Building a Better Legal Profession

Building a Better Legal Profession (BBLP) was a non-profit organization founded by students at Stanford Law School in 2007.[1][2] They analysed employment data at large private law firms to promote workplace reform at these companies by encouraging students to "vote with their feet" and select future employers based on quality-of-life and diversity criteria, rather than the pure prestige.[1][3][4] BBLP's analysis was published by Kaplan as a book in 2009–2010.[5]

Building a Better Legal Profession
TypeNon-profit 501(c)(3) grassroots movement
FoundedStanford Law School (2007)
Headquarters
Stanford, CA
,
United States
WebsiteBBLP Website

Law Firm Rankings and Report Cards
Example of BBLP Report Card.

Using data from the National Association for Legal Career Professionals (NALP) a system of report cards and rankings of law firms was created. BBLP used data from 11 major markets in the United States to show prospective attorneys what they can expect from a potential law firm should they receive a job offer. Their BBLP Rankings covered an array of information that is important to future lawyers including firms’ minimum billable hour requirements, average associate hours worked, demographic diversity, average pro bono hours, and the number of part-time attorneys.[6][7]

The BBLP produced "BBLP Rankings" and also produced "BBLP Report Cards" on the major American legal marketplaces (e.g. Boston, Chicago, Manhattan, Washington D.C), as well as the major American large law firms (e.g. Allen and Overy, and Linklaters):[2][4][6][7]

In April 2009, Kaplan published Building a Better Legal Profession's Guide to Law Firms: The Law Students Guide to Finding the Perfect Law Firm Job.[5] The book used BBLP's online reports and guides to give career guidance and stories from the professionals already at the legal firms reviewed.[2][4][6]

Membership

Building a Better Legal Profession had over 1,400 members across the country, with a presence at Stanford Law School, Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, Columbia Law School and NYU Law School, among others.[1][2][6]

Media attention

The BBLP gained national media attention with traditional mainstream media with coverage from CBS,[7] The Wall Street Journal,[1][2] The New York Times,[8] the Los Angeles Times,[9][10] and The Boston Globe. The BBLP has been covered in legal newspapers and legal journals as well including articles from Legal Times, the ABA Journal, and the National Law Journal.[3]

Bibliography
  • Irene Hahn (April 2009). Building a Better Legal Profession's Guide to Law Firms: The Law Student's Guide to Finding the Perfect Law Firm. Kaplan Publishing. p. 300. ISBN 978-1427798381.

References
  1. Peter Lattman (3 April 2007). "You Say You Want a Big-Law Revolution". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 26 March 2019. Their new organization, "Law Students Building a Better Legal Profession", wants the country's biggest law firms to sign-on to principles.
  2. "Law Students Building a Better Legal Profession Releases New NYC Rankings" (PDF). The Wall Street Journal. 10 October 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  3. Vesna Jaksic (11 October 2007). "Student group grades firms on diversity". National Law Journal. Retrieved 26 March 2019. In an effort to help law students find out more about law firms, a student group whose mission includes helping law firms ensure that practicing law does not mean giving up commitment to family and community, has released a report that ranks firms on factors such as percentages of female partners, demographic diversity and numbers of billable hours.
  4. "Building a Better Legal Profession". Et Seq. Harvard Law School. 29 October 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  5. Irene Hahn (April 2009). Building a Better Legal Profession's Guide to Law Firms: The Law Student's Guide to Finding the Perfect Law Firm. Kaplan. p. 300. ISBN 978-1427798381.
  6. Andrew Bruck; Andrew Canter. "Supply, Demand and the Changing Economics of Large Law Firms" (PDF). Stanford Law Review. 60 (6): 2087.
  7. Keach Hagey (29 October 2007). "Big Law Firms Turn Out To Be Embarrassingly Full Of White Men". CBS. This is 2007," said Michel Landis Daubner, a law professor at Stanford and the adviser for the project, called Building a Better Legal Profession. "If you can't find a single black or Hispanic partner, that's not an accident.
  8. Adam Liptak (29 October 2009). "In Students' Eyes, Look-Alike Lawyers Don't Make the Grade". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  9. Henry Weinstein (11 October 2007). "Lack of diversity marks L.A. law - latimes". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  10. Molly Selvin (18 March 2008). "Law students make appeal for change - latimes". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
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