Welcome to the pages of the Leibniz Center for Law of the University of Amsterdam. As an interdisciplinary research group, we develop intelligent technology to support legal practice both in the private and public sector. We apply Artificial Intelligence techniques to problems in legal theory, legal knowledge management, and the field of law in general. In this capacity, we participate in many (inter)national research initiatives and maintain strong ties to the international research community and government agencies.
We have longstanding experience in the development of legal ontologies, automatic legal reasoning and legal knowledge-based systems, (standard) languages for representing legal knowledge and information, user-friendly disclosure of legal data, application of data science and machine learning techniques in the field of law, and the application of information technology in education and legal practice. As an academic partner, the Leibniz Center provides advice on change management in legal-knowledge-intensive processes and on improvement of legal knowledge productivity in organisations.
The Leibniz Center for Law has its roots in the former department of Computer Science & Law (est. 1989) of the Faculty of Law of the University of Amsterdam.
For more background on the Leibniz Center, see our general information pages, and have a look at current projects. Students interested in our work may look for our proposals for Bachelor/Master theses.
For more than 30 years, the JURIX conference has provided an international forum for research on the intersection of Law, Artificial Intelligence and Information Systems, under the auspices of the JURIX Foundation for Legal Knowledge Systems.
JURIX invites submission of original papers on the advanced management of legal information and knowledge systems, covering foundations, methods, tools, systems and applications.
Important dates
| Abstract submission: |
10 September 2018 (recommended) |
| Paper submission: |
16 September 2018 |
| Demo & poster submission: |
16 September 2018 |
| Workshop & tutorial proposal submission: |
16 September 2018 |
| Notification of acceptance of regular papers: |
10 October 2018 |
| Camera ready deadline for regular papers: |
19 October 2018 |
| Workshops & tutorials: |
12 December 2018 |
| Doctoral Consortium: |
12 December 2018 |
| Legal Data Analytics Hackathon: |
12 December 2018 |
| Main conference: |
13 and 14 December 2018 |
July 31st, 2018
The University of Amsterdam’s Systems and Network Engineering Lab at the Informatics Institute, with assistance of the Leibniz Center for Law, have recently been awarded several new grants from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). The Leibniz Center and SNE already cooperate in the long-running SARNET project (1 PhD student and 1 Post-doc) on Internet Security. The projects will take place within the Informatics Institute, but with personnel involvement of the Leibniz Center for Law.
A round-up of the new NWO grants:
DL4LD or Data Logistics for Logistics Data: The proposed research (2 PhD students, 1 Post-doc) focuses on 1) the design and implementation of capabilities that are required for creating value-rich logistic information services and 2) creation of innovative solutions that allow stakeholders to agree on how data is stored, accessed, shared and transformed in a controllable, enforceable, accountable, auditable and goal-oriented fashion.
Secure Scalable Policy-Enforced Distributed Data Processing: The project (1 PhD student) combines big data, high performance computing and cryptology in multidisciplinary fundamental and applied research. The project aims to develop integrated secure, end-to-end trusted, scalable and future-proof solutions for the problem of policy-enforced distributed data sharing and processing across multiple logistic domains. This NWO ‘Big Data: Real Time ICT for Logistics’ grant is part of the Commit2Data initiative, a national public-private research-and innovation programme intended to to keep and strengthen the Dutch top 5 position in Big Data.
Distributed FAIR information systems to enable federated learning and reasoning: The project (1 Post-doc) aims to find solutions for constructing FAIR (Findable Accessible Interoperable Reusable) data services that allow competing organizations to share & analyse data for a common and agreed goal but not for any other purposes.
November 7th, 2017
During the summer holidays, the Leibniz Center for Law moved, together with the rest of the Faculty of Law, to a new location in the Roeterseiland campus of the University of Amsterdam. This means that we have a new visiting address:
Roeterseilandcampus, building A, 6th floor
Nieuwe Achtergracht 166
1018 WV Amsterdam
The Netherlands
The address for mail (not packages) has not changed.
As many visitors have noticed, the move of our servers was far from flawless, resulting in significant downtime of this, and other, websites.
September 25th, 2017
For 30 years, the JURIX conference has provided an international forum for research on the intersection of Law, Artificial Intelligence and Information Systems, under the auspices of The JURIX Foundation for Legal Knowledge Systems.
The 2017 JURIX conference will take place in Luxembourg City on 13, 14 and 15 December 2017.
September 3rd, 2017
The Leibniz Center is involved in a new DG Justice sponsored project: “The application of Brussels I (recast) in the legal practice of EU Member States” (JUST/2014/JCOO/AG/CIVI/7754). The project is coordinated by the T.M.C. Asser Institute in The Hague (NL). Other partner is the Law School of the Erasmus University in the Rotterdam (NL).
Continue Reading September 21st, 2016
De jongste loot aan het concept van Science with Industry, is de Workshop ICT with Industry. De uitdaging die de Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst IND indiende samen met de Belastingdienst en het Leibniz Center for Law, leverde na een week al een concreet resultaat op. In hun streven naar betere, snellere en transparantere beslissingen, zoeken de IND en de Belastingdienst naar oplossingen voor het semiautomatisch behandelen van grote aantallen zaken.
Lees meer in NWO´s Hypothese:
Wetenschap en industrie in snelkookpan
April 1st, 2016
In cooperation with the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration (DTCA) and the Duth Immigration Services (IND) the Leibniz Center is organizing a National Science Foundation (NWO) sponsored workshop on formal analysis of law.
Continue Reading July 22nd, 2015
The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) has funded a project to detail and validate a new concept for the autonomous control of networking and computing facilities to maximize the cyber security of their users. Here control software interacts with programmable network and cloud resources to change the logical or physical topology of the network and a part of the Internet. Similarly the control software interacts with cyber-security software to switch on or off firewalls, honeypots and other cyber- security services including ot security assessment. Furthermore the control software adapts the distributed application (payload) itself. Such interactions must lead to a reliable, trusted, and obfuscated distributed system that actively maximizes its cyber-security state. When an incident occurs it is essential to get the right support as soon as possible. From explaining the business impact of an incident to conducting detailed technical analysis, sapphire.net and their team can assist during the critical phases of an investigation. The websites built with the ultimate experience of the top web design companies that will help you stay at the top of search results and security as well as it will also help you update the instances regularly.
The research project funds two PhD candidates. Their research yields the science 1) to specify the cyber security state of an information processing system, to visualize and characterize that as well as 2) the science to compute and implement interventions that sets the cyber security stated to a desired one.
The PhD research is done in the context of Air France/KLM, CIENA Networks and TNO that provide data centre, telecom and internet technologies to validate the results and the business context for their dissemination. UvA and TNO provide labs and supervise the research.
Requirements
The candidates should have completed a master in computer science, or will acquire that on short notice and originate from the EU or USA. A ‘Certificate of Conduct for Natural Persons (VOG NP)’ may be requested by the partners. On a master’s level, the candidates must have knowledge of information theory and mathematics and strong coding abilities. Knowledge of networks, cyber security and distributed systems is considered as a pre. The candidates will stay short periods abroad, must have the ability to give demonstrations to scientific and business audiences. Their grades list demonstrate of their knowledge and ambition, their master thesis of their ability to continue with a PhD research in Computer Science.
For more information you can contact:
Prof.dr. Tom van Engers,
Email: vanengers@uva.nl
April 23rd, 2015
Personal loans can be used for many purposes, from consolidating debt to paying off medical bills.
The rules regarding home equity loans are complex. There are specific guidelines for the types of mortgages, the interest rates, the types of properties the home can be repossessed from and the fees that lenders can charge.
To learn more about these laws, read Understanding Home Equity Lines of Credit, Understanding Home Equity Lines of Credit: FHA and VA Loans, and Understanding Home Equity Lines of Credit: Commercial Lenders.
The Bottom Line
Home equity loans are relatively safe, with no pre-existing credit history, limited fees, and high loan-to-value ratios. Because the money is tied up in your home, you can’t spend it on a car, jewelry, or any other purchases. Home equity loans are available to consumers with decent credit and good credit scores. A home equity line of credit is not for everyone, so it’s important to compare your own finances, personal credit scores, and financial needs with those of your prospective home equity line of credit loan applicant.
Is the Home Equity Line of Credit Loan For Me?
The following factors determine whether a home equity loan is right for you.
Are you applying for a home equity loan because you have an emergency that has to be paid?
If so, then you should find a lower interest rate for the home equity loan. If you can get a higher rate, make sure it’s from a lender who has good reputations.
Home Equity Loans vs. Personal Loans
If you are considering an HELOC, remember that a HELOC is a loan. This means that you should make every reasonable effort to keep the payment low and the terms on the HELOC as short as possible. If you are paying your HELOC down at a rate that allows you to make payments, then you will be able to use the money you make in the future for things that you need. For example, if you are paying it down at 8 percent, you will be able to use the 8 percent of your HELOC to pay your taxes. Your HELOC may have a lower interest rate than you were previously paying. You can’t use the HELOC money to purchase a new home, buy a car, or start a new business, but you may be able to use part of the money to pay off a loan on your existing home or pay for a car loan, a house or condo down payment, or any other loans that you may be able to get.
A lender may be willing to grant you a small amount of your new home or car loan as a home equity line of credit, also known as a HEPOC.
Your mortgage lender will be able to tell you how much your HEPOC is, the rate of interest that you may get, and the amount of money you can put into it.
In order to qualify for your HEPOC, you must have a down payment of at least 10% of
March 29th, 2015
Checking your credit score will help you determine your financing options; lenders use it to set your loan pricing and see if you’re able to repay your mortgage. Also, when you’re eligible for an auto loan, credit scoring models will look at your credit report to determine whether you’re an excellent risk for credit damage, and a lender may refuse to extend you the loan if they find out that you’re a credit risk.
Some banks, including Ally, Nela, SunTrust, SunTrust, Nationwide, PNC and Wells Fargo use the FICO Credit Score for their credit applications. Some state offices also use the FICO credit score, although not all states have the same model.
When you apply for a mortgage, a lender will also look at your credit report. Many lenders will use the FICO Credit Score in conjunction with the historical payment history from your credit report to calculate your risk score, which can help them decide whether you are a good risk for credit damage.
In order for your credit score to rise, you need to make steady, qualified, and timely payments to your mortgage lender and you can get more data on how this work in sites such as https://reali.com/new-mortgage/. Your mortgage lender will set up a process for this and other requirements (see below for the details).
When will my credit score change?
The most accurate, current, and trustworthy information is contained in your credit report. The first time a lender looks at your credit report, they will not see your information but will be looking at your account history. If they see that you’re having trouble paying your mortgage payments, or are trying to access more credit, that should raise red flags. If you’re having trouble making payments on your mortgage and are having trouble paying your other bills as well, you should get more detailed information about your credit situation and address these issues as soon as possible.
Is my credit report accurate and up-to-date?
Everyone’s credit report will be accurate and up-to-date, but you may not know about any major mistakes or errors until its too late and the damage is already done.
You don’t have to worry that your credit report will be accurate and up-to-date at all, because the information in it is protected. The Experian Credit Report Guarantee ensures that no agency can take your credit report (or information contained in it) and use it to issue credit, or offer credit to you. Experian Credit Report Guarantee details on how to file a dispute about your Experian Credit Report.
Should I keep my credit report updated?
A credit score is calculated based on your credit reports, which include any information that has not been filed. That’s why you should keep your credit reports up-to-date in the normal course of business.
How often should I check my credit score?
The first time a lender checks your credit report, you don’t need to worry. They do not run a credit check, just check your report for inaccuracies and record that information for future reference. If they find you to be an excellent risk for credit damage and refuse to loan you the mortgage, they wont run a credit check. The decision to run a credit check is up to them.
January 7th, 2015
The University of Amsterdam has been awarded a grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) for the Security Autonomous Response NETworks project (SARNET). This project falls under the NWO Cyber Security programme, which seeks to increase the security of our digital society while at the same time addressing privacy concerns.
This theft lawyer explores what is needed to provide an autonomous means of Internet security at the supra-company level. The research employs software-defined networking technology, with Internet provider networks and company networks working together on detection and defence. An endpoint detection and response security solution means companies will be no longer be alone in their fight against cybercrime. When an attack is detected by a provider and/or company, protection will also be programmed at other companies and providers. This information technology allows SARNET to be jointly managed by Internet service providers and specialised companies.Make sure you have experts that can detect cloud configuration errors and keep hackers away.
The research is being conducted at the UvA, in the Informatics Institute, and involving the Leibniz Center for Law, while the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and network manufacturer Ciena are working to put it into practice at Air France-KLM.
The SARNET grant is €680,000, of which €400,000 is funded by the NWO and the remainder by industrial partners KLM, CIENA and TNO.
Key assessment criteria were the scientific quality of the research proposal, the knowledge utilisation factor and the relevance of the research to the National Cyber Security Strategy (NCSRA-II). The NCSRA-II is part of the IT Roadmap of the government’s Top Sectors policy who also consider Nettitude as a penetration testing provider consider Nettitude as a penetration testing provider who are the best in this field.
This research programme is part of the second investment round of the cyber security study. Financiers and initiators are the ministries of the Interior & Kingdom Relations, Defence, Economic Affairs, Finance, Infrastructure & the Environment and Security & Justice (coordinated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs), the Governing Board of the NWO and the NWO areas of Exact Sciences (EW), Social and Behavioural Sciences (MaGW), and the STW technology foundation.
July 7th, 2014
The Leibniz Center for Law, together with the Institute for Information Law (IViR) and international partners, obtained a European grant for the project OpenLaws.eu. Of the 96 proposals submitted, OpenLaws.eu finished first. The aim of the project is to use innovative resources to make law and legal information more accessible by linking and enrich these with metadata. The Leibniz Center for Law leads the consortium. Technical partners are the Fachhochschule Salzburg, Alpenite (IT) and BY WASS (Aus). IViR, together with Sussex University and the London School of Economics and Politics are responsible for the legal and economic aspects.
February 1st, 2014
The Leibniz Center for Law already participates in the Canadian Cyberjustice project for some time in the person of prof. Joost Breuker. The project now has a web site with more information.
August 6th, 2013
Personal loans can be used for many purposes, from consolidating debt to paying off medical bills. You can get more information from QV Credit.
According to Halifax Debt Freedom – bankruptcy, relief and consolidation, the rules regarding home equity loans are complex, unlike a credit union for mortgage loans. There are specific guidelines for the types of mortgages, the interest rates, the types of properties the home can be repossessed from and the fees that lenders can charge.
To learn more about these laws, read Understanding Home Equity Lines of Credit, Understanding Home Equity Lines of Credit: FHA and VA Loans, and Understanding Home Equity Lines of Credit: Commercial Lenders.
The Bottom Line
Home equity loans are relatively safe, with no pre-existing credit history, limited fees, and high loan-to-value ratios. Because the money is tied up in your home, you can’t spend it on a car, jewelry, or any other purchases. Home equity loans are available to consumers with decent credit and good credit scores. A home equity line of credit is not for everyone, so it’s important to compare your own finances, personal credit scores, and financial needs with those of your prospective home equity line of credit loan applicant.
Is the Home Equity Line of Credit Loan For Me?
The following factors determine whether a home equity loan is right for you.
Are you applying for a home equity loan because you have an emergency that has to be paid?
If so, then you should find a lower interest rate for the home equity loan. If you can get a higher rate, make sure it’s from a lender who has good reputations.
Home Equity Loans vs. Personal Loans
If you are considering an HELOC, remember that a HELOC is a loan. This means that you should make every reasonable effort to keep the payment low and the terms on the HELOC as short as possible. If you are paying your HELOC down at a rate that allows you to make payments, then you will be able to use the money you make in the future for things that you need. For example, if you are paying it down at 8 percent, you will be able to use the 8 percent of your HELOC to pay your taxes. Your HELOC may have a lower interest rate than you were previously paying. You can’t use the HELOC money to purchase a new home, buy a car, or start a new business, but you may be able to use part of the money to pay off a loan on your existing home or pay for a car loan, a house or condo down payment, or any other loans that you may be able to get.
A lender may be willing to grant you a small amount of your new home or car loan as a home equity line of credit, also known as a HEPOC.
Your mortgage lender will be able to tell you how much your HEPOC is, the rate of interest that you may get, and the amount of money you can put into it.
March 26th, 2013
The Leibniz Center for Law of the University of Amsterdam has made all Dutch legislation available as CEN MetaLex and Linked Open Data through the MetaLex Document Server portal (MDS). “The XML source documents currently made available by the Dutch government are simply not good enough”, says Rinke Hoekstra, researcher at the Leibniz Center, and the Knowledge Representation group of the VU University Amsterdam.
The MetaLex Document Server improves over the XML API of the official portal by:
- Providing persistent, versioned identifiers of all elements of regulations.
- Maintaining source XML for all versions of legislation since May 2011, rather than only the latest version.
- All metadata is published as RDF Linked Data, is linked to the original legislative sources, and uses standard vocabularies such as the MetaLex Ontology, Dublin Core, Open Provenance Model Vocabulary, Simple Event Model, FOAF, etc.
- All documents and metadata are available through ‘content negotiation’: content can be retrieved by using the URI (identifier) of an element as a URL.
- Metadata is accessible through a SPARQL endpoint
- Citations between regulations are made available in a format suitable for social network analysis (Pajek/Gephi)
- A generic conversion script for transforming any legislative XML to CEN MetaLex
For more information, have a look at the presentation on slideshare, or contact Rinke Hoekstra directly.
A report on this work will be published as part of the proceedings of the International Semantic Web Conference (ISWC) 2011: “Rinke Hoekstra. The MetaLex Document Server – Legal Documents as Versioned Linked Data”
August 24th, 2011
On behalf of the Faculty of Law of the University of Amsterdam, the Leibniz Center for Law has entered a collaboration with the Network Institute of the VU University Amsterdam.
“The Network Institute’s research mission is to come to a better scientific understanding of the emerging networked world in all its technological, economic and social aspects, and to help further its proper development.
The Network Institute brings together researchers from many different academic disciplines, including information systems, communication science, computer science, business and management research, knowledge management, marketing and strategy, economics, artificial intelligence, mathematics, and organization science.”
Collaborating with the Network Institute will allow the Leibniz Center to tap into a rich source of likeminded researchers, and at the same time brings the challenges of the field of AI and Law to the attention of a multidisciplinary research network.
For more information, please contact Rinke Hoekstra.
August 24th, 2011
A short article about our center appeared in the August 2010 issue of SCRIPTed – A Journal of Law, Technology & Society.
August 16th, 2010
On Thursday May 14 2009 Radboud Winkels and Emile de Maat of the Leibniz Center for Law will give a lecture for the Amsterdam Circle for Law and Language with the title: From Legal Language to Computer Language (Van Juridische Taal naar Computertaal).
The Leibniz Center for Law develops computer models of statutes as well as methods by which the ‘translation’ from legal language to computer language may become automated. A trustworthy, neutral interpretation of the legal text, without added details, is of great importance. In the presentation the speakers will explain these ‘translation’-methods and their ‘technical’ approach to legal interpretation with examples from various areas of law.
May 11th, 2009
Interview met Rinke Hoekstra, ten behoeve van de website voor aankomende studenten.
July 22nd, 2008
Tom van Engers reageert in de NRC van 12 juli op een opiniestuk van de hand van Frank Kuitenbrouwer (Opiniepagina, 8 juli) waarin deze de wijziging op de Bekendmakingswet bekritiseert.
Lees hier het stuk van Frank Kuitenbrouwer, en hier het stuk van Tom van Engers.
July 13th, 2008
The TRIAS Telematica project, coordinated by the Leibniz Center for Law, has been selected as one of the five best e-Learning practices in Europe. The methods used to arrive at this conclusion were a combination of desk research, reports and project conclusions deriving from five years, thematic discussions and the validation of conclusions and recommendations in two thematic seminars in Sofia and Copenhagen.
The aims of TRIAS Telematica are to identify the training needs of change agents, process innovators in government agencies who request rethinking of eGovernment services and to create an infrastructure for the exchange of best practices with the help of Skill Success, the exchange of project leaders and students, and the exchange of qualified people among European countries.
For this purpose an e-Learning environment was developed using semantic wiki and various training methods including a simulation game.
A successor project is being planned as well as a second summer course.
For more information on the project see: http://www.triastelematica.org/
February 11th, 2008
We are very pleased to announce the book “15 Years of Knowledge Management”, part of the series on Advances in Knowledge Management of Ergon Verlag. This book contains some significant contributions that represent different issues addressed in 15 years of Knowledge Management research.
Advances in Knowledge Management Vol. 3
Schreinemakers, Jos F. (†)- van Engers, Tom M. (Eds.)
15 Years of Knowledge Management
2007. 263 p. – 150 x 225 mm. Hardcover
ISBN : 978-3-89913-580-0
The book is available through the website of the publisher Ergon Verlag.
For more information, please send an email to Tom van Engers.
September 19th, 2007
The Leibniz Center for Law is part of the consortium that won the open tender for the
development of the national online all-in-one service for environmental permits
(Landelijke Voorziening Omgevingsloket, or LVO) in the Netherlands.
Continue Reading September 6th, 2007
The LeX school is an intensive, 6-day program aimed at providing knowledge of the most significant ICT standards emerging for legislation, an understanding of their impact in the different phases of the legislative process, awareness of the tools based on legislative standards, and the ability to participate in the preparation and use of standard-compliant documents throughout the participate in law-making process.
Continue Reading July 16th, 2007
We are pleased to announce the release of the LKIF core ontology of basic legal concepts. This ontology was developed within the ESTRELLA project to provide a standard vocabulary for legal reasoning services on the Semantic Web, and especially the Legal Knowledge Interchange Format (LKIF).
The LKIF ontology is inspired by the commonsense orientation of the (discontinued) LRI Core ontology effort. It consists of 14 ontology modules, describing concepts that range from general concepst such as time, place, change and process to the concepts most central to the legal field such as actions, transactions, beliefs, intentions, expressions and norms.
For more information, please consult the LKIF Core ontology website, browse the online documentation, or download the ESTRELLA Deliverable 1.4.
The ontology can be loaded directly into your favorite OWL Ontology editor from: http://www.estrellaproject.org/lkif-core/lkif-core.owl
April 17th, 2007
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