The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/67910
• Check out Rosenfeld Media. Their group puts together books, workshops and seminars on UX topics. (www.rosenfeldmedia.com) • For specific projects, do some digging for references on the subject. For example, if you find yourself building a lot of forms or data-entry screens, look into Luke Wroblewski's work. If you are beginning your enterprise search journey, give Marti Hearst's work a look. • Consider sending someone on your team to a usability conference. These events help give insights into other industries' approaches. As law firms move closer into alignment with other verticals, this cross-pollination of knowledge can be extremely valuable. As law firm technologies get more intricate, additional research will be needed to ensure that the design promotes adoption. One Firm's Journey How do you apply UX design in the law firm context? We have made UX design a serious focus at Seyfarth Shaw, and it has already brought dividends. Here are a few of the approaches we have incorporated and some of the outcomes realized from the added effort. • Use Balsamiq to develop system wireframes. For several years now, we have been leveraging Balsamiq to create mockups and wireframes for systems. This application has allowed us to more quickly outline our approaches and speed up the development cycle. The tool's ease of use has enabled us to jointly design systems on-the-fly with attorneys. (www.balsamiq.com) • Conduct a card-sorting analysis to enhance intranet information architecture. Upon migrating to SharePoint, we conducted a content audit and card-sorting exercises with attorneys. This allowed us to document the collective categorizations of our content to ensure that the site's structure would best mirror the average user's expectations. This approach has brought a lot of internal praise and helped minimize the "I cannot find what I'm looking for" sentiments. (See Donna Spencer's "Card Sorting: Designing Usable Categories") • Design intuitive intranet navigation. To move in parallel with what external websites are doing and what UX research has said is effective, we built a custom mega-menu application to make navigation easier for our users. The combination of that mechanism and the related card-sorting efforts helped Seyfarth win ILTA's 2010 SharePoint Innovator of the Year Award. (Examples of mega menus in Web design: designm.ag/inspiration/mega-menus) • Construct client-focused dashboards. While leaning on Stephen Few's "Information Dashboard Design," we constructed dashboards with an eye toward attorney and client consumption. We incorporated best practices in order to ensure what we constructed provided both business value and visual ease. • Hire a top-notch graphic designer. The term "graphic designer" is an insufficient title for the role played by this member of our team. This is probably as close to a UX designer as there is in the legal industry. Our graphic designer brings a sophisticated eye for design and keeps UX design best practices in mind. For internal and client-facing solutions, the designer's touch has been extremely beneficial. UX Design Provides Value Like all firms, Seyfarth is working feverishly to ensure it provides top-notch client value. As part of that effort, client-facing technology solutions are of prime importance, and UX has a permanent place in the discussion. As we project a few years out, we expect our dedication to that space to increase. The last five years within law firms have been anything but predictable. New billing models and evolving client expectations have turned some of our notions of normal upside down. Few expect our industry to return to the way it once was. Technology, systems and processes will become increasingly important in the coming years. And, as a byproduct of that, so will UX design. Whether the legal profession is ready or not, there's no choice but to dive into the UX discipline headfirst. Those who are proactive about implementing UX best practices will surely derive value from their efforts. Andrew M. Baker, J.D. is the Director of the Legal Technology Innovations Office at Seyfarth Shaw LLP and a member of the firm's SeyfarthLean Steering Committee. In his role, Andrew leads a team of individuals who leverage their expertise in technology, knowledge management, process improvement and project management to architect solutions that enhance the attorney and client experience. Andrew can be reached at abaker@seyfarth.com. 86 Peer to Peer