Designing information architecture for over a century of reported case law.
Victorian Reports is the authorised law report series of the Supreme Court of Victoria, published since 1905. Print copies carry institutional weight by existing on a shelf. The digital platform needed to carry that same authority. It wasn't.
The website felt generic. Authority was buried. Case discovery was fragmented. Subscription paths were unclear. Enterprise buyers couldn't find invoice options. Print-first thinking hadn't been translated to digital-first design.
The Digital Gap
I used AI to audit where authority signals were weakest, simulate what legal professionals see in the first 6 seconds, and identify where the core value proposition was buried.
The findings were clear: authoritative content deserved authoritative design. I restructured the entire platform's information architecture.
Authority not communicated at first contact
Fragmented case discovery across practice areas
Print vs digital subscription confusion
No unified case library or reading experience
Homepage: Authority at First Contact
Restructured the entry experience so "official" and "authorised" are felt instantly. Official title elevated above the logo. "Authorised Reports of the Supreme Court" at first cognitive contact. Search-first architecture because legal professionals arrive with intent, so the interface respects that.
Case Discovery System
A structured case card system unifying discovery across Home, Browse, and My Reports. Every card optimised for 6-second comprehension. Legal professionals scan, they don't read.
Recently reported cases: practice area tags, metadata, citations
Subscription Architecture: Three Access Models
Victorian Reports serves different legal workflows. Digital researchers need instant access. Law firm libraries need print volumes. Many need both. The subscription system had to respect all three without creating confusion.
Digital subscription: online access to the full case library
Print subscription: physical volume delivery
Judgement reader: legal text structure preserved with digital navigation
Preserving Legal Structure in Digital
Legal texts have a specific structure: headnotes, catchwords, counsel, judgement body, citations. The reader was designed to preserve the hierarchy that lawyers rely on while enabling digital-native navigation, search within case, and cross-referencing.
This is where legal domain understanding matters. The structure isn't decorative. It's functional. Lawyers navigate cases by structure, not by scrolling.
Personal Case Library + Account Management
Lawyers build personal case libraries over years. My Reports lets users manage saved and purchased reports in one place, with clear distinction between saved (bookmarked) and purchased (owned) cases.
Account dashboard centralises subscription status, billing, and report access. Simplified so legal professionals manage their subscriptions without calling support.
My Reports: saved and purchased case management
Account dashboard: subscription, billing, access
Designed the platform. Then coded it to production.
This wasn't a handoff project. I designed the system, then pushed front-end code to production: page redesigns, component library, email templates, and efficiency improvements. Design-to-code ownership meant faster iteration and fewer translation losses.
Full Platform Redesign
Homepage, case browsing, reader, subscriptions, account. Designed and coded.
Component Library
Reusable components ensuring consistency across all pages.
Cross-Client Email System
Production-ready email templates working across all major email clients.
CPD Material Restructure
Session hierarchy, pricing clarity, bundle pricing. Stakeholder requests shipped as structured digital materials.
