20 July 2023

Legal Design Thinking / Artificial Intelligence / Air Passenger Rights / Metadata of Contracts

Dear readers

Three articles in this issue are dedicated to Legal Design (Thinking). Julian Hundegger* deals in general with the chances of this method for the legal sector and asks which preconditions have to be met in the thinking of lawyers. Vittore Osele* deals with the question of how federal court rulings can be made more understandable or accessible for non-lawyers - and has redesigned a judgment. Antonio Maric*, on the other hand, has suggestions on how to better visualize the contents of data protection declarations. Speaking of visualization: In their TechLawNews, Daniel Ronzani and Simon Schlauri have summarized the most important points of the total revision of the Data Protection Act in key words and with visual aids.

Chiara Zengerer* examines how the decisions of an AI are to be judged in terms of their comprehensibility in comparison to the decisions of human judges. Fabian Teichmann puts himself in the role of a (hypothetical) perpetrator and experimentally investigates how criminals can use generative artificial intelligence to plan and execute DDoS crimes.

Fabio Caramaschi* explores the potential and future development opportunities and challenges of legal tech providers in air passenger law.

Baltasar Cevc, Maik Ebersoll, Klaus Gresbrand, Kai Jacob, Susanne Marks, Jutta Löwe and Dmitri Geidel from Liquid Legal Institute have made an important contribution to contract lifecycle management with their whitepaper on contract metadata.

We wish you an exciting read and a nice summer!

Philip Hanke
Publishing Director

* The articles were written as part of the course «LegalTech and its impact on the world of work» at the HSG. See also the «Next Generation» issue of November 12, 2020.

Rechtsvisualisierung & Legal Design

Legal Design Thinking

Julian Hundegger

The application of Design Thinking is considered a megatrend. Various start-ups and established companies use the methodological approach to develop their services and products. In the legal sector as well, the concept is being used more and more frequently, but is always met with scepticism. This paper explores Legal Design Thinking, its opportunities for the legal sector as well as the prerequisites that need to be created in the thinking of lawyers. The results demonstrate that by applying Legal Design Thinking, the current challenges of the legal sector can be addressed and, and not least, the relationship with clients can be improved. In order to apply design thinking and to benefit from the opportunities it offers, lawyers need to make some adjustments to their thinking and work processes. This includes, among other things, how they interact with non-lawyers. Additionally, it would be desirable to give more attention to interdisciplinary collaboration during legal studies.

Gerichtsurteile neu darstellen – Legal Design Thinking anhand eines Bundesgerichtsurteils

Vittore Osele

This work deals with the question of how federal court decisions can be made more understandable and accessible to non-lawyers through legal design thinking. For this purpose, a randomly selected federal court decision was redesigned. The goal was not to didactically change the decision, but to emphasise the important/decisive points by using bullet points, colouring or bold printing of parts of the sentence. Care was taken to ensure that no relevant arguments of an opposing party were overlooked. A prepared outline of the facts did not add any value, but explanations of legal terms in the footnotes and supplementing the «Regeste» with «key take-aways» helped. It is believed that these methods make an implementation by the court more likely than when the judge or clerk is encouraged to use more commonly understood terms and phrases.

Legal Design im Kontext von Datenschutzerklärungen

Antonio Maric

With the revision of the Data Protection Act – in particular with the extended duty to provide information for data controllers pursuant to Art. 19 (2) nDSG – the legislator hopes to promote transparency in the handling of personal data. To fulfill the stricter obligation, an increased use of data protection declarations on the Internet is to be expected. However, due to their complexity and length, these are hardly ever read or, in rare cases, consulted but not understood by their addressees, who often consist of non-lawyers. Thus, there is a risk that the ratio legis and thus the protection of the rights of the persons concerned are not respected. The article therefore deals with how legal design thinking can contribute to a better implementation of the ratio legis of Art. 19 (2) nDSG when presenting the contents of data protection declarations. It was found that the use of so-called privacy icons in combination with a layered approach seems to be promising, since in this way privacy notices can be presented more clearly and understandably.

AI & Recht

Nachvollziehbarkeit von Entscheiden – eine Gegenüberstellung von menschlichen Richterinnen und Richtern und künstlicher Intelligenz

Chiara Zengerer

The comprehensibility of results is one of the greatest challenges in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the judiciary. This paper examines how decisions made by an AI compare to decisions made by human judges in terms of their comprehensibility. The analysis of various contributions shows that human decisions do not per se offer better comprehensibility and that the risks of an AI can be partially counteracted with protective measures and controls. In contrast, the greatest obstacles for an AI are the lack of contextual knowledge, the inability to reflect critically, and the provision of the correct reasons for a decision.

DDoS-Angriffe im Kontext generativer künstlicher Intelligenz – Eine experimentelle Untersuchung

Fabian Teichmann

This article builds upon a review of criminal law aspects of DDoS attacks published in Jusletter on September 21, 2021. The present article explores how perpetrators might use generative artificial intelligence to plan and execute DDoS attacks. Specifically, the author puts himself in the role of a (hypothetical) perpetrator and experimentally examines how criminals might use generative artificial intelligence to plan and execute DDoS offenses. In doing so, he concludes that generative artificial intelligence is a far more useful tool from the perspective of perpetrators than previous technical solutions. For example, artificial intelligence formulates individualized e-mails with ransom demands, among other things, replacing human assistants or accomplices. The insights gained in this article are equally relevant for law enforcement agencies and companies. After all, only those who know how perpetrators operate can anticipate and prevent their behavior.

LegalTech

Das Potenzial von Legal-Tech-Anbietern im Fluggastrecht

Fabio Caramaschi

The Regulation 261/2004 of the European Parliament protects airline passengers by setting compensation for severely delayed or cancelled flights, but airlines often ignore passengers’ complaints, leading to the emergence of Legal Tech providers like «Flightright». These companies enforce the rights of passengers and, as a larger entity, put more pressure on airlines by either acting as a collection agency or buying out passengers’ compensation rights for an immediate payment. The future could involve automation and improved technology for Legal Tech products, but issues related to data protection, differences in international regulations, and potential impacts on the profitability of airlines pose challenges.

Liquid Legal Institute

Contract Metadata

Baltasar Cevc

Maik Ebersoll

Klaus Gresbrand

Kai Jacob

Susanne Marks

Jutta Löwe

Dmitri Geidel

Discover the essential guide to Contract Metadata management in this comprehensive whitepaper. Whether you are creating a new contract metadata structure or enhancing an existing one, this resource offers valuable insights from a legal standpoint. Perfect for individuals responsible for establishing or revamping contract lifecycle management processes within their organization, this accessible whitepaper caters to beginners in the field, requiring only a fundamental understanding of contracts and their management. Unlock the power of efficient contract metadata management and streamline your legal operations today.

TechLawNews by Ronzani Schlauri Attorneys

The New Swiss Data Protection Law

Daniel Ronzani

Simon Schlauri

On September 1, 2023, the new Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) and the new Data Protection Ordinance (DPO) will come into force. Three decades after its introduction, the Swiss data protection law has been revised to reflect technological developments (Internet, digitalization, Big Data, AI etc.) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Data subjects will benefit from better protection, for instance through greater self-determination and transparency in the collection of personal data. Legal entities are no longer governed by the law. The new data protection law follows a risk-based approach. The revision is also intended to promote self-regulation by industry associations. Companies with 250 or more employees must now keep a comprehensive record of all processing activities. This edition of the TechLawNews summarizes the most significant aspects of the total revision.