From drafting to design with a little help from AI assistants: New tools for legal writers and designers

This chapter examines how legal communication can shift from traditional drafting toward human-centered design through the integration of plain language (PL), contract design patterns, and generative AI. Grounded in Transformative and Proactive Law, it highlights law’s communicative role in enabling understanding, action, and societal change, including sustainability goals. Focusing on “layering” as a key design pattern, the chapter presents an AI-assisted redesign of European Model Clauses, demonstrating how generative tools can support summarization, restructuring, and visual prototyping of contract content. Used responsibly, AI can help legal professionals create documents that are clearer, more accessible, and more practically actionable for diverse users.