Can artificial neural networks predict lawyers’ performance rankings?

Susana Almeida Lopes received the Psychology Degree from Coimbra University, with specializations in Work and Organizational Psychology, and Clinical Psychology (2000); the PhD Degree in Organizational Psychology from Lisbon University (2017); and post graduations on Applied Quantitative Methods from ISCTE (2002), Law Firm Management from Porto Business School (2010), and on Strategic HR Practices from Cornell University (2010). SAL is currently a member of the Research Center for the Psychological Science of the Lisbon University. She started her career at SHL, where she advanced from Trainee to Managing Consultant. She is currently the Organizational Director at VdA, where she addresses strategic HR planning, talent management, competency model, appraisal system, career management, reward, development and recruitment. She directs the HR analytics research projects at VdA Legal Analytics Bureau. SAL is a member of the board of the Order of Psychologist in Portugal, since 2016. She was awarded several times for talent management innovative projects and ranked among the most innovative individuals by Financial Times in 2014.

Maria Eduarda Duarte is Full Professor at the University of Lisbon, Faculty of Psychology, where she directs the Master Course in Psychology of Human Resources, Work and Organizations. Her professional interests include career psychology theory and research, with special emphasis on issues relevant to adults and the world of work. Her publications and presentations have encompassed topics on adult’s career problems, testing and assessment and counseling process. She was Chair of the Portuguese Psychological Society (2005–2018); she also served on editorial boards for some Portuguese, European and Iberia-American journals. She was the Director of the National Institute of Guidance (2009–2014). She is President of Counseling Division (2014–2018), IAAP. She is President of UNESCO CHAIR – Lifelong guidance and counseling, University of Wroclaw. She is Fellow Award – IAAP (2014), and ESVDC award 2015. She is also National Defence Adviser, since 2007.

João Almeida Lopes received the BSc/MSc Degree in Chemical Engineering in 1997 at the Technical University of Lisbon, and the PhD Degree in Pharmaceutical Engineering in 2001. Until 2005 he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the same University and Consultant for the pharmaceutical industry. In 2006, he joined the University of Porto as Assistant Researcher in the areas of green chemistry, chemometrics and process spectroscopy. He created the Chemometrics and Process Analytical Technology research group being its coordinator since then. He founded Worldmetrics Solutions, a consulting company providing technology solutions for high-throughput industrial processes monitoring. He has been Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutics at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon since 2014. JAL published more than 100 scientific articles, coordinated more than 40 R&D projects and supervised circa 90 students and researchers (MSc, PhD, Postdoc levels). He was the President of the Portuguese Association of Researchers in Science and Technology (2012–2014) and currently General Assembly President, Vice-President of the Portuguese Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences (from 2017), appointed President of the Analytical Chemistry division of the Portuguese Society of Chemistry (from 2019), member of the steering committee of the QbD/PAT network of the European Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences (from 2011) and the Voice of Researchers initiative of the European Commission (2010–2016). He is Scientific Consultant in Process Systems Engineering, Process Analytics and Pharmaceutical Development for several industrial companies.