What if the contract sitting in someone’s inbox isn’t just unread—it’s misunderstood? For many in-house legal teams, contracts are essential—but they’re also a recurring pain point. Instead of helping the business move faster, they often slow things down. Even with advances in legal tech, ops, and strategy, contracts remain hard to read, tougher to use, and often misunderstood—more like barriers than bridges.
That’s exactly what contract design expert Stefania Passera and legal executive Paula Doyle want to change. In a recent episode of Notes to My (Legal) Self, they explained why user-centered contract design is not just a nice-to-have—it’s a strategic shift. When contracts are designed for real people, not just legal reviewers, they reduce risk, build trust, and drive better business outcomes.
Watch the full conversation with Stefania Passera and Paula Doyle here:
Think Contracts Are Just Legal Tools? Think Again
At their core, contracts are communication tools. They’re not just about legal defense or risk transfer—they’re about clarity. They define responsibilities, set expectations, and guide behavior. But when contracts are designed only for legal reviewers, everyone else struggles to interpret them.
User-centered contract design starts with a simple mindset shift: contracts are for people. That includes business stakeholders, customers, partners, and vendors—many of whom aren’t legal professionals. When contracts are built with those users in mind, the outcome changes dramatically. They become easier to read, faster to negotiate, and more likely to be followed in practice.
Clarity Over Cosmetics: What Design Actually Means
It’s a myth that contract design is about making things “look pretty.” It’s not about icons and colors—it’s about function. Dense formatting creates cognitive friction. People skim, misread, or check out entirely.
Stefania emphasized that good design is invisible. It guides the reader through logical flow, consistent formatting, and purposeful structure. You don’t need illustrations to make a contract work better—you need clarity. And clarity isn’t cosmetic. It’s how contracts become assets, not obligations.
Empathy as a Legal Superpower
The most overlooked legal skill in contract drafting? Empathy. That might sound soft, but it’s powerful. It asks, “Who’s reading this? What do they need to know? And how quickly can they use it?
Paula shared how even small changes, like breaking up paragraphs or simplifying language, can transform comprehension. Empathy doesn’t mean lowering precision; it means delivering that precision in a way people can act on.
This is where experimentation shines. Try redesigning an NDA. Test a new layout on a vendor agreement. See what your users say. Each iteration teaches you what works—and what doesn’t.The most overlooked legal skill in contract drafting? Empathy. That might sound soft, but it’s powerful. It asks: Who’s reading this? What do they need to know? And how quickly can they use it?
Paula shared how even small changes—like breaking up paragraphs or simplifying language—can transform comprehension. Empathy doesn’t mean lowering precision; it means delivering that precision in a way people can act on.
This is where experimentation shines. Try redesigning an NDA. Test a new layout on a vendor agreement. See what your users say. Each iteration teaches you what works—and what doesn’t.. Empathy doesn’t mean lowering precision; it means delivering that precision in a way people can act on.
This is where experimentation shines. Try redesigning an NDA. Test a new layout on a vendor agreement. See what your users say. Each iteration teaches you what works—and what doesn’t.
Contracts as Enablers, Not Obstacles
When done right, contracts don’t just protect the company—they help it thrive. They speed up negotiations, boost compliance, and prevent costly misunderstandings. More than that, they create alignment and build trust, both inside the company and with external partners.
Most importantly, a user-centered contract respects the time, attention, and intelligence of the people who use it. That shift in tone alone can dramatically improve how legal teams are perceived within the business. Instead of being seen as blockers, legal becomes a strategic enabler.
So, What’s the Next Step?
The truth is, most teams don’t need new technology to start improving contract design. They need a new mindset. The next time you revise a contract, ask yourself: who’s going to use this, and how can I make it easier for them to do so?
Because user-centered contract design isn’t about aesthetics. It’s about effectiveness. It’s about contracts that work—for legal, for the business, and for every person who has to live by them.
Watch the full conversation here: Notes to My (Legal) Self: Season 4, Episode 1 (ft.Stefania Passera and Paula Doyle)
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