Merging Conceptual Modeling and Law for Legally Compliant Information Systems Design--A Framework-Based Research Agenda

Legal regulations play an important role in the design of information systems and their related organizational systems. A legal assessment subsequent to the system´s development can demand expensive modifications or even the need for replacing existing systems. Legal infringements and resulting disputes can permanently damage an organizations image. To avoid these problems, we argue for the consideration of relevant legal regulations as early as the design phase of systems development. Conceptual modeling has proven to be an optimal instrument for system designers. In this paper, we propose a framework-based research agenda for the improvement of conceptual modeling for the explication and communication of legal requirements. We then show exemplary how the framework can be used by researchers to classify existing research results or to derive new research questions in the field of designing legally compliant information systems.