Building a Better Legal Profession

Davida Brook and Andrew Bruck placed second with this entry in the Ms. JD & PAR essay contest about work/life balance. They write, "we are interpreted as a bunch of spoiled, resume-building, brats who want to get paid gazillions and flee the office for afternoon tee times. We are confused by this reaction, as we see our efforts as simply continuing the efforts begun by our parents decades ago. For example, just as the Boomers could not think of a single good reason why a Mother should not also be promoted to partner, we cannot think of a single good reason why a partner should not also be allowed to be a Father." --Ed.

Last summer, the organization we run, Building a Better Legal Profession, began collecting data about large law firms. We understood that there was plenty of publicly available data about these firms—data about billable hours, pro bono, and diversity—however, no one had organized and presented it in a way useful to law students. So we decided to do it ourselves.

As we crunched the numbers, we discovered surprising trends in the legal community—for example, not a single large law firm in Manhattan had more than thirty percent female partners. We figured the rest of the world would be eager to learn about our results. Like any enterprising twenty-somethings, we organized a press conference. The media response was remarkable, with stories appearing everywhere from the Financial Times Deutschland to Radio New Zealand. The blogosphere similarly erupted with stories.

But what fascinated us most were the comments readers left on the popular blog Above the Law. Many were positive, some were not...

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