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Fix My
Contracts!

We can help you design contracts your clients will love

Contracts are boring and stressful

You want to onboard new clients in a way that’s easy for you and painless for your clients.

If you have a slow onboarding process or send out a lot of contracts that aren’t converting, you might have a contract operations issue!

Can you protect yourself and your clients at the same time as innovating and growing your team or business?

Yes, you can!
And we are here to help with award-winning and innovative legal design methods.

You know how contracts are boring and stressful to read, understand, use, and create?

Well, we use human centred design principles to craft powerful contract processes and engaging agreements that align with your business’ values, brand promise and ways of working, all whilst improving your risk profile.

Tick icon Happier clients
Tick icon Faster sign up times
Tick icon Clear contracts
Tick icon Reduced risk
Tick icon Quicker decision making
Tick icon Easier to enforce

We call this Human Centred Contract Operations

4 colored petal shapes placed like windmill blades. They read, 'Legal Content', 'Contract Form', 'Business Process' and 'Client Experience'.

What is Contract Operations?

Contract Operations is a delicious and interwoven mix of different business and legal concepts.

Legal Content

Understanding the law is one thing. Drafting the legal positions that balance your own business needs and risk thresholds, as well as what your clients or suppliers expect is another thing altogether. We love working to develop a relational approach to contracts and that starts with a solid understanding of the legal strategy.
Includes: Legal research, Legal design, solution finding, risk assessment, values-based contracting, and more!

Contract Format

Contracts aren't just bits of paper with slabs of text. From video contracts to infographic explainers, from comic book contracts to drafting in your brand voice, there are new and exciting ways to craft incredible contracts. Create the right structure and format for your contract, based on your business and your clients' needs. Design contract information that's readable, understandable, and engaging.
Includes: Plain language, Information Design, Visual Contracting, Contract Design Patterns, Graphic Design, and more!

User Experience

Contracts have many different users. From the people who draft them, the people who review them, the people who sign up to them, the people who negotiate them, and those who try to actually deliver products or services under them, there can be a lot of cooks in the kitchen. Taking users into account when you are crafting contracts (from all levels of legal content, contract format, and contract process) can stop problems from occurring and minimise them if issues do crop up.
Includes: User testing, user research, split testing, surveys, design workshops, change management, and more!

Business Process

A business without clear processes will have grumpy team members, frustrated clients, and slow, clunky systems. Contracts don't just magically appear (despite what legal tech companies might have you believe!), they are created and stored and varied generally with good intentions. It's up to us to find the core "why" behind each step in the process and optimise the flow for business outcomes and happy clients.
Includes: Process mapping, document assembly, contract lifecycle management, legal project management, data flow diagrams, approval thresholds, and more!

Hi, I'm Verity White

I created Checklist Legal to optimise the way the business world creates and uses contracts!
*(just a small goal ^_^)

Chat with Me
Lawyer Verity White sitting on a bench smiling and holding ipad. Verity is wearing a white singlet, black trousers and curly pink earrings.

How do we help?

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Innovative lawyers
(and lawyers that want to be more innovative!)

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Client-centric Law Firms

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Results-driven in-house legal teams

Who do we help?

Tick icon We help purpose-driven companies create legal documents that match their brand and values
Tick icon We help professional service firms stand out and deliver an incredible client experience
Tick icon We help creative legal counsel bring their innovation ideas to life
Tick icon We help lawyers attract new clients and keep current ones
Tick icon We help improve legal and sales processes to drive faster turnaround times, happier clients, and increased revenue

Portrait of Jean Yang, a lawyer with long brown hair, sitting at her desk in front of a window with city in background.

"Verity has a pragmatic rather than an overly academic view of contracts.

She made complex
concepts accessible and fun to engage with."

Jean Yang
Innovative Lawyer, CheckThisContract

You can read more about Jean Yang and CheckThisContract in their Client Story

Read Client Story

Our Services

No matter what stage you, your team, or your project is at, we have the award-winning legal design savvy, services and tools to help you take the next step up to increase your impact.

Our powerful 4-stage legal design method was created for client-centric innovators that want to grow their impact and create visible value!

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Poke
Explore priorities and find focus

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Plan
Create a powerful plan to solve real identified issues

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Perform
Add visible value and do it efficiently!

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Produce
Build your brand and increase your impact

The stages are fluid for projects, people, and different issues. You or your team might be at the Poke stage for one project and then jump to the Perform stage for a different project.

So, which services are available at each stage? Let’s dive in!

Poke

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Discover priorities and find focus

No matter what stage you, your team, or your project is at, we have the award-winning legal design savvy, services and tools to help you take the next step up to increase your impact.

Our powerful 4-stage legal design method was created for client-centric innovators that want to grow their impact and create visible value!

If you are just starting on your ‘I want to do this business thing a little differently’ journey, then our Explore range is a great place to start.

Poke is all about wrapping your arms around your different opportunities and options, and assessing where the pain points are (and the potential root causes).

They are also an inspiring way to boost team energy and engagement, especially if you or your team are new to human-centred design and innovation practices.

Poke services & resources

Strategy Session

Strategy Session with our Legal Director, Verity

You bring the enthusiasm, Verity will help with a nudge in the right direction, an overview of tech options, contract structure ideas and overall strategic guidance for your contract issues. Great for bite-sized expertise and specific questions.

Book a strategy session
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Workshops
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Explore Workshops

Get clarity and priority for your problems with an action-orientated workshop, delivered virtually or in person. See sample workshops below

See workshops
Contracts Clients Love

Read Create Contracts Clients Love by Verity White

Jam-packed with contract operations tips and tricks and a clear process for contract rejuvenation (dare we say revolution?). Read this colourful book at your leisure then get stuck into the digital resources that come along with it and get your DIY contract designer going!

Book
Person at table holding 'Creative Contracts' by Verity White
Explore our Contract Design resources
Verity sitting at computer with microphone and the word 'confident' on her screen in large text.

Explore our Contract Design resources

For the curious and toe dippers, have a look at our online resources from the comfort and safety of your own home. Watch an engaging webinar and find resources to match your current needs.

Visit our digital store
Templates and Workshops
Image of 'Contract Design Canvas'

Contract Design Canvas

A practical template to help you identify the. key areas of your contract design project.

Learn More
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Contract Design Workshop

This fun & educational workshop recording will give you a kickstart in contract design.

Learn More
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Basic Business Case Template

A template to help you break down your proposed project so you can deliver a clearer proposal.

Learn More
Checklist Legal Podcast

Explore our Contract Design resources

Listen your way to contract design inspiration with the Checklist Legal Podcast. Featuring Verity’s contract operations expertise and some sneak previews of presentations past, the podcast is an easy way to get up to speed on core contract design concepts and get excited about your potential business process improvements.

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Soundcloud icon
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What are people saying about Create Contracts Clients Love?

Close up circular image of Terri Mottershead

"Create Contracts Clients Love provides a practical, user-friendly guide for all legal practitioners, business professionals and contract managers who are focussed on doing contracts differently – it’s timely and important - great stuff, Verity!"

Terri Mottershead

Executive Director, Centre for Legal Innovation

Close up circular image of Colin S Levy

"Create Contracts Clients Love is a practical, concise, and fun guide that provides sound advice on client-centric contracting."

Colin S. Levy

Legal Technology Speaker & Writer

Close up circular image of Melissa Lyon

"What a refreshing approach to creating contracts!
...felt like I was having a really helpful conversation rather than reading a book."

Melissa Lyon

Executive Director, Hive Legal

Close up circular image of Helena Haapio

"This book should be mandatory reading for all contract writers.
Verity rocks. Guided by her book, we can all become the contract rockstar of our organization!"

Helena Haapio

Contract Strategist, Lexpert Ltd

"Thanks Verity - I never knew that legal stuff could be so fun and interesting. Maybe if I was taught like this at uni, I wouldn't have failed first-year business law"

Plan

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Create a powerful plan to solve the real cause of identified issues

If you have an idea of the issue you need to tackle, but you’re not sure what to prioritise or how to build a business case, it can be a very confusing area with lots of different software vendors and consultants clamouring for your attention (and wallet!).

Perhaps you just want an experienced innovator to help make your project a true, measurable success.

We can develop a powerful program that priroritises solving your unique issues and delivers the outcomes we co-create.

Our engaging contract operations workshops can get you set up for DIY success, help prioritise problems, and create a tangible plan to solve your top issues, and all with fixed price certainty.

Plan services & resources

Contract Operations and Legal Design

Contract Operations and Legal Design Overview

Do you often feel like you keep banging on about innovation but can’t seem to get cut through? If you or your team feel lost when it comes to innovation, automation, electronic signatures, smart contracts, visual legal information, contract design, and all things legal tech, we can help!

WIth a series of primers on human centred design and legal innovation, we can ignite a fire under your team and gather valuable insights and buy in from stakeholders.

Book a chat
Three women looking at a laptop
Contract Design Scorecard and Audit
Female lawyer writing on post it notes on wall with a pink marker

Contract Design Scorecard and Audit

You know there is an issue with your contracts… clients are grumbling, the sign up process is slow… and internally you want to close more deals and faster.

TIme for a speedy audit of your contract and some laser focused ideas for improvements. We check for potential commercial issues (especially unfair contract terms), assess readability, provide a basic client journey map, and give you a plan of attack for improvements, based on your specific business requirements.

(We might be biassed but this is one of our fave options for planning a business revamp!)

Book a chat
Strategy session

Strategy session

You have the idea, you just want some expertise on how to plan it out and map the details. Enter Verity… our award winning innovator. After planning and executing countless legal ops and contract design projects, Verity has a few tricks up her (often sequin-y) sleeves. Whether you are planning to roll out new tech, redesigning a business-critical contract, trying to pick a service provider, or overwhelmed and not sure where to start… Verity will help get you on the right track with a roadmap for success.

Book a chat
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Pre-recorded webinars and digital resources
pre-recorded-webinars

Pre-recorded webinars and digital resources

Getting started with contract design can be daunting and it’s tricky to know where or how to start. Clean the document up? Streamline the process? How does it all work?!

Lucky for you, this isn’t our first rodeo and you can dip your toes into contract design with a contract design planning session (lots of fun and practical planning involved).

Visit our digital store
portrait of Nat Bryant from Sharesies on pink background

"Verity offers so much insight around the legal operations piece, with a different way of thinking about systems and processes.

She is also fun!

All those things are very much aligned with the values of Sharesies".

Nat Bryant
General Counsel, Sharesies

You can read more about Nat and Sharesies in their Client Story

Read Client Story

Perform

Icon of aqua outlined circle with bands of light aqua and white, and a central dot of dark pink with an arrow pointing into it.

Add visible value and do it efficiently!

There are new laws coming in, a big rebrand underway, or perhaps customer issues (complaints, refunds, questions, long negotiations, slow sales process… the usual frustrations!)...

It’s time to step up your client experience and add value. It’s time for you to take a leadership position within your industry and sales or procurement process.

Legal Project Management can be overwhelming when you are also trying to keep up with the day-to-day hustle and grind.

Wouldn’t it be lovely if there was an experienced legal designer, ready to take your business problems and innovation ideas and bring them to life? Skip past the hard part of keeping a project on track, creating workshops, and gathering insights from stakeholders. Get to the good part faster.

Deliver real return on investment for your clients and business. Checklist Legal has delivered award-winning legal design projects

Perform services & resources

Custom legal design projects and workshops

We craft our contract design projects and workshops to suit the key outcomes you need.

Workshop in progress. People at desks in information work setting.

Design delightful documents and amazing agreements
  • Increase trust in your team and business with clever contracts
  • Uncover key issues that are ‘clunky’ and bringing down your all important contract readability metrics
  • Tailored to your particular contracts
  • Key focus: Information design and plain language
  • Great for: Updating your old fashioned engagement agreements, revitalising revenue generating contracts that haven’t been updated for a few years / ever.
Magic mapping and process perfector
  • Capture critical alignment and clarity on a current curly process and find areas for improvement and potential automation and outsourcing.
  • Key focus: Legal process mapping
  • Great for: Getting ready for automation, bringing different business units together, improving efficiency and removing bottlenecks
Lively legals and clear clauses
  • Create a legally sound strategy for contract content
  • Assess alternative risk profiles and ‘what ifs’ in a safe and efficient way
  • Develop elements of a contract playbook for negotiation
  • Key focus: Legal content (some plain language and process might also be involved)
  • Great for: Updating standard clauses across a business to meet n changes in laws (hello there, unfair contract terms!), proactively assessing and updating a contract in response to world events, business issues, or repeated complaints.
A-grade automation

Suitable after a Plan workshop or service, or as part of a broader contract operations project.

  • Create a clear plan for automation for either your team or another provider to deliver
  • Develop critical template versions for knowledge management and automation
  • Refine your UX messaging for users
  • Design a ‘how to guide’ that suits your needs (so your innovation doesn’t end when a team member does)
  • Key focus: Automation and digital processes
  • Great for: Getting low hanging fruit off your to do list and onto your friendly robot / software platforms (think Client engagement agreements, NDAs, Marketing Consents, After simplifying your legal document and mapping the process, you’re ready to get down to automation.

What do people like the most about our Contract Design Workshops?

"Verity's presentation style"
"Lots of ideas and very fun"
"Good use of metaphors! And helpful tools"
"Content and resource links/sites"
"Practical examples and icon activity"
"Verity is very warm and welcoming"

Interested in your own Contract Design Workshop?

Book a chat

Produce

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Build your brand and increase your impact

You have big ideas and plans to create something amazing. You want to shake up your team, your organisation, and perhaps even yourself! Your team has done some small projects before and wants to (or needs to!) tackle a BIG challenge.

Our Produce services & resources

Book a chat to see if these are the right fit for you.

  • Get unstuck with legal design and contract operations consulting
  • Get innovative in an efficient way - Innovation as a Service / Legal Design as a Service
  • Get amongst your gang of innovative women with the Legal Legends Community
Book a chat
Lawyer Verity White holidng out tray of circular paint blocks and smiling

Interested in being a podcast or blawg guest?

We will use any excuse we can to talk about contracts! If you are in the legal industry and want to collaborate please get in contact with us via the link below.

Let's collaborate

As seen in

We've been lucky enough to be featured, teach and present with some of the best of the business and legal industry.

"Verity is one of the most capable and generous people on the planet. She is a contract enthusiast and shares and brings her vast knowledge and passion for her work to every matter she is involved with. The contract world is sooo much better because of her valuable and impressive contributions as seen on Checklist Legal. Even better is that her best work is still to come."

Terry Ledlin
Special Counsel, Ledlin Lawyers

Why work with us

Award winning contracts

We've been proud to receive some great awards for our hard work in legal innovation and design.

Better contract design badge

Better Contract Design Mark
Checklist Legal was the first law firm in the world to be awarded World Commerce & Contracting's Better Contract Design Mark for our updated legal conditions.
The Better Contracting Mark recognises contracts that are designed with the business and the client in mind. It is accessed on design, language, relationship and usability.

Write Mark plain language standard badge

WriteMark Plain Language Certification
We're proud that we were the first Australian law firm to receive the WriteMark plain language certification.

We are a B Corp Certified Law Firm!

Certified B Corporation badge

What does that mean? B-Corp certification is a way of measuring a company's entire social and environmental impact. Checklist Legal was set up to be a positive impact on the community we work in, changing the legal industry for the better, and bringing more to business (and especially to law firms). We don't want to just make money, we want to make a difference.

We don’t work with everybody

We want to make sure we’re adding value to your team and business. And we have specific impact metrics we report on for our B Corp certification

Prescription before diagnosis is malpractice
Whilst we can definitely come up with ideas to help improve your business contracts with our eyes closed, we want to really find (and fix!) the core issues.

We like to get up to our elbows in your process and values, for a holistic approach. This means we love a good chat to find out about you! And this helps you get to know us too and see if we gel!

About our founder and chief contract enthusiast, Verity White

Law Institute of Victoria Accredited Specialist badge

Verity is a Law Institute of Victoria Accredited Specialist in Commercial Law.

Luma Institute Certified Practitioner

Verity is a Certified Practitioner of Human-Centered Design by the LUMA Institute.

Legal Innovator of the Year 2021 badge

In 2021, Verity was named Corporate Lawyer of the Year at the Australian Corporate Lawyer Awards.

Indie Book Awards finalist badge

Verity's book Create Contracts Client's Love was a finalist for an award in the Education and Academic Non-Fiction category at the Next Generation Indie Book Awards 2022. The awards program is the largest international awards program for indie authors and independent publishers.

"We approached Verity because we knew that what she would create would reflect who we were as a company.

She took a boring document & made it delightful -
exactly what we wanted to achieve!"

Kate Sherburn
Legal Beagle, Who Gives A Crap

Still not quite sure if we’ve got the service for you?

Book a free no obligation chat with us and we’ll discuss how we can help you

Book a chat
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