Building a Better Legal Profession's Guide to Law: The Law Student's Guide to Finding the Perfect Law Firm Job - Softcover

Hahn, Irene

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1427798389 ISBN 13: 9781427798381

Publisher: Kaplan Trade, 2009

Synopsis

The law firm hiring process is something that the vast majority of students at top law schools will experience during their 2L year, but it’s also something of a mystery. In contrast to the lively availability of guidebooks to the first year of law school, books about law firm hiring are almost non-existent, which leaves students with the burden of figuring it out on their own. Unfortunately, law firm hiring isn’t set up in a way that’s conducive to helping students make informed decisions—law firm interviews are easy and amount to informal chats about the candidate, each of the firms follow the same protocol of flying their best candidates out for second-round interviews and wining and dining them at the same fancy restaurants, and the glossy brochures project the same polished image. So the choice between firms is often arbitrary, and based on subjective criteria such as the relative prestige of the firm. Unfortunately, many students get to law firms and regret their choice—for a job with starting salaries of 165k a year, firm attrition rates are startlingly high, with 40% of young associates leaving the firm within 3 years, and 62% by the end of their fourth. Some of those students didn’t have a clear idea of what firm life would entail. Some of them just picked the wrong firm. Clearly a little more guidance upfront about choosing a firm could save students a lot of trouble later on.

Beyond what BBLP publishes online, Building a Better Legal Professions's Guide to Law Firms gives career guidance and stories from the professionals already at the legal firms reviewed. It's truly a balanced report of factors needed to make an intelligent choice of where to spend your career.

About this title

Synopsis

'It's easy to lament the state of the legal profession today; bringing about real change is harder. But that's exactly what BBLP is doing, with its revolutionary, market-based approach to reforming the modern law firm as a workplace. This book, part of BBLP's larger mission of harnessing information for empowerment, is an invaluable resource for anyone exploring the often bewildering world of 'Biglaw" - David Lat, author of "Above the Law". Written by law students for law students, this book provides you with the information you need to make a smart decision on where you want to work. It is a unique, candid guide on what it's really like to interview with and work inside a large law firm. It includes a set of 'report cards' on the top markets in the country for those firms detailing their performance in billable hours, diversity, and many other criteria. Since its creation at Stanford Law School in 2007, Building a Better Legal Profession has worked to increase transparency at large law firms and to demystify the hiring, firing, and promotion process within the corporate legal world.

Here, the founder and leaders of this national movement share their insight on what you need to find the job at the firm that's right for you. Building a Better Legal Profession is a national grassroots movement that seeks market-based workplace reforms in large private law firms by publicizing firms' self-reported data on billable hours, pro bono participation, and demographic diversity BBLP is dedicated to helping law firms and lawyers recommit to a legal profession devoted to effective and efficient client service, to lawyers as people, and to the roots of their profession in service. They are working to ensure that practicing law does not mean giving up a commitment to family, community, and dedicated service to clients.

Edition details

• Publisher: Kaplan Trade
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1427798389
• ISBN 13: 9781427798381
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 360