Legal design is the application of human-centered design to the world of law, to make legal systems and services more human-centered, usable, and satisfying.  –Margaret Hagen, Law By Design

Legal design is an idea that says that the law needs to reach out to people, instead of making people come to the law.  If people in legal need are told to figure it out on their own, they’ll get nowhere.  All the resources in the world could be available for them, but if they don’t know about those resources or how to get them, then those resources are totally useless.

So a great way to apply legal design is to use it to help under-represented populations get the access to justice they need.  In Montana, where I am right now, the most marginalized groups are the Native American tribes.  Many of the tribe members have legal issues with no information about the resources available to them.

And there are several resources available.  The University of Montana offers a tribal law clinic for civil and criminal matters.  Montana Legal Services Association offers help in all civil matters, and some criminal matters for certain tribes.  There’s even a government website that puts all the basic legal information for each tribe in one place.

But many, if not most, tribal members have no idea how to access these
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