Balancing Competing Stakeholder Interests to Create Change

Absolutist thinking has long precluded change.

Here’s what makes LAP unique and why we're well-positioned to create real change:

1. We are truly nonpartisan. We work with every judge who's willing to speak with us, from the most conservative to the most progressive.

2. We ask tough questions and point out hard truths. There is a hunger for honest dialogue about clerkships. No one talks about clerkships the way LAP does. There are misaligned priorities in judicial nominations that prevent some from asking tough questions about judicial appointees as managers.

3. We work with everyone who's willing to come to the table - particularly those we disagree with. We collaborate with law schools, the judiciary, and legal employers, critiquing structures where we must, but not criticizing anyone personally. Effective advocacy requires putting aside ideological differences.

4. Concrete solutions. LAP offers a variety of front- and back-end solutions to fix the clerkship system. Our Clerkships Database helps more students identify beneficial clerkships. But we also advocate to ensure safe work environments, change judiciary behavior, and hold the powerful accountable; compile resources for clerks experiencing mistreatment; and provide thought leadership to create larger cultural change.

5. Multi-pronged strategy. LAP has changed the equilibrium in the profession around clerkships. Transformational change is happening right now because LAP is intentional in our messaging and our programming. We're always looking to bring in more people and grow our movement. Balancing competing stakeholder groups is challenging but possible.

6. Advocating based on my personal experience. My experience with workplace mistreatment exposed enormous injustices in the legal profession - in legal academia, the legal profession's culture, and the law. I set out to solve these problems because I care about improving the profession for the next generation. I am inspired every day to carry on by the many students, clerks, attorneys, and non-attorneys who reach out to thank me and confide in me.

Negative clerkship experiences are more common than many in the legal community would care to admit. But LAP offers concrete solutions. Our theory of change is that through advocacy, thought leadership, and innovative legal technology, we can transform the legal profession and judiciary. We do that by bringing along law schools, judges, and legal employers from across the political spectrum. We appreciate that so many have already joined us in this effort.