Redesigning legal forms for usability

Paperwork or forms are often people’s first interaction with the legal system. The Provincial Court Family Rules forms are essential to family law, covering important topics like parenting arrangements, guardianship and protection orders. These forms are especially important for people handling legal issues without a lawyer, ensuring everyone’s voice is heard and their needs are met.

In the summer of 2023, a team from the Justice Services Branch in B.C.’s Ministry of the Attorney General started a project to make the Provincial Court Family Rules forms easier to use. The project team combined policy expertise and human-centred design, collaborating with the Court Services Branch and the Provincial Court to gather input from the public, front-line staff, lawyers and judges on how to make the forms more user-friendly.

Examining the status quo

At the start of the project, there was a sense the Provincial Court Family Rules forms might not be meeting user’s needs as effectively as possible. However, the specific problems were not well understood. To investigate, the project team began with five surveys to gather insights from 147 participants, including support workers, legal education providers, paralegals, legal assistants, legal advocates, lawyers, judges and the public.

Also surveyed were staff from the Justice Access Centres (which provides legal information and support), Family Justice Centres (which offers services related to family law matters) and Court Registries (where court documents are filed and processed).

These surveys generated over 750 unique data points, offering a wide range of feedback on the forms’ usability. The data was analyzed and organized to identify recurring themes and areas where users were experiencing difficulties.

Working with an advisory group that included members from the Justice Services Branch, Court Services Branch and Provincial Court, the project team focused on issues impacting public users of the forms. These issues included:

• The forms were often too long, making them overwhelming for users
• Complex language and legal jargon made the forms hard to understand
• Ineffective layout and design made the forms difficult to navigate

At this stage, it was clear there were opportunities to improve the forms, but the exact nature of the challenges required further exploration.

Asking questions, building solutions

With our problem areas defined, we shaped our approach for the design and prototyping phases by creating “How Might We (HMW)” questions. These questions helped us stay focused on the issues while sparking creative ideas for solutions. Using the survey feedback, research on form usability, and our HMW questions as a guide, we started redesigning the forms, making changes to improve usability.

Long forms can overwhelm users and slow down court registry staff checking for errors. To support user confidence and help staff review submissions, we made the forms easier to navigate by removing unnecessary content and consolidating information. We added clearer page numbers, headings and section titles and organized information progressively to make it easier for users to follow without being overwhelmed.

Complex legal language can make the forms harder to understand. We rewrote content with plain language when possible and provided clearer instructions. Additionally, a sidebar was introduced to the form layout, supporting users with clarifying tips and definitions or explanations of legal terms.

Ineffective formatting and design made the forms difficult to navigate. To support navigation, we integrated instructional menus for forms with multiple sections. These menus provide clear instructions about which sections users need to complete, while progress indicators like numbering and labelling provide users with a sense of direction.

Testing in session

Once the prototypes were complete it was time to get feedback.

Since our main users are individuals dealing with a family legal issue, we needed data showing how they may use the forms. To capture this, we held an in-person user testing session of our form prototypes in January 2024 in Vancouver, B.C.

Our team got to work recruiting individuals for this public engagement, sharing our recruitment flyer through online communication channels and organizing honorariums and travel stipends to compensate participants. Despite a last-minute snow-day rescheduling, we recruited 8 participants with 6 ultimately attending.

During the two-hour workshop, the team observed participants completing tasks with the forms. The tasks were designed to test for common pitfalls and challenges users had with the previous forms. While observing the participants, our team asked follow-up questions, diving deeper into emerging usability issues.

We also sought prototype feedback from users outside the public. Court registry and Family Justice Services staff support the public in completing the forms and judges use completed forms to make decisions on legal issues, so 3 virtual workshops were held to solicit feedback on prototypes from these groups. More feedback and a legal review came from Legal Services Branch solicitors, who have extensive experience with the old forms, family law and court processes.

Prototyping and refining

By collecting feedback, we were able to integrate design changes to make the forms easier to understand, use, and complete. We prototyped 4 form redesigns through iterative refinement, adjusting design features and revising content to ensure user needs and preferences were prioritized.

In speaking to varied user groups, we also realized the design changes would not only support people filling out the forms. Court Registry staff noted that introducing a sidebar to the form layout would benefit them too. While the sidebar helps people fill out the form by providing definitions and useful information, this feature would also help staff scan forms for completeness more quickly by keeping supplementary information to the side.

The verdict

By listening to feedback from different user groups, we were able to make the forms more intuitive to navigate, easier to understand and simpler to use.

Balancing the diverse needs of the public, legal professionals and court staff required careful consideration and iterative design. We hope the redesigned forms will help people complete them more quickly and accurately, all while supporting our broader goal of improving access to justice for everyone.

To learn more about this project view the Provincial Court Family Rules Forms Redesign Video or explore the redesigned Provincial Court Family Rules Forms fillable PDF forms.