Legal Design Summit: Human-Centred Law

Earlier this September, Kanan Dhru, researcher within the Multilevel Regulation research group at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, represented the university at the Legal Design Summit in Helsinki: one of the world’s most influential community-driven events on the future of law. The three-day summit brought together legal innovators, academics, policymakers and designers from across the globe to explore how legal systems can become more human-centred, accessible, and future-proof.

LegalTech appears to have truly accelerated since the rise of generative AI. As the legal sector explores automation to improve workflows, the need for human-centred design has become more urgent. The field of legal design focuses precisely on this, placing people at the centre of how legal systems are built and how technology is implemented.

Unlike traditional corporate approaches, the legal design movement is rooted in community. It remains deliberately open, flexible, and resistant to strict definitions, allowing diverse perspectives to shape its development. While this vagueness can make it difficult to define clear boundaries, it also enables the movement to adapt quickly to a rapidly changing world. Within this context, the Legal Design Summit in Helsinki plays a pivotal role.

Held every two years and free to attend, the Summit attracts practitioners, academics, civil-society actors, legal professionals, and public-sector representatives. Although many participants come from the Global North, the organisers intentionally create a diverse and representative programme.

The three-day event begins with the Brainfactory, a hands-on workshop day where participants experiment, prototype, and challenge assumptions. The second and third days feature keynote speakers in TED-style talks, offering insights from practice and research.

AI dominates but human judgment remains essential

This year, enthusiasm around artificial intelligence was felt across workshops and talks. Discussions centred on the potential of AI agents and automation within legal design, while maintaining the critical role of human judgment. Other conversations focused on plain-language legal writing and simplifying legal processes areas where generative AI may soon be able to support or replicate human effort.

Yet the core message remained clear: legal design is not about aesthetics.

“Legal design is about removing friction, enabling trust, and empowering users,” says researcher Kanan Dhru. “There is no contract, process, or institution that cannot be redesigned to work better for people.”

The Summit continues to serve as a meeting point for collaboration. Many global initiatives have originated here, including the Legal Design Journal.

A place for interdisciplinary inspiration

The 2025 edition, held from 10–12 September in the historic Great Hall of the University of Helsinki, showcased sessions on access to justice, AI governance in the public sector, process simplification, and even managing emotions in legal practice. Fireside chats with speakers from Thailand, Azerbaijan and Madagascar highlighted how legal design takes different shapes depending on social and systemic contexts. The interdisciplinary spirit was unmistakable.

Representation from THUAS

This was the second time that Kanan attended the Summit. In 2023, she spoke on stage; this year, she focused on listening and exchanging perspectives. She reflects:

“It was inspiring to meet practitioners who share the conviction that law can (and should) be designed more human-centrically.”

At THUAS, Dhru works within the Multilevel Regulation (MLR) research group, which investigates how emerging forms of regulation - often driven by technology - reshape how standards, laws and rules are created, implemented, and applied. She is involved in several externally funded research projects examining the interplay between AI, technology, and society, including:

• AIMAPS – applying the ELSA methodology to AI in public safety
• AI4Intelligence – exploring the admissibility of AI-generated evidence
• METACOG – focusing on AI-driven detection of misinformation and disinformation

These initiatives align closely with THUAS’s knowledge agenda on the digital future, which emphasises the responsibility of applied research and education to examine AI’s impact on justice, governance, and human-centred innovation.

Contact

If you are interested in exchanging ideas or exploring collaboration in the field of legal design and human-centred law, feel free to contact Kanan Dhru at [email protected].