The Legal Accountability Project Celebrates 2-Year Anniversary
Saturday, June 1, 2024
The Legal Accountability Project Celebrates Two-Year Anniversary
Today we celebrate The Legal Accountability Project’s two-year anniversary.
Aliza Shatzman launched LAP two years ago to correct injustices she experienced as a law student and law clerk - a lack of transparency, equity, and accountability in judicial clerkships and the judiciary.
In June 2022, LAP set out to fill an enormous void in the public consciousness around clerking.
LAP immediately committed to ambitious goals: Upending the clerkship system. Changing the clerkship culture on law school campuses and in the legal profession. Launching a Centralized Clerkships Database to democratize judicial clerkship information so law students and young lawyers, irrespective of law school, could access baseline information about clerking.
In June, historically, thousands of clerkship applicants applied for as many as 100 federal judicial clerkships. Former clerks have described the process as "applying blind" and indiscriminately and “hoping for the best.” Those who enjoyed their clerkships describe this process as “just getting lucky.” Troublingly, applicants knew little about the work environments they were entering.
As this lack of transparency around clerkship hiring and chambers culture is a root cause of many other issues with clerking, LAP made it our mission to correct this.
LAP’s mission quickly snowballed into a clerkship transparency movement, galvanizing tens of thousands of followers and supporters in the legal profession and beyond.
We are heading into the first clerkship application cycle where more than 1,000 law students and young lawyers will benefit from LAP's Centralized Clerkships Database - a legal technology solution to social problems - to identify a beneficial clerkship and avoid a negative experience like Aliza’s - and like far too many others who LAP hears from every week. For the first time, applicants are truly informed, empowered, and discerning consumers of clerkship opportunities.
We have never been more optimistic about the future of judicial clerkships or the judiciary.