An Ambitious Plan for NALP

NALP Roadmap for the Next Five Years Emphasizes Excellence in Service

Members of 2005-2010 Long Range Strategic Planning Committee

NALP Mission

Goals

Tactics

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An Ambitious Plan for NALP

I am pleased to present NALP's 2005-2010 Long Range Strategic Plan. Unlike the plans of some organizations, NALP's Long Range Strategic Plan is not just a theory; it is an active working document that highlights the direction NALP will take both in the immediate future as well as over the course of the next five years. Future NALP leaders will utilize this document as they craft their annual business plans, until each of these objectives is realized and NALP has fulfilled its commitment to be the leading source of information on law careers and the industry leader in developing and providing law career-related products and services.

This plan is the result of a collective effort. The Long Range Strategic Planning Committee was formed to ensure representation from all of NALP's multiple and varied constituencies. Members of the Long Range Strategic Planning Committee were carefully selected to ensure that we had broad representation from our NALP membership, including both new and experienced members, diverse members, representatives from past Strategic Planning Committees, former and current NALP leaders, representatives from both law schools and legal employers, and members with professional development and public interest roles as well as recruitment and broader career services roles. The Committee sought and examined input from many sources — from each and every NALP committee, task force, and advisory council; from allied organizations; and, last but not least, from our membership as a whole.

The strategic planning process generated many interesting ideas and a surprisingly conclusive analysis, which reminded us that NALP's core strengths are research and data, educational programming, ethics advocacy, the NALP staff, our commitment to diversity, and the positive power of NALP's reputation. The result is a very ambitious plan that is practical in nature. As we look to 2010, the goal is to understand what we do well and at the same time embrace new ideas, enhance our products and services, and make a commitment to best serve all of our audiences.

NALP's accomplishments are truly group efforts. On behalf of the Long Range Strategic Planning Committee, your Board of Directors, and the leadership teams to come in the next five years, thank you for your interest in NALP and your involvement in directing the future of NALP. We are truly a member organization, and we rely heavily on our members to work with us to move forward our ambitious plans. One of our goals in this new plan is to build on the strengths of our individual members by encouraging and supporting volunteer leadership and service. During the coming years, I hope you will take an opportunity to be actively involved in NALP's future. I am proud to serve NALP and look forward to 2010, when we can look back on the last five years and take pride in what we've accomplished together.

There are so many areas in which NALP can excel — it is an exciting time for NALP. The 2004-2005 NALP Board enthusiastically and unequivocally supports this plan. We recognize that our opportunities are abundant and that this plan gives NALP the framework upon which to build an exciting future. At the end of the day, I am confident that we have identified the correct balance and have formulated a plan that will move NALP forward as we look to the year 2010.

On behalf of all of us who were part of the 2005-2010 Long Range Strategic Planning Committee, thank you for your interest and support. NALP is your organization, and your active involvement is essential.

Cherie L. Conrad
2004-2005 President

 

NALP Roadmap for the Next Five Years Emphasizes Excellence in Service

NALP's Board of Directors and the Long Range Strategic Planning Committee are pleased to provide members with the 2005-2010 Long Range Strategic Plan. The plan is the result of a very collaborative process. We encourage you to review the plan carefully. We hope that you will share our enthusiasm and excitement for this plan.

Our plan offers the association a strong roadmap for the next five years, anchored by a unifying theme of Excellence in Service. The plan seeks to move the association forward, capitalizing on NALP's core strengths and values. We have worked hard to craft a plan that increases NALP's level of member service in several important areas, without over-reaching or seeking to be all things to all people. The plan is designed to capitalize on the new opportunities that PSLawNet and NALP's growing role in the public service arena provides, as well as making the most of the challenges and opportunities inherent in the burgeoning field of lawyer professional development that involve so many of our members. The plan also challenges individual NALP members to evaluate their own level of service, both within NALP as a professional association, and within their own professional and personal communities as well.

Over the course of the last year, committee members very intentionally gathered feedback and input from you. In total, committee members called on nearly 200 members and non-members, "legends" and "learners" alike. We listened for themes and common refrains. In addition to the personal outreach contacts, we launched an on-line member survey through which more than one-quarter of our members expressed their opinions and shared their views. Our committee analyzed, debated and teased-out all of this data. We reflected on NALP's accomplishments and recognized our disappointments. We explored life beyond our desks and considered the future of the business world and the legal community. In the end, we created a document that we think offers a clear vision of who we are and what we do best.

NALP offers the legal community and its membership many services for which we are widely recognized and appreciated. Our core strengths are research and data, ethical leadership, commitment to diversity, and delivery of member services. Under the new strategic plan, we will continue to deliver on these fundamental hallmarks and push our leaders and staff to incorporate these values into all of our programs and services.

Our plan addresses many of the most vexing challenges that our members face individually and collectively, and provides for the development of many new tools and programs to help meet those challenges.

Our school members shared with us their continuing need for expanded access to legal employers beyond the largest law firms. With the recent acquisition of PSLawNet, NALP is positioned to extend our employer reach and incorporate our service orientation to a broader audience (public service employers, lawyers, and law students).

In addition, we encourage a careful review of our membership categories and consideration of bundled services that appeal to small and medium private sector employers as well as government and public interest employers.

For many years, our employer members have expanded their traditional recruiting roles and incorporated professional development and training. NALP's ongoing commitment to the Professional Development arena is strengthened in this plan, and includes the goals of developing benchmarks for the profession and best practices resources.

Further, we recommend enhancements to our research capabilities in order to assist us in our ongoing strategic analysis of our organizations and the marketplace in which we operate.

These are but a few of the goals and aspirations the 2005-2010 plan offers. The practical, straightforward tone of this plan offers future leaders the chance to address the demands of our profession and the marketplace and to offer excellent service to our community.

Bonnie Hurry
2005-2006 President

Members of 2005-2010 Long Range Strategic Planning Committee

• Bonnie Hurry (Chair), Davis Polk & Wardwell
• Karen Britton, University of Tennessee College of Law
• Cherie Conrad, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
• Marcy Cox, University of Miami School of Law
• Margaret Crow-Rosenfeld, University of California, Berkeley School of Law
• Lisa Dickinson, University of San Francisco School of Law
• Gihan Fernando, Georgetown University Law Center
• Bonnie Goldberg, University of Toronto, Faculty of Law
• Mike Gotham, Stoel Rives LLP
• Dana Morris, University of Maryland School of Law
• Leslie Ripley, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
• Morgan Smith, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw
• Carol Sprague, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP
• Caren Stacy, Arnold & Porter LLP
• Jeanne Svikhart, US Department of Justice
• Mark Weber, Harvard Law School
• Abbie Willard, University of Chicago Law School

Mission

NALP is dedicated to facilitating legal career counseling and planning, recruitment and retention, and the professional development of law students and lawyers.

Core Objectives:

• To provide vision and expertise in research and education for legal career counseling and planning, recruitment, employment, and professional development;
• To cultivate ethical practices and fairness in legal career counseling and planning, recruitment, employment, and professional development;
• To promote the full range of legal career opportunities and to foster access to legal public interest and public sector employment;
• To advocate for diversity in the legal profession and in our membership.

Goals:

Communication

• NALP will communicate effectively with its members and the legal community.

Diversity

• NALP will advocate for diversity in the legal profession through its research, educational programming, products, and services.
• NALP will promote the advancement of diversity in its membership and leadership.

Education

• NALP will be the preeminent provider of educational research, resources, and programming on legal career services, and lawyer recruitment, development, and retention.
• NALP will be the leader in promulgating ethical standards for legal career services, recruitment, employment, and professional development.

Governance

• NALP will be governed by a Board of Directors that is representative of all of its constituents.
• NALP will build on the strengths of its individual members by encouraging and supporting volunteer leadership and service.

Lawyer Professional Development

• NALP will be a source of excellence for programming, services, resources, and education in the field of lawyer professional development.

Public Service

• NALP will be a source of excellence in information and education about public service opportunities for law students and lawyers.
• NALP will be the leading provider of research, data, and analysis relating to public service law careers.
• NALP will promote community service and pro bono activities by its members.

Research

• NALP will be the authority on research, analysis, and education in legal career development.
• NALP, in conjunction with the NALP Foundation, will ensure that the NALP brand remains the preeminent source of data, analysis, and research on law careers.

Resources

• NALP will strive to generate sufficient financial resources in order to sustain its position as the leader in providing research, education, products, and services that support legal hiring and career development.

Services

• NALP will be the industry leader in developing and providing law career-related products and services.
• NALP will be the leading source of information on law careers.
• NALP will maximize the value of its data resources through effective distribution.
• NALP will strive to provide its members with current and timely information about technology solutions in the area of law careers.
• NALP will proactively assess emerging market trends for new products and services.

Tactics:

Communication

NALP will communicate effectively with its members and the legal community.

• Ensure that NALP leaders communicate decisions effectively to the membership.
• Ensure that the NALP website is a high-traffic portal for the legal industry which effectively promotes NALP's wealth of data and information.
• Ensure that members are informed and educated about issues that affect the legal profession and their jobs.
• Provide new members with comprehensive information about their NALP membership.
• Reinvigorate an annual membership drive that targets niche markets.
• Create a marketing strategy to effectively market NALP's educational research, resources, and programming to members and non-members.
• Include deans, hiring partners, leaders of allied organizations, and industry leaders on press release lists or craft a periodic newsletter to share data with these important constituencies.
• Use technology effectively to provide up-to-date information to the membership.
• Develop a media guide with information regarding research, publications, volunteer leaders, NALP staff, and other information for distribution to media outlets.
• Work with the media to affirmatively develop story ideas based on NALP research.
• Continuously review and update lists of media contacts to achieve maximum outreach and exposure for NALP research.
• Ensure that NALP's publications have a unified and polished design and effectively represent the NALP brand.

Diversity

NALP will advocate for diversity in the legal profession through its research, education, products, and services.

• Create a best practices guide for diversity hiring and retention which considers the unique needs of different employer types.
• Monitor research on trends and best practices in recruitment, hiring, and retention of minority lawyers.
• Publish a list of recommended resources related to diversity on the NALP website and in the NALP Bulletin.
• Collaborate with allied organizations to develop diversity initiatives such as guides to best practices, conferences, research, job fairs, etc.
• Host a Diversity Summit on an annual or biennial basis.
• Collect information on relevant diversity conferences and identify NALP representatives to attend and participate in the programming.
• Establish formal liaison relationships with national minority bar associations and other associations for under- represented lawyers and law students.
• Review and evaluate the diversity categories NALP uses to collect demographic information and ensure alignment with the categories used by other organizations collecting similar demographic information.
• Inform and educate the NALP membership regarding the Solomon Amendment and related litigation.
• Support law school members in their efforts to ameliorate the effects of the Solomon Amendment.
• Educate members on the increasing presence and role of diversity professionals and develop resources to support these professionals, including providing access to high-quality diversity training.
• Work with diversity managers to develop products and services for their use, including a best practices guide.

NALP will promote the advancement of diversity in its membership and leadership.

• Create a best practices guide for members to enhance diversity on their own staff and in their own offices.
• Promote opportunities in the legal career profession with national minority and diversity organizations and encourage appropriate organizations to link their websites to NALP's job listings.
• Foster internship programs for diverse students at NALP member organizations with the goal of increasing diversity in the profession.
• Promote opportunities in the legal career profession among diverse law students and diverse students in appropriate graduate programs (e.g., college student personnel, human resources, student counseling, organizational development, and marketing).

Education

NALP will be the preeminent provider of educational research, resources, and programming on legal career services, and lawyer recruitment, development, and retention.

• Reevaluate current structure, content, and calendar of educational program offerings.
• Hold an annual education conference designed to be responsive to member feedback, industry trends, and the content of other educational programs.
• Develop educational programming to energize and encourage NALP's individual members.
• Investigate new programming ideas including region-specific topics, a diversity institute, global practice opportunities, LLM assimilation and career path issues, a student loan debt summit, and public service topics.
• Explore collaborative programming with NALP's allied organizations and business partners.
• Develop alternatives to traditional educational delivery methods and provide programming in multiple formats such as via teleconferencing and webinars.
• Enhance educational programming for NALP's most experienced members, including providing more advanced information about industry trends, specialty markets, strategic planning, and best practices in other industries.
• Evaluate the creation of a lawyer career center on the NALP website to serve law school alumni by providing resources, job postings, and career assessment tools.
• Explore providing certification for members in a variety of core competencies.
• Develop educational programming to provide information to legal employers and law schools about visa and work authorization issues.

NALP will be the leader in promulgating ethical standards for legal career services, recruitment, employment, and professional development.

• Provide best practices information for ethical practices in legal career services, recruitment, employment, and professional development on an annual basis.
• Strive for accuracy, reliability, and validity in data gathered and reported.
• Monitor the Principles and Standards on a regular basis to ensure their relevancy in the changing legal marketplace.

Governance

NALP will be governed by a Board of Directors that is representative of all of its constituents.

• NALP will be governed by a Board of Directors that is representative of all of its constituents.
• Evaluate the potential contribution of hiring partners, deans, and other industry leaders to the governance of the association.
• Recommend that the 2005-2006 Board of Directors revisit the issue of a Canadian region through the solicitation of input from the Canadian membership.
• Continue to emphasize diverse representation on the Board.
• Examine and review the process of selecting Nominating Committee members.
• Explore the distribution of existing NALP members and consider realignment of the geographic regions.
• Consider the structure of the Board and make recommendations for possible changes while preserving the law school majority.
• Review the way in which the concerns of the public interest community are represented on the Board.

NALP will build on the strengths of its individual members by encouraging and supporting volunteer leadership and service.

• Recommend that each President-Elect solicit the membership for volunteers to staff committees, advisory councils, and task forces.
• Review and revitalize the committee and task force structure on an annual basis to align it with the goals and objectives of the Association.
• Support the development of member-driven affinity groups and encourage opportunities for networking and social interaction.
• Enhance Committee Chair effectiveness by providing leadership training and examples of best practices.
• Foster potential leaders, including talented new members, and develop leadership training programs for these members.
• Refine NALP's membership structure through the consideration of new section memberships, tiered membership levels that offer a variety of bundled services, memberships that appeal to small and medium private sector employers as well as government and public interest employers, and new limited membership categories for non-traditional members such as consultants and others.

Lawyer Professional Development

NALP will be a source of excellence for programming, services, resources, and education in the field of lawyer professional development.

• Continue to incorporate lawyer professional development professionals into NALP's membership and core services.
• Develop and promote a broad definition of lawyer professional development and educate members on lawyer professional development issues.
• Research and provide information on job descriptions and salary and staffing models for professional development departments.
• Facilitate communication between lawyer professional development professionals and law school members, including exchange of information about programs and curricula.
• Support law school member efforts to provide professional development programs to their students and graduates.
• Provide products and services to all legal employers with professional development programs.
• Establish benchmarks in the areas of lawyer orientation, integration, training, mentoring, career counseling and planning, evaluations, mandatory continuing legal education, work coordination, work assignments, core competencies, and cross-border lawyer development.
• Develop best practices resources that address retention strategies and integration of recruitment, professional development, pro bono, and lawyer management functions.
• Develop model curricula on lawyer professional development for use within member law schools and explore possible collaboration with the Association of American Law Schools.
• Collaborate on professional development programs, products, research, and services with ALI-ABA, the Professional Development Consortium, the American Bar Association, the Association of Continuing Legal Education Administrators, the American Society for Training & Development, the Canadian Bar Association and provincial law societies, and others as appropriate.

Public Service

NALP will be a source of excellence in information and education about public service opportunities for law students and lawyers.

• Support and enhance the operation of PSLawNet.
• Educate NALP members and the legal community about PSLawNet and other resources related to public service and public interest career opportunities.
• Explore possible linkages between PSLawNet and law firm pro bono programs.
• Determine PSLawNet's role in supporting law school implementation of the new ABA pro bono requirements.
• Provide a central service or consolidated resource to help students locate and use information on government employers and job opportunities.
• Create specialized fellowship guides from the existing fellowship guide database.
• Create public interest career path guides on different areas of the law, including job profiles, directory information, and statistical analysis of markets and opportunities.
• Enhance educational programming and publications on counseling skills for public interest topics such as law school debt.
• Provide education and information about pro bono opportunities and resources to enhance career development for students and lawyers.

NALP will be the leading provider of research, data, and analysis relating to public service law careers.

• Explore opportunities to collaborate on research projects with allied organizations including ProBonoNet, American Bar Association entities, Equal Justice Works, and Pro Bono Students Canada.
• Collaborate with groups such as The Access Group on research to educate members and other constituencies regarding law student and lawyer debt and its impact on career choices.

NALP will promote community service and pro bono activities by its members.

• Profile relevant community service activities of NALP members in NALP publications.
• Profile public service activities of law students and member organizations.
• Work with city groups to promote community service and pro bono opportunities for NALP members that will utilize and enhance their professional skills.

Research

NALP will be the authority on research, analysis, and education in legal career development.

• Enhance research on trends and best practices in lawyer recruitment, hiring, compensation, employment, professional development, retention, and diversity.
• Articulate and promote a systematic process for identifying and selecting research projects and for routinely soliciting research proposals from NALP members and other interested parties and sources.
• Provide sophisticated analysis and application of NALP research.
• Commission a white paper on managing the effects of the accelerated recruitment calendar, including the impact on law schools, law students, and legal employers.
• Collaborate with other organizations on research topics of mutual interest and importance.
• Enhance research and analysis on issues related to:
  • women in the legal profession;
  • diversity in the legal profession;
  • progressive work arrangements such as flexible work schedules, part-time schedules, and telecommuting;
  • lawyer careers and the business implications of emerging trends such as outsourcing, off-shoring, the impact of contract and temporary lawyering, the emergence of multidisciplinary practices, and others; and
  • other topics to be identified by the NALP Research Advisory Council.
• Compare NALP research findings with findings from other industries to provide a comparative market analysis (e.g., timing of first job placement, retention, and job satisfaction in the legal profession as compared to other professions).
• Design and conduct research to identify - and educate members about - generational differences and issues in the workplace and the implications of these differences for legal education and the legal profession.
• Prioritize research initiatives in core lawyer professional development areas (e.g., training, mandatory continuing legal education, mentoring, orientation, integration, career counseling, evaluation, work coordination, core competencies, and best practices) in order to develop new products and services.
• Provide links on the NALP website to research on legal career topics from NALP, the NALP Foundation, and other industry sources.
• Continue to update and evaluate the relevance of NALP surveys and questionnaires on a regular basis.

NALP, in conjunction with the NALP Foundation, will ensure that the NALP brand remains the preeminent source of data, analysis, and research in law careers.

• Work cooperatively with the NALP Foundation to establish a balanced and reasonable research agenda that benefits NALP member institutions.
• Work cooperatively with the NALP Foundation and other affiliate organizations to ensure the completion of the second and third phases of the After the JD study.
• Develop a process to further market NALP research to the legal profession and other interested constituencies.
• Include a NALP Foundation representative on the NALP Research Advisory Council.

Resources

NALP will strive to generate sufficient financial resources in order to sustain its position as the leader in providing research, education, products, and services that support legal hiring and career development.

• Seek business partners with whom profitable collaborative ventures are possible.
• Continue to identify new products and services that add value in the field and also produce revenue for the association.
• Develop a fee-based listing service for consultants, search firms, and speakers.
• Explore hiring additional staff members in the areas of marketing and business development, technology, and research.

Services

NALP will be the industry leader in developing and providing law career-related products and services.

• Consider bundled and tiered services and fee structures to service new markets.
• Create periodic on-line programs or webinars on various topics.
• Create publications for use by college students and others considering the legal profession including guides on what to expect in legal careers, how to handle the application process, how to select a law school, and other topics.
• Create how-to guides on a variety of legal career topics for multiple audiences.
• Provide access to high-quality educational programs that focus on counseling special populations, including LLM students and students at risk.
• Develop products, services, and articles for members of the legal profession who are exploring career changes.
• Evaluate the possibility of establishing standards of success and benchmarks upon which employers and law schools might measure the effectiveness of their respective recruitment, professional development, and career service operations.

NALP will be the leading source of information on law careers.

• Become an information clearinghouse on judicial clerkships at all levels in the U.S. and Canada.
• Maintain active contact with the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to ensure NALP's continued role in providing input into the federal clerkship process.
• Market webcast conference sessions from NALP educational programming.
• Develop or repackage existing information into easily marketable formats on specific topics.
• Create an on-line guide and other resources on lateral hiring best practices.
• Increase awareness of student debt load and its impact on the legal profession in partnership with The Access Group and other providers and consider holding a summit on this topic.
• Develop electronic (editable) prototypes for easily customizable student education programs.
• Enhance the current job bank for legal career professionals by making it searchable, increasing the listings, and encouraging minority legal associations to link to NALP job listings.

NALP will maximize the value of its data resources through effective distribution.

• Maximize the potential for revenue generation from the NALP Directory of Legal Employers and the NALP Directory of Law Schools while at the same time enhancing the on-line searchability and functionality of these databases.
• Broaden the market for NALP data through the aggressive development and distribution of periodic press releases.
• Create a NALP research service that could provide fee-based customized reports upon request.

NALP will strive to provide its members with current and timely information about technology solutions in the area of law careers.

• Explore software sharing among member institutions.
• Standardize on-campus feedback form in a web-based service.
• Explore feasibility of NALP hosting multiple listservs for a variety of audiences.
• Explore the creation of a website for private sector lawyer job postings.

NALP will proactively assess emerging market trends for new products and services.

• Consider the feasibility of offering a Directory of Canadian Articling Employers and/or producing the Toronto Summer Application Booklet.
• Explore with the American Bar Association and the Law School Admission Council the feasibility of developing verification mechanisms for law school reported data.
• Explore whether temporary lawyers constitute a market interested in NALP products and services.
• Explore the potential for marketing NALP products and services to government sector and other public sector legal employers.
• Investigate the viability of hosting NALP-sponsored regional job fairs.