Building a Better Legal Profession (BBLP) is a national grassroots organization founded by students at Stanford Law School

Stanford Law School

Stanford Law School is a graduate school at Stanford University located in the area known as the Silicon Valley, near Palo Alto, California in the United States. The Law School was established in 1893 when former President Benjamin Harrison joined the faculty as the first professor of law...

 in January 2007. The group collects and publicizes employment data at large private law firms as a way of encouraging workplace reform at these companies. By encouraging students to "vote with their feet" and select future employers based on quality-of-life criteria rather than the prestige of the firms, BBLP creates market-based incentives for workplace reform.

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 has been created. BBLP uses 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. Rankings cover 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.
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Rankings and Report Cards are available for the following markets:

• Atlanta
• Boston
• Chicago
• Manhattan
• Miami
• Northern California
• Pacific Northwest
• Philadelphia
• Southern California
• Texas
• Washington, DC

Building a Better Legal Profession's Guide to Law Firms

In April 2009 Kaplan

Kaplan

Kapłań is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Klukowo, within Wysokie Mazowieckie County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland.-References:...

 published Building a Better Legal Profession's Guide to Law Firms: The Law Students Guide to Finding the Perfect Law Firm Job. Including much of what BBLP publishes online, the guide gives career guidance and stories from the professionals already at the legal firms reviewed. Integrating expert advice and knowledge from big law attorneys and professionals, the guide was written for and by law students in an effort to provide insight on what it's really like to interview with and work inside a large law firm.

A National Coalition of Law Students

Building a Better Legal Profession has over 1400 members across the country, with a presence at Stanford Law School

Stanford Law School

Stanford Law School is a graduate school at Stanford University located in the area known as the Silicon Valley, near Palo Alto, California in the United States. The Law School was established in 1893 when former President Benjamin Harrison joined the faculty as the first professor of law...

, Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

, Yale Law School

Yale Law School

Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...

, Columbia Law School

Columbia Law School

Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...

 and NYU Law School, among others.

Media Attention and National Relevancy

Garnering significant media attention in traditional media with coverage from the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

, and The Boston Globe

The Boston Globe

The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...

, BBLP has been covered in legal newspapers and journals as well including articles from Legal Times

Legal Times

Legal Times is a weekly legal newspaper based in Washington, D.C. It is owned by ALM....

, the ABA Journal

ABA Journal

The ABA Journal is a monthly legal trade magazine and the flagship publication of the American Bar Association. It claims to be "read by half of the nation's 1 million lawyers every month"...

, and the National Law Journal. Legal and law interested bloggers have also made the efforts of BBLP widely known, such attention has spanned popular legal blog sites like Above the Law (blog)

Above the Law (blog)

AboveTheLaw.com is a law gossip blog which circulates rumors primarily about large commercial law firms . Above the Law publishes the rumored salaries and bonuses at many of these large firms...

  to The New Republic

The New Republic

The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...

blog.

External links

• "Building a Better Legal Profession" website
• "Building a Better Legal Profession" blog