Law Enforcement Request System
Standardize and make it easier to submit a legal request
TL;DR
Enterprise Legal Products at Google streamline legal operations through technology, focusing on efficiency and risk reduction. The Law Enforcement Request System (LERS) was improved to standardize and ease the submission of legal requests, leading to high adoption rates and positive feedback. Research with law enforcement agencies in multiple countries ensured the system met their needs and improved the internal agent's confidence and efficiency.
When
2016 - 2017
Team
BSA as a PM, PgM, 4x SWEs, UXR
My role
UX Lead and Designer, adhoc PM and UXR (when my partner was busy)
Due to the nature of this project, I am not uploading images openly, I have examples from this project if needed.
Introduction
Legal processes, such as search warrants and court orders, are served to both individuals and companies. Large corporations like Google, Microsoft, and Facebook, likely receive numerous legal requests daily. These requests vary significantly depending on their source and the jurisdiction involved. For example, legal requirements in the US differ at the city, state, and federal levels. Similarly, each country has its own unique legal standards. The risks associated with non-compliance also vary based on the source of the legal request.
Goals
The objective of this initiative was to streamline the process of routing and responding to external requests by channeling more and more of them through a centralized portal. This would enhance efficiency and minimize manual effort. A standardized format and improved searchability would enable the system to optimize responses, potentially reducing the amount of data provided over time and flagging any excessive requests.
It's important to emphasize that this initiative focused solely on optimizing the intake, routing, and response to external requests. It had no bearing on company policies or practices regarding responses to government agencies. I had no involvement in or influence on those policies and procedures.
Process
I was invited to enhance the front page experience of an existing product, where users initiated a particular flow. I assumed a PM/UX role and proposed improvements to the end-to-end process. This involved understanding agent workflows and the lifecycle of a legal process, from initiation to submission. The aim was to identify areas for improvement, to enhance the efficiency of the legal business group.
Efficiency, in this context, wasn't about reducing staff or working hours, but about minimizing backlog and burden. The goal was to enable staff to complete tasks thoroughly and quickly, with confidence in the system's support for optimal outcomes. This would eliminate concerns about errors or omissions, and enhance overall work quality.
Despite lacking law enforcement experience, I conducted research within this domain to understand their experiences and challenges in creating and submitting legal requests. This included identifying triggers for creating requests, the steps involved, and the methods used for submission. The aim was to align the system's design with user needs and optimize the process.
At a conference, I led a team from the business side to review and gather feedback on the mocks I had created. This feedback focused on the overall user experience and the optimal field order for different US states and cities. The intention was to ensure a close match between the legal process and the data entry requirements.
Further research, conducted with my UXR partner, in England and Germany aimed to understand these processes in non-US countries and the EU. The core design remained robust, but we aimed to tailor the list of legal processes to the user's country.
Outcome
The launch of the product resulted in approximately 76% adoption in the US. The worldwide adoption rate was close to 100% following the release of a country-specific version, making it the primary method for contacting the company. Overall, the feedback was positive.
The widespread adoption and positive response are noteworthy, especially considering US government agencies were not mandated to use this form between 2016 and 2023 (when I was working in this space). This achievement highlights the product's success in providing a user-friendly experience and actively encouraging voluntary adoption.
Learning
We collaborated with business leaders who were fixated on specific features, always framing them as absolute requirements. We went through countless iterations based on their input, like forcing external users to manually enter every product, date range, and request type. This approach created a significant data entry burden for users, hindering adoption of our system.
The breakthrough came when we questioned the necessity of forcing users to follow this process. It turned out that while the feature was desirable, it wasn't mandatory; users could simply upload the data, and our users internally would have to process it. This realization led to the launch of the new version the very next day, after approximately six months of negotiation.
I recount this experience to highlight the effective collaboration within our team, even without traditional leadership roles like a Team Lead or Project Manager. Individuals stepped up, took ownership, and worked exceptionally well together. By conducting early research sessions with users and business partners, I was able to identify needs and discreetly guide the direction of the product/experience. It's rare to find such a high-performing team.
Selected Works
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