Interview - Decision tree software in law studies
Jeannot Coomans (21) used the Berkeley Publisher during his graduation thesis.
Legal tech is considered as one of the trends that will reshape the legal industry. In short, it refers to the use of technology and software to provide legal services. There’s a growing sense that prior knowledge about certain tools can significantly help students enter promising careers in the Legal sector. This has resulted in increased adoption of software solutions, such as decision tree modeling software, across the education system.
In the coming weeks, we will interview two students who have successfully used the Berkeley Publisher during their study, to discover their experiences and how they think it will help them in their future career.
The first of two students that will share their experiences is Jeannot Coomans (21). He is a graduate student from the University of Applied Sciences Avans-Fontys Faculty of Law in Tilburg, The Netherlands. He used our software during his thesis at VDT Advocaten; which helped him get an exceptionally high grade of 9.0 (A+).
Q: How were you introduced to the Berkeley Publisher?
A: During my minor at the faculty of law I was introduced to Berkeley Bridge by one of my teachers. He suggested I should take a course in modeling with the Berkeley Publisher because he saw potential in this skill.
Q: How did you learn to make decision tree models in the Berkeley Publisher?
A: I learned the software by following a course facilitated by Berkeley Bridge. Mr. van der Plassche and Mr. Tillekens thought us the basics of the Berkeley Publisher and showed us all the possibilities it offered. But most of all I learned the software by using it during my thesis for VDT Advocaten.
Q: What do you think is the best way to get acquainted with de Berkeley Publisher?
A: The best way to get acquainted with my opinion is using the software. By using the software you get to know all the actions and options and when you make a mistake you can learn from this mistake and advance your skill. I do suggest using the tutorials on the Berkeley Bridge support website. Berkeley Bridge offers clear and good information about the software.
Q: How did you apply the Berkeley Publisher to your thesis?
A: VDT Advocaten wanted a new tool with which they could inform their clients about the legal risks of an immediate dismissal. By using my decision tree the user can get information about these legal risks. This can help him in choosing between an immediate dismissal or going to court following regular employment termination proceedings.
Q: What do you think are the benefits of the Berkeley Publisher in education?
A: I think that the benefits are that you can make very complex doctrines understandable for students as well as a third party. Another strong side, in my opinion, is the ease with which you can use the software. Just a few lessons and you’re able to make decision trees that can be used in companies.
Q: In what studies do you think the Berkeley Publisher can be applied?
A: I think the publisher can be applied in any study in which you can decompose a doctrine into several steps or questions. If that is possible there is no limit in the type of study it can be used in. Practice shows us that legal studies and decision trees go along very good.
Q: What do you think are the benefits of the Berkeley Publisher in business?
A: The benefits in business are in my opinion, uniformity, and efficiency. By using a decision tree your result will always be uniform when the input is the same. This makes that your clients don’t get different pieces of advice from different employers and make it easier to understand for them.
The second one is efficiency. Where before somebody had to inventory all the risks of an immediate dismissal, now the user can get these in just a couple of minutes by using the decision tree. This means a big leap in the efficiency of some internal processes.
Q: What are your short-term plans?
A: I am continuing a study; in September I’m starting with the Premaster Law at the Tilburg University. Next to this, I was offered a job at VDT Advocaten, which means I’ll be working two days a week there.
Q: Are you going to apply the Berkeley Publisher to your next study?
A: VDT Advocaten and I have plans for using decision trees in the internal processes, so there may be a roll for Berkeley Bridge in my business life.
We wish this smart young man a lot of success in his future career and would like to thank him for sharing his experiences. Next week we’ll share Ruben Bijvank’s experiences. Ruben was also a student at the University of Applied Sciences Avans-Fontys and he teaches students how to build decision trees with the Berkeley Publisher
More and more colleges use the Berkeley Publisher as teaching material. At Avans-Fontys there are even lectures about how the decision tree models can be built in the Berkeley Publisher. Would you like more information about the Berkeley Publisher and how it can be applied to your business or education?
Contact us at 0031 172 – 51 51 46 or info@berkeleybridge.nl.
