Research

Portable's highly experienced design team, specialising in legal innovation, empathises with users to understand them and the problems they face. With real users and stakeholders we generate ideas to solve the problem, prototype solutions to test, and then learn and iterate. Our process includes a range of tools including user interviews, co-design workshops and user testing. We create user personas, map the experience of users and challenge established thinking. The quality of our research is enhanced by our extensive experience in interviewing people in hardship and dealing with stressful situations. We also work directly with legal professionals to understand the material and translate it into plain English.

Artificial intelligence

Portable is building an AI model for the next generation of online dispute resolution tools. It allows us to indicate the likely response of a judge or mediator based on published public case data. We augment this data with key principles from lawyers, registrars and decision-makers involved in the process. This intervention is a significant step towards reducing legal costs and the burden on the justice system.

Tools

We've developed an ODR tool called Settle that can be easily adapted to different contexts and disputes, including workplaces, tenancy and property. It can also serve as a case management platform for court and tribunal staff. Cases can be filtered based on priority or which staff members are involved.