What Nicholas Cage can teach us about legal design

Introduction

For some time now, legal design has been asking itself “What can Nicholas Cage teach us about legal design?”. It’s an important question, and one that deserves a considered answer. 

Nick’s concern for the wellbeing of lawyers came early on in his career, in Vampire’s Kiss:

Peter Loew: [staring at Alva, his eyes getting increasingly wider and more crazed-looking] Alva, there is no one else in this entire office that I could possibly ask to share such a horrible job. You’re the lowest on the totem pole here, Alva. The lowest. Do you realize that? Every other secretary here has been here longer than you, Alva. Every one. And even if there was someone here who was here even one day longer than you, I still wouldn’t ask that person to partake in such a miserable job as long as you were around. That’s right, Alva. It’s a horrible, horrible job; sifting through old contract after old contract. I couldn’t think of a more horrible job if I wanted to. And you have to do it! You have to or I’ll fire you. You understand? Do you? Good.

So Nick feels the pain of contracts that have been poorly designed. As film critics have said, the film is, at it’s heart, a message for lawyers to do better. But how?

 

Whisper, then scream

One of the hallmarks of a classic Cage film is that all of the dialog … is either whispered … or SCREAMED – as this clip illustrates:

Breaking the rhythm

What can legal designers learn from this? When people are visually scanning documents, things that break the rhythm established by the text stand out. This can be done through placement, where the regular flow of the text is broken up by – in this case, a devilishly handsome Nick – being out of place:

Another way to make something stand out is by differential styling. One of these Nick Cages is not like the others, and draws the user’s eye:

Applying differential styling

Let’s apply differential styling to some copy. We’ll use this as an example:

The term of this Agreement shall commence on the Effective Date and continue in effect for a period of 2 years unless terminated earlier in accordance with Section 10 hereof.  The term shall be automatically renewed for successive one-year terms under the same provisions of this Service Agreement unless a party provides no less than sixty (60) days’ advance written notice of its intention to terminate or otherwise amend the terms of this Agreement. In the event the parties are unable to agree on an amendment prior to the end of the initial or subsequent term, either party shall have the right to immediately terminate this Service Agreement upon notice to the other party.  The parties shall fulfil their remaining contractual obligations (e.g. with respect to reporting and payment of Services) as has been earlier agreed upon.

We can rewrite the text to strip out the unnecessary copy, and break the rhythm of the wider document by presenting it as a series of bullets, like this:

  • This agreement is initially for 2 years from the effective date. 
  • It will be automatically renewed for 1 year periods, unless either of us provide at least 60 days’ notice (by email or post) of the intention to end or amend the terms. 
  • If either of us are unable to agree on an amendment before the end of the period, either of us can immediately terminate the contract.  

We can also change the styling as we did with vampire Nick, to call the user’s attention to the key points and help them scan the document:

  • This agreement is initially for 2 years from the effective date.
  • It will be automatically renewed for 1 year periods, unless either of us provide at least 60 days’ notice (by email or post) of the intention to end or amend the terms.
  • If either of us are unable to agree on an amendment before the end of the period, either of us can immediately terminate the contract. 


Takeaways

So, remember:

  • Great dialog: Strip your copy back to the essentials
  • Great delivery: Whisper, but shout for the things the user needs to hear!