Below we describe the choices we made while building Bep, and why.
When we say student, we mean the learner: a student at a university of applied sciences or a university, or a (junior) professional.
01Every scenario centres on a learning goal or a familiar pitfall
A scenario in Bep is not a random case. It is built around conversations that are common in practice: an intake, an advice conversation or a negotiation. Or, for example, a client who calls full of confidence with advice from ChatGPT in hand, making a demand that you as a lawyer cannot or will not meet.
A scenario is more than facts. It also contains:
- an actor with their own background, history, interests and state of mind;
- a conversation goal the student has to reach, and learning goals the student works on in the scenario;
- a legal framework, grounded in legislation and case law, against which the substance of the conversation is assessed. For case law we use rechtspraak.nl and Feitlijn, which gives the core of every ruling, with a timeline, IRAC analysis and commentary from practice;
- a feedback coach that notices what goes well and where the student can develop. Not vague, but very concrete, with examples.
02True to life
A scenario in Bep is a case as it really occurs in practice: with real legal questions, and with the interests and concerns that come with them.
The actor behaves the way people behave. They have a history, and that history explains their behaviour. Why are they suspicious? Why do they keep coming back to that one point? Ask further and you find out. That is how the student learns that there is almost always a reason behind behaviour.
03The type of conversation determines the role
An intake asks for something different than a negotiation. In an intake you gather facts and build trust. In a bad-news conversation you deliver a message the other person does not want to hear. In a negotiation you try to reach a settlement with the other side.
In Bep, the actor's role follows from the type of conversation. In an intake Bep plays your own client; in a negotiation, for example, the other party (or their lawyer).
With Bep you can practise every kind of conversation you can have over the phone.
04You build a scenario in a few minutes
With the scenario builder you create a complete scenario in a few minutes. You describe the situation and the learning goals, and Bep works out the rest: the actor, the conversation goal, the legal framework and the feedback criteria.
If you want more, you can adjust everything. If you want to write it all yourself, you can. How does the actor react when the student jumps to a solution too quickly? Which facts do they only reveal when asked? So the scenario builder works for those who want to get started quickly, and just as well for those who want to fine-tune every detail.
05Connected scenarios form a training programme
One scenario practises one conversation. With connected scenarios you build a training programme.
A scenario can switch type: the same conflict, with a different counterpart and a different assignment. First an intake with one party, then with the other. That way students learn that a case often has several perspectives. It is rarely black and white.
06Practising under the right pressure
A conversation with Bep has no script. Every conversation is unique. Bep reacts the way people react: with emotion, resistance and sometimes unexpectedly. Ask a question that doesn't land, or ignore a concern or need, and you'll notice it in Bep's response.
In practice, a client rarely arrives with a clear account of the facts and realistic expectations. If you have practised with a client who is angry, sad or adamant, it will startle you less.
That practice matters. Many young people find phone calls stressful and make them less and less; they prefer to text (NOS, Nieuwsuur). Some even suffer from phone anxiety (AT5, RTL). Yet in legal practice the phone is still indispensable.
07A conversation can fail
Bep can hang up and, out of frustration, slam down the receiver. Insult Bep, don't take her seriously or fail to build trust, and you lose her.
We thought about this for a long time. A practice environment where the actor always stays, however the conversation goes, teaches something that isn't true: that it doesn't matter how you treat someone. A client who hangs up makes it clear that trust is not a side issue. It is the core.
Hanging up is not a punishment. The student still gets feedback afterwards, and an interrupted conversation in particular can yield instructive feedback.
A client who doesn't feel heard is a client you lose. Bep shows you the silent drop-out. And then you simply start the conversation again. And again. And again. As often and whenever you like.
08Substance and communication skills
Having a good conversation is not a trick. A warm conversation can make no sense in substance. And sharp, thorough legal advice can still land badly. Substance and form are inseparable. A client who doesn't feel heard tells you less, and then you miss facts.
That is why Bep gives separate feedback on substance (did you ask the right questions, is your explanation correct) and on communication and attitude (how do you open, how do you deal with emotion, how do you close). Bep adds concrete tips: next time, ask about …, or: a technique for uncovering interests is …
Students see that they can be strong in one area and still develop in another.
09Putting in the hours and saying goodbye to phone anxiety
Practising with Bep is easier to organise and more accessible than a session with a training actor. It is also safe. You practise in your own time and your own surroundings, with nobody watching or listening in. That way you put in the hours and learn from the feedback, until you have enough confidence to bring your skills into real practice. And the tension many people feel about calling fades the more often you do it.
10How do you think it went?
An annoying but important question. After the conversation, the student doesn't see the feedback straight away. First Bep asks: what did you think of the conversation? What went well, in your view, and what would you do differently? Only then does the feedback follow.
That order is deliberate. The student can let off steam, and thinking about the questions makes the student more receptive to the feedback. Get feedback right away and you leave the judgement to someone else. Look back yourself first and you form your own picture, which you can then hold up against the feedback. Where the two match, it confirms what the student saw. Where they differ, there is something to learn.
11Observing, not judging
Bep gives no grade and no verdict. Bep describes what the student did and offers development tips. So an observation doesn't read "your opening was weak", but "you went straight into the substance, without explaining the purpose and length of the conversation".
There are two reasons for this. The first is that a verdict shifts attention from the conversation to the score. Once the student has a pass, the motivation to keep practising disappears. The second is that a description leaves the student room to decide for themselves what could be better.
If you know a conversation is stored and read by a teacher, you start playing it safe: asking the safe question, avoiding the difficult emotion, wrapping things up neatly. Then you are no longer practising, you are performing. A conversation with Bep is allowed to fail. You learn a great deal from that.
There is always something to learn. So Bep is not just for beginners.
12Feedback is concrete
Every observation refers to what the student literally said. That makes the feedback verifiable: the student sees what it is about and can look it up. That is how Bep keeps feedback from staying general. "Mind your opening" helps less than seeing your own opening line next to an alternative from Bep.
- When Ms Vermeer said she did not want to be seen as a defaulter, you responded: 'Well, you're not paying at the moment, so actually you are a kind of defaulter right now, aren't you', after which she said she felt pigeonholed.
- When Ms Vermeer shared her vulnerability ('It affects me much more than I want to show... I'm just ashamed of it'), you did not respond to it and moved straight to a business question: 'And what would you expect from me'.
- Avoid labels that provoke resistance. Instead of a term like defaulter, say for example: 'It's clear you want to pay as soon as you can; let's look at how best to explain that to the landlord.'
- Name the feeling when a client speaks openly about shame or worries, before you move on to the substance. Say for example: 'I can hear how much stress this causes you and that you feel ashamed, but calling to look for a solution is actually a good step.'
For the same reason, the development tips include an example sentence. A tip like "acknowledge the client's concerns first" may be easy to understand, but hard to apply. A concrete example sentence gives something to hold on to. It is not a script the student has to copy, but an example of how it can be done.
13Debriefing with Bep
After the feedback, the student can talk with Bep about the conversation. Bep thinks along, taking the conversation and the feedback as the starting point.
Feedback is one-way traffic: you read what someone wrote about you. A debrief turns it into a conversation. The student can ask about a tip they didn't fully understand, try out a different phrasing or ask why something didn't work. That makes it more like a debrief with a teacher or an experienced colleague.
14Privacy by design
We took this very seriously. How do we make Bep as privacy-friendly as possible?
A teacher creates scenarios and puts them on a training page, which they share with students. Students don't need to log in to practise with Bep. The conversation and the feedback are not stored: leave the page and nothing is left behind. There is no file, no overview of failed conversations and nothing a teacher or programme can look at afterwards. If the student wants to keep a feedback report, they have to save it themselves.
Scenarios and training pages are stored in Europe.
For the conversations themselves, Bep uses real-time speech models. At the moment, only American providers do this well enough. Those providers process the conversations; that is unavoidable. We advise students to use fictitious details, such as a made-up name.
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