What makes our program so magical? BALI provides practical training and coaching, accountability systems and a supportive peer learning community to help accelerate business growth, access to new efficiency technologies, and assistance in building skill and capacity in the practice and business of law. We help build financially successfull legal businesses across a wide range of practice areas of need for untapped markets. Virtual participation is welcome. We went virtual before the COVID pandemic. Although BALI is sited in Alameda County and a program of the Alameda County Bar Association, California, attorneys do not need to limit their client base to Alameda County: some have offices in other parts of the Bay Area, state, or world. Moreover, our program is a proven model for diversification of the legal profession. Our participants are a majority women, a majority people of color, one-third immigrants, and a third identifying as lgbtqia. Over a third are bi or trilingual. A quarter of our participants identify as living with a disability. We have as many new and young attorneys as we have senior attorneys who have practiced over 20 years. Ours is a truely diverse community of life learners committed to building innovative practices and supporting eachother's accelerated success.

What makes this program design so innovative and impactful? With a widening income gap and escalating cost of legal services, few middle and low income people can afford legal representation. Additional people are disenfranchised from legal representation through geographic isolation or discrimination. These underserved markets hold great market potential. The key is figuring out how to do so while building financial success. Meanwhile, the legal profession continues to struggle with developing a successful diversity pipeline ensuring equitable success for attorneys from historically disenfranchised communities.

Most lawyers want to have impact. Many lawyers, including diverse attorneys systemically facing inequitable opportunities for success in the legal profession, would love to launch legal businesses helping communities underserved in our legal system, but they do not know how to make such a business financially viable. New attorneys often lack both the practical experience to effectively represent clients and the business experience to confidently and successfully open and operate their own firms. Many more experienced solos plateau in their business growth or struggle building financial stability in light of shifts in the legal marketplace and unfamiliarity with legal technology.  

BALI opportunities include a one-year introductory program, a graduate fellowship, and an attorney in residency. All participants must be a licensed member of bar, in good standing, and able to practice law in California at the start of the program. All participants receive approximately $35,000 worth of benefits annually (including one-on-one business, executive and crisis coaching, dedicated physical work space in our hub if desired, free membership to the Alameda County Bar Association and fee-free membership to its modest means lawyer referral service, voluminous MCLEs, and access to many technology and research tools, including multiple case management software options, Lexis/Nexis, etc).

Regardless of the participant’s geographic focus or physical location, all BALI attorneys are expected to actively engage in the BALI community, whether in person or virtually. All trainings and community meetings are video-casted to allow active participation from afar, and all attorneys are encouraged to work collaboratively and to share resources electronically. Participation and engagement is a primary value and expected, without exception.