LexCraft: Making law understandable
29.07.2025
The University of Bern has teamed up with Ergon to develop LexCraft, a digital tool that maps legal decision-making processes in clear decision trees. The aim of the project, which is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), is to make complex legal issues accessible to non-specialists and to advance research on digital transformation.
Reducing complexity, providing orientation
In many specialist areas of law, extensive prior knowledge is required in order to make legally correct decisions. However, this knowledge is often difficult to access or not documented in a standardised manner. Combined with a shortage of skilled workers, this creates significant hurdles that are difficult to overcome even for well-trained lawyers. The University of Bern therefore wanted to find out how these barriers could be broken down using digital solutions. The goal was to create a tool that would complement legal methodological knowledge in a meaningful way and map and support decision-making processes in a comprehensible manner.
From prototype to research platform
The research group worked with Ergon to develop a digital prototype using methods such as design thinking and rapid prototyping. The result is LexCraft, an application that can be used to model and visualise legal processes in decision trees. Users are guided step by step through complex legal issues and receive context-related information such as legal articles or interpretation notes. Thanks to close cooperation and an iterative approach, a functional and intuitive prototype was created in a very short time.
More transparency in legal practice
LexCraft makes it easier to get started with specialised legal topics and reduces dependence on undocumented experience. The digital support also enables non-experts to make structured decisions based on legal criteria. At the same time, the University of Bern gains practical insights into the use of decision trees in everyday legal practice. This makes a concrete contribution to the digital transformation of legal science.
A project on equal terms
The collaboration between the University of Bern and Ergon was characterised by genuine understanding and mutual appreciation. “Ergon quickly grasped our research needs and translated them into well-thought-out, technically feasible solutions. The input on the evaluation of LexCraft and the consistently reliable implementation were particularly valuable,” says Raphael Zemp, research assistant at the University of Bern. Close coordination in the workshop enabled the research question to be sharpened and a prototype concept to be developed that meets both scientific standards and user-friendliness requirements.
Digital solutions through research and partnership
The LexCraft project demonstrates how technological and legal expertise can work together effectively. Ergon contributed its experience in design thinking, user research and rapid prototyping and supported the University of Bern in the design, implementation and testing phases. The approach was clear: pragmatic, efficient and consistently focused on the requirements of research. The result is a forward-looking building block for digital legal applications.