Elevating legal case management
MY ROLE
Design, prototyping & user research
TEAM
Product manager
2x Developers
TOOLS
Figma, Replit, Posthog
OVERVIEW
Improve legal case management to enhance lawyers' workflow and speed up the processing time.
Since creating an inital MVP for our partner lawyers to work in, we wanted to elevate and improve their experience using our software in order to increase lawyer efficiency.
SOLUTION & OUTCOMES
Addressed structural changes increased scanability, lawyer satisfaction and created a more fluid workspace to adjust to different ways of working.
We separated the case in different areas based on when they are needed and created visual distinction between sections to increase scanability.
Persistent section on top
The most essential, always needed information was given a fixed position that never scrolls away. Orienting the user immediately upon entry.
Tab based structure
Main content is separated into tabs, giving instant view of what is in the case and reducing time spent search for a specific piece of information
Collapsible side panel
Information needed at any point in the case, during a variety of flows is shown ina side panel that can be hidden when not needed.
Visual differentiation
Content is also separated by creating different visual elements for specific sections and increasing visual hierarchy of elements
DISCOVERY & RESEARCH
We have been continously collecting data gathered from user interview and session replays, looking for pain points we can address in the new version.
Behavioural data
Using PostHog, we analysed how lawyers were moving through the case, which sections they visited and in what order.
Lawyer interviews
We spoke with lawyers who used the platform regularly. They told us their issues and showed us their workflow and what they did in a case.
Competitive research
I looked at how other legal software structured case view and broadened the comparison to include project management tools, identifing patterns that had already proven effective in similar contexts.
PROBLEMS
After gathering all the data, we have highlighted the main issues our users have been experiencing while working in the case.
Information lacks structure
All information is presented in basic tables and text fields, lacking visual distinction or organised structure
Bad scanability
User spends too long in a case figuring out what it is about and searching for relevant information
Long learning curve
Complex working process that takes time for the lawyer to learn
DESIGN
The central goal of this project was creating clarity in a information dense environment.
The whole case needed to be scannable and quickly understandable. A legal case contains a lot of information and lawyers need access to all of it at different times.
I focused on defining the three different layers.
Always visible
Needs to be seen through the case, doesn't matter what flow the user is working in.
Frequently needed
Information needs to be fast to reach, but doesn't need to always compete for space
Available on demand
Supporting information, useful in specific flows
REFLECTIONS
Keep it small and be specific
The project was meant to be an overhaul. We knew this meant we were going to touch almost everything involved in case management. However, we should have been defined it way more clearly from the start to avoid the seemingly inevitable scope creep especially considering our short timeline.
Prototyping is essential
I used Replit to build quick prototypes that helped stakeholders grasp our ideas early on, and later served as a tangible reference during design-to-dev handoff, giving developers something concrete to build from.
Elevating legal case management
MY ROLE
Design, prototyping & user research
TEAM
Product manager
2x Developers
TOOLS
Figma, Replit, Posthog
OVERVIEW
Improve legal case management to enhance lawyers' workflow and speed up the processing time.
Since creating an inital MVP for our partner lawyers to work in, we wanted to elevate and improve their experience using our software in order to increase lawyer efficiency.
SOLUTION & OUTCOMES
Addressed structural changes increased scanability, lawyer satisfaction and created a more fluid workspace to adjust to different ways of working.
We separated the case in different areas based on when they are needed and created visual distinction between sections to increase scanability.
Persistent section on top
The most essential, always needed information was given a fixed position that never scrolls away. Orienting the user immediately upon entry.
Tab based structure
Main content is separated into tabs, giving instant view of what is in the case and reducing time spent search for a specific piece of information
Collapsible side panel
Information needed at any point in the case, during a variety of flows is shown ina side panel that can be hidden when not needed.
Visual differentiation
Content is also separated by creating different visual elements for specific sections and increasing visual hierarchy of elements
DISCOVERY & RESEARCH
We have been continously collecting data gathered from user interview and session replays, looking for pain points we can address in the new version.
Behavioural data
Using PostHog, we analysed how lawyers were moving through the case, which sections they visited and in what order.
Lawyer interviews
We spoke with lawyers who used the platform regularly. They told us their issues and showed us their workflow and what they did in a case.
Competitive research
I looked at how other legal software structured case view and broadened the comparison to include project management tools, identifing patterns that had already proven effective in similar contexts.
PROBLEMS
After gathering all the data, we have highlighted the main issues our users have been experiencing while working in the case.
Information lacks structure
All information is presented in basic tables and text fields, lacking visual distinction or organised structure
Bad scanability
User spends too long in a case figuring out what it is about and searching for relevant information
Long learning curve
Complex working process that takes time for the lawyer to learn
DESIGN
The central goal of this project was creating clarity in a information dense environment.
The whole case needed to be scannable and quickly understandable. A legal case contains a lot of information and lawyers need access to all of it at different times.
I focused on defining the three different layers.
Always visible
Needs to be seen through the case, doesn't matter what flow the user is working in.
Frequently needed
Information needs to be fast to reach, but doesn't need to always compete for space
Available on demand
Supporting information, useful in specific flows
REFLECTIONS
Keep it small and be specific
The project was meant to be an overhaul. We knew this meant we were going to touch almost everything involved in case management. However, we should have been defined it way more clearly from the start to avoid the seemingly inevitable scope creep especially considering our short timeline.
Prototyping is essential
I used Replit to build quick prototypes that helped stakeholders grasp our ideas early on, and later served as a tangible reference during design-to-dev handoff, giving developers something concrete to build from.