Assessing Compliance of Software System Designs to Laws, Regulations, and their Underlying Values

Software systems, particularly those in safetycritical domains or those handling personal data and financial transactions, must navigate a complex landscape of legal regulations while also aligning with societal values. Prior research has largely focused on either regulatory compliance or human values, but rarely on their integration. This paper introduces the Accountable Design Process (ADP), supported by the Accountable Design Assistant (ADA)—an LLM-driven tool that identifies relevant laws, maps them to societal values, and evaluates candidate design solutions from both legal and ethical perspectives. We demonstrate ADP's ecological validity through two case studies: a Wireless Baby Monitor and multi-vehicle autonomous Uncrewed Aerial Systems. Additionally, a focus group of domain experts reviewed the outcomes of the second case study, providing initial validation of the approach. The results illustrate how ADP's dual emphasis on legal compliance and societal values can effectively support the development of accountable, regulation-aligned systems.