Building a Better Legal Profession (BBLP) was a non-profit organization founded by students at

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...

in 2007. It was a national

grassroots movement A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

for market-based

BigLaw A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...

workplace reform which analyzed employment data at large private

law firms A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...

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. BBLP's analysis was published by Kaplan as a book in 2009–2010.

Law Firm Rankings and Report Cards

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 hires what they could expect from a prospect law firm. Its ''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. The BBLP produced ''BBLP Rankings'' and also produced ''BBLP Report Cards'' on the major American legal marketplaces, such as in Boston, Chicago, Manhattan, Washington D.C, as well as the major American large law firms, including

Allen and Overy Allen & Overy LLP (informally A&O) is an international law firm. The firm has 580 partners and over 5,600 people worldwide. In 2022 A&O reported an increase in revenue to GBP1.96 billion and is the second largest law firm headquartered in th ...

, and

Linklaters Linklaters LLP is a multinational law firm, headquartered in London, England. Founded in 1838, it is a member of the " Magic Circle" of elite London-headquartered law firms. It currently employs over 5,000 lawyers across 31 offices in 21 coun ...

''Building a Better Legal Profession's Guide to Law Firms''

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''. The book used BBLP's online reports and guides to give career guidance and stories from the professionals already at the legal firms reviewed.

Membership

Building a Better Legal Profession had over 1,400 members across the country, with a presence at

, Harvard Law School,

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

and

NYU Law School New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in New ...

, among others.

Media attention

The BBLP gained national media attention with traditional mainstream media with coverage from ''

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The New York Times'', the ''Los Angeles Times'', 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''.

Bibliography

References

External links

"Building a Better Legal Profession" website"Building a Better Legal Profession" blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Building A Better Legal Profession Legal organizations based in the United States 2007 establishments in California Non-profit organizations based in California Organizations established in 2007 Stanford Law School