In-house lawyers rarely struggle with legal accuracy.

What they struggle with is something else entirely:
getting contracts to actually work in the business.

If you’ve ever heard:

• “This is too long”

• “Can you just tell me what matters?”

• “We’ll deal with this later”

• “Legal is slowing us down”

The issue is not resistance.
It’s cognitive overload.

Contracts are built like railways, business works like roads

Most contracts are structured like railways:

• linear

• dense

• optimized for completeness

• hard to enter or exit

Business teams, on the other hand, work like road networks:

• non-linear

• fast-moving

• decision-driven

• context-dependent

When contracts are designed like railways and used like roads, friction is inevitable.

What business teams actually need from contracts

Business teams don’t need:

• more clauses

• more precision

• more pages

They need:

• to quickly see what applies to them

• to understand risks at the right moment

• to know what action is expected

• to feel confident they’re not missing something critical

When this doesn’t happen, contracts get bypassed, not out of bad faith, but out of necessity.

The cost for in-house legal teams

When contracts aren’t usable:

• legal advice gets reduced to “please read the contract”

• compliance relies on reminders and follow-ups

• trust erodes quietly

• legal value becomes invisible

And legal teams are left feeling stuck between risk and reality.

The shift that changes everything

Forward-looking legal teams are changing how contracts communicate:

• using structure to guide decisions

• highlighting obligations where they matter

• designing contracts for real workflows

• making legal intent visible without constant explanation

This isn’t about dumbing things down.
It’s about designing for use.

What’s next

Over the coming weeks, we’ll continue sharing practical ways legal teams can:

• align contracts with how the business actually works

• reduce friction without increasing risk

• using design and AI intentionally in legal work

In 2026, contract usability, legal design, and AI-enabled workflows are no longer “nice to have”, they’re becoming core capabilities for effective legal teams.

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If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.