Wednesday, April 04, 2007 7:58 AM
Here's something you can bet will generate a lot of buzz throughout the blawgosphere...
As has been mentioned in a few blawgs over the last day or so, a group of students calling itself Law Students Building a Better Legal Profession has started up:
Law Students Building a Better Legal Profession is a group of students from across the country 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 our profession in service. We are working to ensuring that practicing law does not mean giving up a commitment to family, community, and dedicated service to clients. By advocating for reforms to law firms we hope to help keep law both a business and a profession to be proud of.
On the page Costs to the Profession it lays out its opinion that [t]he costs of the current system are widespread:
As law students, we are deeply concerned about the future of the legal profession. We see increasing billable hour requirements, decreasing professionalism, and a more dominant focus on the bottom line. By expecting higher hours than ever before, law firms are jeopardizing the roots of the profession in assiduous service to our clients, community service, and justice.
It then expands on this paragraph, point by point.
The group also offers its Principles for a Renewed Legal Profession.
After reading through the group's site (which, by the way, is using Wordpress weblog tools), I must say that, regardless of whether I agree with every point being made or not, I was impressed by the amount of thought and study that went into their posts. But don't take my word for it, stop by the group's site, Law Students Building a Better Legal Profession, and decide for yourself.
Here's hoping the site spurs lots of point and counterpoint discussions throughout the legal world.
Great stuff.