Designing smarter workflows for legal operations
Global Trade Management — a product record and classification experience for Thomson Reuters.
Role
Lead Product Designer
Timeline
8 months
Team
2 designers, 6 engineers, 1 PM
Year
2024
Overview
Thomson Reuters provides information and software to professionals in the legal, tax, trade, accounting, compliance, and media sectors. I led the redesign of their Global Trade Management product record — the central workspace where trade professionals classify products, manage HS codes, and maintain compliance across global markets.
The challenge
The legacy product record buried critical classification data across dozens of nested tabs and modals. Trade specialists spent hours reconciling HS numbers, binding rulings, and country-specific rules, and had no confidence signals to know whether a classification was trustworthy. The experience slowed onboarding and made audits painful.
Process
Research & discovery
I ran contextual interviews with trade compliance specialists across three regions to map how classifications actually get made, where trust breaks down, and which data points drive decisions.
Information architecture
We restructured the product record around a clear content hierarchy — global product info, classification, values & measures, and controls — so specialists could scan and drill in without losing context.
Designing for trust
I introduced HS assurance levels, rationale, and binding-ruling references directly inline, plus an AI suggestions surface that recommends classifications with transparent confidence.
Validation
Interactive prototypes were tested with specialists and iterated across several rounds before hand-off, with a shared component spec built on the Thomson Reuters design system.
Impact
40%
faster document processing
3x
faster specialist onboarding
+22
point lift in satisfaction (SUS)
The redesigned product record shipped as the new standard for Global Trade Management, giving specialists a faster, more trustworthy workspace and setting the visual and interaction foundation for the broader platform.
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