, user-friendly documents.
AI, just like other technology, cannot solve real-world problems on its own. It needs the human perspective, our intelligence, and that’s where legal design comes in.
Sign up now to secure your bonus and explore contract simplification with GenAI and legal design.
Your Coach
Hannele Korhonen
I’m a values-driven former corporate lawyer with over 20 years of experience. As a contract specialist, I founded a law firm and pioneered a legal technology platform. I’m a legal designer, speaker, and an advocate for changing the legal profession to provide access and equality for all users.
In 2016, I co-founded Contract Mill, a legal SaaS start-up that automates the creation of legal documents to improve access to justice and allows lawyers to scale their legal work.
I studied law at the University of Helsinki, graduating with a Masters of Law (LLM) and economics at the University of Jyväskylä, graduating with a Bachelor of Science, Economics majoring in Management and Leadership. I’ve studied design at Aalto University Executive Education and Professional Development graduating with a Diploma in Service Design. I’ve also studied pedagogical teaching at Haaga-Helia School of Vocational Teacher Education and am a qualified Vocational Teacher.
My mission is to provide design education tailored for adults, reinforcing the idea that design — much like the law — is a universal discipline that belongs to everyone. In legal design, my focus is deeply rooted in nurturing intuition — that internal voice we all have but are seldom encouraged to heed.
Happy
customers
“I recently participated in the Contract Design course offered by Lawyers Design School and found it to be a tremendously enriching experience. The quality of the course material provided was outstanding. Each lesson was explained very clearly, making complex concepts easy to grasp. The rich supporting materials further enriched the learning experience, providing deeper insights and practical understanding of Contract Design.
The online platform was user-friendly, and the instructors were knowledgeable and engaging. I appreciated the thoughtful design of the course which reflected a high level of professionalism and expertise in the field. I highly recommend Lawyers Design School to anyone looking to enhance their understanding of Contract Design in an engaging and effective manner.”
Anna-Catherine Benard-Lotz
“Participation in the Contract Design School broadened my perspective and allowed me to look at a different way of constructing contracts. Hannele created a safe space thanks to which each of the participants went on their own individual journey without expectations or judgments. Thus allowing creativity to run. Each class module was prepared in an interesting and unusual way. I graduated from Contract Design School with a lot of tools and I know how to use it. Participation in the school allowed me to start a new journey that changes my approach to work in a positive way every day.”
Aleksandra
“Enrolling in the Contract Design School was a game-changer for me as a legal professional. This course transformed the mundane legal material into something exciting and practical. As someone who often struggled to make contracts understandable for non-lawyers, this course set a new standard by placing users at the center of contract creation. Hannele, an expert in legal design, was passionate and made learning an enjoyable experience. Additionally, the online format was incredibly convenient, allowing me to easily fit it into my busy schedule.
But here’s the best part: the course went beyond theory. It provided real-life examples and engaging hands-on exercises that brought the concepts to life. And you know what? I had the incredible opportunity to collaborate not only with my own colleagues but also with legal professionals from diverse backgrounds and various parts of the world. We shared ideas, gave feedback, and built an awesome community. Now, I feel equipped with the skills to transform complex legal jargon into visually appealing and user-friendly content.”
Siradj Okta
“I had the privilege of being instructed by Hannele during my time at the Contract Design School (Spring 2023), and I can’t emphasize enough how valuable her guidance and expertise were throughout the course. Hannele’s deep knowledge of contract design principles and her ability to convey these concepts in a clear and understandable manner made a significant difference in my learning experience.”
Guilherme Centa Ross
“The course was extremely good! I’ve never seen stuff that’s so digestible.”
“Thank you so much for the wonderful course – I learnt a lot and feel very inspired! I feel like my eyes have been opened to this field & I never want to close them again!!”
“For once, I got concrete tools from the legal design training, not just theory.”
Lawyers Design School
Lawyers Design School helps lawyers and legal teams adopt the legal design skills and mindset in developing their work and services. Our services are made for the future makers in law — people like you. Lawyers who want legal work to be inspiring and meaningful and the services customer-centric and understandable.
You will have the support of a multidisciplinary team in law, contract expertise, service design, plain language, and visual communication design.
The trainings are interactive and engaging — you won’t just listen passively but will discuss, experiment, and get to work immediately. The trainings have a solid pedagogical foundation: the implementation is based on personalization that supports adult learning, as well as on the pedagogy of communal and experiential learning.
The Lawyers Design School is a safe space for change. You are welcome just as you are. The collaborative parts are based on dialogue and the principles of constructive conversation.
What is legal design?
At its core, legal design is about making the law more human. Every day, our world is shaped by decisions made by people for others — and the legal space is no exception. However, traditional legal work often overlooks the human perspective, leading to solutions that don’t fully serve their intended users.
drafting contracts, creating guidelines, making decisions, and preparing legal documents.
These are typically complex, filled with legalese, and crafted with experts in mind rather than the end-users.
The result? Contracts that clients can’t understand, guidelines that go unfollowed, and decisions shrouded in ambiguity.
As a lawyer, you might find yourself playing the roles of interpreter, secretary, and an answering machine feeling small and unfulfilled. You became a lawyer for a reason with a desire to make a difference.
Legal design challenges this status quo. It’s about reimagining how legal services, information, and documents are created, focusing on clarity, accessibility, and user-friendliness. This approach doesn’t just improve understanding; it enhances business efficiency and service accessibility. Legal design helps to reduce the amount of lawyer support needed, freeing up your time for more meaningful work. By adopting legal design, you transition from a traditional gatekeeper to a strategic advisor, significantly enhancing client experiences and strengthening your brand’s reputation.
A practical starting point in legal design is with the documents you use every day. Simplifying contracts and legal documents not only makes them more accessible to clients but also embeds legal design into your daily practice. These seemingly small shifts in approach can cumulatively lead to a significant cultural transformation within the legal profession.
Legal design is not just a set of skills; it’s a transformative mindset that empowers you to reimagine your work and craft a future where you find fulfillment, creativity, and joy in the practice of law. It’s about breaking free from the traditional legal mold and adopting a way of working that aligns with your unique strengths and aspirations — one that is human-centered, collaborative, visual, and creatively driven.
So, what’s your choice? Will you stick with the default, or are you ready to transform your legal practice into one that prioritizes the needs and understanding of the people you serve? Legal design offers you the tools to make this change, and Contract Design School is here to guide you on this journey.
FAQ
How much time does it take to go through the program?
You can work through the modules in your own time. Typically, it takes about 3-5 hours to get through one module with exercises. You have access to all the materials for 12 months from joining.
When I join, will I get immediate access to all the lessons and modules?
Yes. Once you join, you’ll get immediate access to the course platform with the videos and exercises.
What tools are used in the course?
You don’t need to buy expensive tools. We use MS Word and PowerPoint for the exercises, as that’s what most lawyers use anyway.
Do I need existing skills in design to pull this off?
Nope. You’ll learn everything you need in the course.
Do I need to become a designer?
You don’t need to be a designer. We add the human centric, designerly thinking mindset to your existing tool box of legal skills. Because there’s a better way to look at legal services.
Do I get a certificate?
The course material includes checklists, templates and examples that will help you to implement your skills in practice. You’ll also get our Legal Design Cards introducing the different tools you can use to design your contracts.
How can I sell the idea of contract design to my boss?
I bet your boss is interested in improving customer service! But most bosses don’t understand how powerful contracts can be if they are drafted properly. Clients understand them. They’re empowered and they come back. They are essential to building a compelling customer experience. When selling the idea, use the language your boss understands: customer experience and efficiency. Does your boss want contracts clients can act on, sign quickly and come back for more? There’s a return on investment right there.
My promise to you
Legal design will transform the way you work and are as a lawyer. I know because it happened to me.
When I discovered legal design, I knew I’d found my thing. I fell in love with the concept of putting the user first, by making the law more human and accessible.
I’m here to tell you that there are new and invigorating ways to practice law, ones that align with your values and passion as well as with your unique skills. Through the lens of legal design, we can explore innovative and human-centered methods of delivering legal advice, information and services.
You’ll discover how inspiring and efficient this new way of working can be. Doing things differently is challenging in a good way, and design is also fun. With design skills, you get to use empathy, curiosity, intuition, and creativity in your work — all the things that make us human. This is the best part.
I created this course for you. I want you to work to align with who you are and for you to feel that your work has meaning for the people serve. If you’re ready to embark on this journey of curiosity, rediscovery and transformation, I’m here to guide and support you every step of the way.
Ready? I’ll see you on the inside.
Hannele
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