In the recent In-House Connect webinar, “Legal Design Workshop for In-House Counsel: Using Legal Design Principles to Optimize MSAs and Common Sales Agreements,” legal design experts Manu Kanwar of LexSolutions and Denis Potemkin of Majoto, delivered groundbreaking strategies for improving contract documentation. The session focused on optimizing Master Service Agreements (MSAs) and sales contracts through legal design principles, aiming to make them more user-friendly and foster stronger business relationships.
Here are the five key takeaways from the webinar:
- The Power of Familiarity and Simplicity
A table of contents doesn’t fully capture the importance of clarity within legal documents. Familiar tools like Word and Google Docs hold significant value due to their widespread usage. Contracts should blend tradition with simplicity, ensuring that all stakeholders—from lawyers to business personnel—can easily navigate and understand them. The goal is to make legal documents more accessible without sacrificing their legal integrity.
- Balancing Formality with Trust
The level of formality in a contract should match the product and company size. Overly formal contracts can feel defensive and undermine trust with clients. Simplifying language and formatting helps make contracts less intimidating, fostering trust and speeding up deal negotiations. A contract that feels approachable is more likely to create positive, collaborative relationships.
- Prioritizing User Experience in Contract Design
Traditional contracts are often dense and difficult for non-lawyers to understand. By incorporating design elements that enhance user experience—such as plain language, visual hierarchy, and better content organization—contracts become more accessible. These user-centered design approaches allow for smoother negotiations and help non-lawyers grasp contract terms with ease.
- The Role of Context in Contract Design
Contracts should reflect the context in which they will be used. For example, formal industries like banking may require detailed, highly structured contracts, while agile companies can benefit from simpler, less formal documents. Understanding the audience and the type of agreement needed allows legal teams to tailor contracts more effectively, leading to better client engagement and satisfaction.
- Small Changes, Big Impact
Even small, incremental adjustments in contract design can have a significant effect on user experience and compliance. By implementing user-centered principles like clarity, consistency, and aligning contracts with a company’s values, legal teams can turn complex documents into tools that empower business stakeholders to handle contracts with confidence. This results in faster, more efficient deals.
The insights from this webinar underscore the importance of using legal design principles to optimize sales contracts. By leveraging simplicity, building trust, focusing on user experience, tailoring contracts to context, and making small, thoughtful improvements, in-house counsel can dramatically improve contract efficacy and foster stronger business relationships.
Missed The Session? You can watch it now via IHC On-Demand!
