Is the Common Legal Platform a Wicked Problem?

Abstract

This chapter addresses the challenge of a common legal platform (CLP) from the perspective of Legal Design. The chapter will give the reader an overview of the Legal Design method and show the advantages and suitability of this methodical approach to tackle the challenge of the CLP. The authors explore the topic of this book from a key principle of human-centered design the---so called---``wicked problems'', providing a theoretical framework to understand wicked problems in the context of design thinking and creative problem-solving. In the second part of the chapter, we offer a case study of Design Thinking applied to the challenge of the CLP. The case study provides insights from the field research conducted as part of an 8 weeks long Design Thinking project carried out in a partnership between the Liquid Legal Institute and the School of Design Thinking at the Hasso Plattner Institute. Because of the complex nature of the problem addressed, this chapter does not try to provide answers but rather aims to better articulate which are the relevant questions to frame the problem of a common legal platform.