Justify – democratizing legal services
Justify is a new and innovative legal service to accompany you through life. The combination of law, design and technology means that it can be used regardless of age, gender, place of residence, functional ability, or one’s economic, cultural or technical background.
Company: Justify
Design: Justify
Collaborator: Good Morning Naug
Lead users:
From young adults to the elderly, with a particular focus on functional and technical abilities.
Methods:
Design-led product development with Shape-Up as a development methodology for flexible product delivery that provides a basis for continuous learning and improvement (Read more about the Shape-Up methodology) Also interviews, in-depth conversations and user surveys.
Awards:
Innovation Award for Inclusive Design 2023, category winner Service Design (Design and Architecture Norway).
60,000
unique users, which equals more than 1 % of the adult population in Norway.
Challenge: Reducing legal risk
Justify is a web-based service that helps private individuals set up important legal agreements – which everyone really should have.
The threshold for contacting a lawyer for private legal agreements can be high, both for financial and other reasons. And many people who do use a lawyer may only do so for a few selected matters, not for the breadth of legal agreements that provide security through life.
Most people, moreover, do not always understand legal jargon; nor do they always know when they should create or update important legal agreements and documents or how to make use of them. All these barriers lead to many people taking a big risk in their day-to-day life, without being fully aware of it. Lack of legal agreements relating to important private matters such as cohabitation, marriage, wills and powers of attorney can lead to unnecessary feuds and have unwanted financial consequences.
A British survey shows that only 1 in 10 who have legal needs get their needs covered by using a lawyer. This may be owing to geographical, economic and cultural barriers between an individual and a lawyer. The fact that people with a legal need do not have their needs met is a societal problem that is worth solving. That is why it is good we have Justify.
Approach: Worry-free law for everyone
Justify aims to make legal services accessible to everyone. They see interdisciplinarity as the key to innovative, user-friendly and inclusive services. They combine design methodology, information and interaction design and legal expertise in the development and delivery of their legal services, which remove barriers and include the entire population.
Through their web-based solution, they notify users when they have documents that need attention. If you are stuck and unsure of what to do next, the lawyers at Justify give you advice – in clear language without legal jargon. The service is closely integrated with public registers such as the National Population Register and the National Mapping Authority. This is of great value to clients, who receive updated information about their own or close family members' agreements that also concern them.
Justify increases the opportunity for people to take legal control of their own lives. You need not worry about legal uncertainty.
Thinking anew to remove barriers
In order to solve the right problems, Justify built the service from the ground up on the basis of a series of interviews, in-depth conversations and user surveys with users of various functional ability.
The full-time designers at Justify sit in on customer chats. By listening to and working with the clients, Justify gains direct insight into their concrete problems – every day. They continue to develop the service with the goal to make law accessible to all.
Through clear instructions and clear language, Justify is with us where life happens, whether we need a will or a cohabitation contract. The service is linked to public registers and notifies users when they have to make changes to agreements or update documents. Justify has understood that the law affects us all, especially during major life events.
Result: Law for the good of all
Justify has mapped which documents cause headaches for most people and has launched innovative, self-service solutions for future powers of attorney, wills, cohabitation contracts, gifts and advances on inheritance as well as wishes for one’s own funeral. All services are reviewed by a lawyer without the client having to deal with difficult words and legal jargon. Plain language within the field of law is a big plus.
What is more, the price for each service is fixed, so customers know exactly what the cost will be before they start. To date, over 60,000 registered customers have made use of Justify's platform and user growth is increasing from month to month. Sparebank1, Eika, Storebrand and over 80 other Norwegian banks, insurance companies and organisations have also integrated Justify as part of their regular service offer to customers nationwide.
In the solution for digital wills, an innovative inheritance simulator has been developed. Having provided details of their close relations, customers are presented in a simple and comprehensible way with how, in accordance with the Inheritance Act, their inheritance will be divided. It also shows what leeway the individual has in distributing their inheritance according to their wishes. The inheritance simulator takes into account all family compositions and includes everyone, from single people without children to large families with or without children from a previous relationship.
For cohabitation contracts, Justify has created a user-friendly tool that easily calculates the correct ownership shares in the home based on loan liability, equity and past, current and future expenses in the home, such as for renovations. Justify has many innovative solutions included in its service portfolio and is working purposefully towards further development.
A digital service for a diversity of customers
Justify is an innovative digital service platform that solves the legal issues that most people will encounter during their lifetime. It embraces a wide spectrum of target groups. From young people who have just moved into their first apartment with
their girlfriend or boyfriend, to adults who have started planning the future, to seniors who want to get their wishes in order in a will before it is too late.
By using design methodology, Justify involve the target groups throughout the entire process, from concept to launched service.
Justify represents more affordable legal assistance. Access to law should be easy, including those with less digital competence. The web-based platform is universally designed and linguistically inclusive, and the various services are designed for ease of use. The customer group has an age range from 18 to 96 years old. For seniors with no digital skills, a new function that allows close relatives to access the service has been launched. The same applies to those who do not have a Norwegian Bank ID.
Benefits: Legally safeguarding people throughout their lives
Legally safeguarding people throughout their lives
Justify is a challenger in an otherwise homogenous legal market and helps solve a huge societal problem. Sustainability in society is completely dependent on someone daring to think anew and challenge what has been established by designing services that include everyone. The threshold for getting sound legal help has now been lowered, with all the ripple effects this has on both a personal and societal basis.
Justify is relevant for absolutely everyone. It is the only service in the world to offer legal security throughout the customer’s life. 90% of Norwegian banks are already partners, clearly showing that this is a much sought-after, important supplement to traditional legal services.