Speculative Legal Design with Emily MacLoud – Legal Design Thinking IRL

Speculative legal design encourages lawyers, designers, and others to critique how we do law today and question whether what we are doing now is going to bring about the future we want. Speculative legal design requires lawyers to imagine and reimagine the future in law and design it the way we would like it to be. The future does not happen. The future is made. Lawyers have a responsibility to shift their focus from the here and now to imagine the future and design it intentionally, and speculative legal design is the toolbox to get you there.

This week on Legal Design Thinking IRL, I’m excited to have Emily MacLoud from Portable join me to talk about speculative legal design and how it is able to shape the future of law.

Emily is a Design Strategist at Portable, a research, design, and technology agency that works across several social impact areas, including justice. In her role, she works with various clients, including state and federal justice departments, court services, nonprofits, and start-ups. Emily also sits on the board of the A2J Technology Network and the Macquarie University Law School.

Watch now and learn more about speculative legal design.

0:00 Introduction

5:20 Speculative legal design

11:58 Speculative design and law

34:12 Experience and examples

46:25 Current projects

Connect with Emily

Legal Design Thinking IRL. Episode 69

I’m Hannele Korhonen, founder of Lawyers Design School and host of Legal Design Thinking IRL. Thank you for watching the conversation with Emily. Are you going to start looking at the “now” and start conversations about how the “now” will look in the future? Speculative legal design is wonderful because it gives us the freedom to move away from things we hold dear and want to protect because we’re talking about design fictions as the basis for discussion. It’s a safe space for dialogue and action.

I’m dedicated to reforming legal practice through human-centered lawyering. Legal Design Thinking IRL encourages lawyers to expand their thinking about their legal work by having experts share fresh, real-world experiences in the law. We talk about Legal Design, design thinking, Contract Design, innovation, and the future of law. We dive into how you can be a joyful, soulful, and change maker lawyer who delivers legal services your way.

If you enjoyed the talk, join me live on Wednesdays at 8 am ET on LinkedIn. The chat is open for your questions. 

You can continue the learning journey at Lawyers Design School. It’s a learning hub for lawyers and legal teams ready to adopt the skills and mindset of legal design, explore new possibilities in law, break down the barriers to justice, and thrive in their careers. Whether you’re ready to lead change or still figuring out your path, our courses, workshops and coaching help guide curious innovators and lawyers seeking meaningful growth.  If you’re a change-maker lawyer or a lawyer who knows they want to change but doesn’t know where to start – stick around.

Learn more about  Legal Design and Contract Design and how they can transform your work and career in the law. Courses are open now.
You can catch a replay of episode 69, Legal Design Thinking: IRL, or join me live next week and ask questions.

Want to know more about the future of Legal Design?

Follow me at @lawyersdesignschool for more tips and tools.

Prefer email? Drop me an email at [email protected]. While you’re here, peek at the Lawyers Design School and check out other ways to use legal design thinking to grow your law firm and thrive in your business.

Watch all the Legal Design IRL episodes.