Welcome to the inaugural Studio section of the first edition of the Legal Design Journal. When the idea for this Journal was still in its infancy, it was clear we would need a place for works that do not necessarily fit the mold of an academic journal article. This was in part because legal design, as a discipline, is still in its own infancy. Many methods remain experimental and exploratory. Many outcomes are intermediate but nevertheless ready for dissemination. And many legal designers are drawn to mediums other than the written word to convey their ideas. In this way, the Studio results from necessity.

Yet we also see the Studio as reflecting the opportunity that legal design presents to the world – of justice systems re-envisioned and better aligned with human needs, of increasing numbers of legal creatives and professionals who are not always lawyers, of vastly improved systems, methods, and client and public outcomes. Legal designers see this potential as we explore and experiment, fail and learn, examine and re-examine. We want the reader to see this potential as well in all its various stages of development. In this regard, we are leaning into the meaning of the word ‘studio’ – the workroom of an artist. Here the reader will encounter legal designers’ detailed use cases – examples from creative workrooms of problem-solving, processes, outcomes, and impact.

This first Studio edition presents two groupings of use cases – those drawn from business and those from education. From the world of business, Karol Valencia summarizes how an interdisciplinary team in South America created ‘Couple Council,’ a digital product that facilitates and supports couples and families as they navigate the legal complexities of relationships. Camila Andrade Dangood profiles ‘Seguras en línea,’ an opportunity to confront and counteract digital violence against women in Latin America with a tool that provides close and transparent guidance and support to users. From Germany, Sebastian Greger profiles ‘Recht ohne Streit’ (roughly translatable to “justice without contention”) a technology product that is also an interface to “justice,” raising societal questions more profound than simply a website or smartphone app. And from Australia, the team from Portable offers their perspective on ten years of working in legal design.

From the world of education, we showcase three use cases from the United States. Two derive from the Housing Justice and Legal Design Clinic at Seton Hall School of Law. Both focus on the process and outcomes of law student collaborations with residents at a nearby affordable housing apartment complex. The first team of students created an informational leaflet that informs tenants about their rights to organize and encouraged tenants to communicate on a virtual platform. The second team created a digital issue tracker that enabled organizers to aggregate, organize, and document data for eventual sharing with government housing agencies, building management, and others. Our educational use cases are rounded out by Alexander Gavis’ detailed reflections on teaching empathy at Suffolk University Law School.

These use cases, whether in business or education, are rich with detail. Each reflect the unique problem being tackled, the tools deployed, and the perspectives of those involved. We hope you enjoy peering into the studios of these legal designers as we work together to build a structured, professional approach to legal design worldwide.