About the Future of Contracts Design Derby
Created for law students, the Future of Contracts Design Derby introduces law students to design thinking while exploring a problem that plagues transactional law: the tension between fair and efficient online terms of service.
Working in teams and with support and mentorship from practicing attorneys, design experts, and law professors, students engage in three steps–EXPLORATION, IMAGINATION, and CREATION–over the course of a few weeks.
The estimated total time commitment for students is 8 hours. Completion of a 1L Contracts course is recommended, but all participants are certain already to have some personal experience with the many online terms to which they are asked to consent.
Centered around a fun, high-energy in-person design session aimed at rethinking legal practice for the better, students will imagine solutions to problems and share their ideas for a chance to win a cash prize.
This version of the curriculum is based on our Spring 2024 Future of Contracts Design Derby where students focused on challenges related to online click-wrap agreements and modifications of Terms of Service.
Is the Future of Contracts Design Derby Right for You?
Faculty: Do you have an interest and knowledge of contracts (specifically online terms of service) and design thinking? Are you able to:
- recruit participants
- support them in completing the Derby
- lead them through an in-person design sprint
- support final submission of their idea
- provide them feedback on their idea
On this page, you’ll find the program logistics and curriculum, from template communications to activities and content to implement. We are sharing this curriculum open-source so that other campuses may adapt it.
“I wish I’d been able to offer the Derby to my Tech in Law Practice class every year that I’ve taught it. I cover design thinking and process improvement as part of the course to help students consider how they can make improvements at their firm, so the Derby fit right in to our curriculum.”
–Kenton Brice, The University of Oklahoma College of Law, site leader for 2023 & 2024 Future of Contracts Design Derbys
Why Design Thinking?
Human-centered design thinking can help bring inclusive innovation to law.
Unlike more traditional methodologies, it privileges creative processes and empowers acts of change-making, focusing not on what the law is but rather on what it should be.
The law, like every powerful institution, needs engines of renewal and disruption, and human-centered design thinking fuels these engines, giving students and legal practitioners and all stakeholders full license to make tomorrow’s law better than today’s.
We include some introductory info about design thinking (including a video) in the Step 2 slide deck that you can share.
“What we like most about being part of the Design Derby is that it reinforces everything we try to do in our program: give students hands-on opportunities to solve real problems; provide a space for creative thinking and community networking; and focus on the integration of the soft and hard skills necessary to innovatively solve modern legal problems.”
– Michelle Dewey, Georgia State College of Law, co-site leader for 2024 Future of Contracts Design Derby
Our Approach
We intentionally structured the Future of Contracts Design Derby to have:
- Both asynchronous and synchronous components
- Individual, team, and large group work
- Engagement with practice-based professionals as mentors/advisors
- Flexibility for implementation across sites
This approach helps us reach our goals:
- Introduce law students to human-centered design while solving a real problem plauging transactional law.
- Provide an opportunity for law students to practice skills less common in the traditional law school curriculum, such as teamwork, rapid prototyping, and giving and receiving feedback to peers.
- Engage alumni and innovative lawyer-leaders in preparing law students to enter a tech-forward legal profession.
Materials & Implementation Tips
Star here with this list of questions to consider before you begin.
Access all documents here in Google Drive. Documents are also linked individually throughout the rest of this page.
What’s included in this open-source “Program in a Box”?
- Sample syllabus language and ideas about how to incorporate the program into an academic course
- Sample advertisement you can adapt to recruit students
- Sample student application if you are not incorporating the program into an academic course
- Sample email to invite potential mentors/advisors to the Step 2 IMAGINATION Design Session
- Step 1 EXPLORATION instructions for student participants
- Suggestions and details to consider for hosting the Step 2 IMAGINATION Design Session (food, materials, mentors, timing, etc)
- Instructions and a slide deck for Step 2 IMAGINATION for you to adapt to your session
- Step 3 CREATION instructions and sample email to send to your student participants
- Sample email to potential judges to invite them to judge submissions
“The Future of Contracts Design Derby was a wonderful opportunity for my Law, Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneurship Lab students to join with other law students in the United States and to apply the legal design thinking learned in my LITE Lab class on the ongoing and important issue of online clickwrap agreements. The Design Derby timing segmented so well with the 2 courses I am teaching this semester, too!”
– Brian W. Tang, Executive Director, LITE Lab@HKU, UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
The Curriculum
We hope this detailed curriculum and associated resources provide all that you need to adapt the program for your students and campus.
We’re available to answer questions, either via email (designderby@law.duke.edu) or over Zoom/phone.
Step 1: EXPLORATION
The goal of Step 1 is to provide basic information about the problem; students can have time to learn individually through reading and listening/watching to videos.
Not only does this allow for students to have the time needed to engage with them material depending on their learning style and level of understanding, it also helps reduce time needed during the in-person Step 2 to get everyone onto the same page.
Recommendation
- Share details of Step 1 at least one week before Step 2. Send this via an email as an introduction to the Derby, using either the link or PDF.
Additional Options
- Give more than 1 week between Steps 1 & 2, with a reminder a few days before Step 2.
- Assign Step 1 as homework in an academic class, and then take time in class or during set office hours to discuss the information and answer any questions.
- Ask students to fill out a brief survey about their learning and questions.
These materials can also be shared with advisors in advance of Step 2.
Step 2: IMAGINATION
Details for implementing Step 2 can be found in our slide deck on Google Drive.
How might we tackle challenges around click wrap agreements?
You might encourage students to consider:
- How can we improve the process of modifying clickwrap agreements?
- What kind of technology could help users understand clickwrap agreements?
- How can design elements aid in increasing transparency?
- Is there a need for a change in law, or can we strike a balance using the current legal framework?
Think about solutions along the lines of each of which will be considered as appropriate categories during Step III – CREATION of the Future of Contracts Design Derby. Listen to this audio from Prof. Jeff Ward about these categories and read more details.
Step 3: CREATION
In the logistics for Step 2, we note that students are encouraged to have one laptop or tablet per group for their work during the design session. They will also then be able to access the template on google drive for their Step 3 CREATION submission. Students can download the template as a PowerPoint, or if they are logged in with a Google account, then they will be able make a copy and keep working in Google Slides.
You’ll give them the instructions for Step 3 before they leave the Step 2 IMAGINATION design session. You may also want to follow up via email with the link, and send a reminder or other instructions if you are including the Future of Contracts Design Derby as part of your academic course. See the example email.
The Step 3 submission template is designed such that students can make minimal design changes and focus on clearly communicating their idea.
Students are welcome to update the background/font/colors in the design if they so choose, as long as they submit all required content.
Feedback: Step 3 is a great time to continue to involve mentors and peer feedback. Encourage students to share their draft with at least one other person for feedback before submitting.
We do not expect students to spend more than two hours total on Step 3. If they choose to make a more complicated design or sophisticated artifact due to the nature of the competition, they are welcome to do so.
They will be judged on their creativity, their ability to succinctly and clearly communicate their idea, and their thoughtfulness and reflection about their idea.
Planning Essentials
We provide additional planning tips throughout the Step 2: IMAGINATION slide deck, but wanted to feature a few here since they are the most critical when considering implementing this event.
Space & Materials
In general, we recommend typical materials you’d find at any human-centered design session – post-it notes, markers, flip chart paper, etc.
You’ll want a space that allows participants and mentors to move freely and interact in small teams (3 to 4 students per team) and some wall space or easels for post-it notes, drawing/writing on paper or dry erase board. If you are hosting one longer session, you may want space for a food table
Example spaces
Recruiting Student Participants
As part of an academic course
If you’re running the Derby as part of your course, you may not need to do any advertising outside of incorporating information into your syllabus. Sample structures and syllabus statements.
Listen to Jeff Ward talk about incorporating it as part of your class
Outside of an academic course
If you are hosting the Derby stand-alone event, recruiting from a broader general law student population, you may find some attrition from sign-ups, so plan accordingly for food and materials.
We have found that having students apply as a team helps reduce attrition and encourage substitutions for a new teammate if someone’s availability changes. Sample Student Application
We’ll maintain this landing page on this website to share with students. We can add your site and link to your application if you email it to us, along with the current dates of any programs, to designderby@law.duke.edu.
Please see this sample language and the below advertisements you might adapt and share with potential groups at your law school. Consider forwarding the invitation that you send to a student group to other faculty with a brief message inviting them to share with students of interest.
You can adapt the above flyer using Canva to use on TVs, email newsletters, or social media.
- 1920 x 1080 px – Digital TV Signage
- 300 x 300 px – Instagram or Facebook
- 600 x 200 px – Email Header or Website
Recruiting Mentors for Steps 2 & 3
Practicing attorneys, law professors, design professionals, and technologists can provide mentorship and support to law students during steps 2 (in person) & 3 (virtually) of the Derby.
We strongly encourage recruiting mentors/advisors such that you have a ratio of one mentor to every team or every other team who can help speak to the problem (so if you have 6 teams of students, you will want 3 to 6 mentors, including any facilitators like yourself that day).
Dedicated mentors offer several benefits:
- Sharing the instruction tasks with site leaders/faculty
- Offering various perspectives
- Providing connections to actual legal practice
- Making connections with students and offering insights into their legal practices
- Providing feedback, encouragement and acting as sounding boards
You might have potential mentors in mind already and can recruit them on your own. Your Law School’s alumni office may also be able to identify and connect you with potential mentors, either local or national.
- Sample Message for Outreach to Potential Mentors – Please adapt this document as you see fit.
- Sample Message with Logistics – Please adapt this document as you see fit.
Examples of professional positions/experiences of mentors at our 2023 & 2024 Future of Contracts Design Derby in Durham, NC:
- Associate in Capital Markets practice at an AmLaw 100 firm
- Partner in Emerging Technology practice at an AmLaw 200 firm
- Associate in Corporate & Commercial practice at a mid-size law firm
- Vice President of Technology Solutions at a large legal/business services provider
- General Counsel at a legal services provider (eDiscovery and contract analytics)
- Serial entrepreneur in legal tech focused on contracts and AI
- Chief Innovation Officer at large legal aid organization
- Law School faculty
Our first year hosting the Design Derby was a huge success! The curriculum was terrific, ready to go, and easily digestible for students unfamiliar with the substantive law. 10 out of 10 would recommend, and we can’t wait to participate again next year!
– Adam Eckart, Associate Professor of Legal Writing, Suffolk University Law School