BALI – Bay Area Legal Incubator
a community of solo attorneys dedicated to providing affordable legal services and promoting social justice
Start your own practice while serving the community!
Would you like to:
- Be your own boss?
- Build a sustainable law practice?
- Have a social impact?
Are you:
- Interested in creating a rewarding career on your own terms?
- Nervous about starting a law practice without a community of peers and coaches?
- Someone who went to law school to make a difference?
About BALI
Bay Area Legal Incubator (BALI) is a social-mission, business incubator for solo practitioners serving modest means clients. It is not a firm. It is a community and network.
We provide a one-year program to help new solos and recent law school graduates accelerate the launch of solo practices serving low- and middle-income clients in an array of practice areas. Attorneys benefit from a shared community; office space and resources; training in emerging best practices and technology; as well as coaching in law practice management, marketing and substantive law. Read the application info packet here.
Track 1: Law School
School-Sponsored applicants must be a third year student or a graduate of a participating school to apply. Please contact your school representative for more information. Each participating law school sets its own additional selection criteria and will select up to three recent graduates for the program, contingent on minimum, required participation. You will be asked to comply with application requirements and procedures of your participating alma mater.
Track 2: Free Agent
Free Agent applicants are not sponsored by an individual law school and must apply directly to BALI’s Director.
The Free Agent application may be found here.
Contact BALI Director Cynthia Chandler for more information at cynthia@acbanet.org.
Contact your school rep by clicking on your law school below!
BALI Benefits valued at $35k+
- In-house coaching in law practice management and business development
- Assistance developing coaching networks in substantive law and business development
- Dedicated desk with file storage, shared conference room, and free scanning and black and white prints/copies in BALI’s hub—a coworking space within the Alameda County Law Library in Oakland, within three blocks of BART
- Modest means, fee-generating client referrals from the Alameda County Bar Association (ACBA) Lawyer Referral Service (applicants are advised to research the regular volume of referrals in their areas of practice)
- Free membership to the Alameda County Bar Association
- Numerous networking opportunities
- Free Lexis/Nexis, CEB/OnLaw, Fastcase, and other research tools for a year; free Westlaw access while inside BALI’s hub
- Free case management software
- Free continuing legal education units in-house and through PLI and ACBA to accelerate your practice’s growth
- Access to a community of entrepreneurs also building their practices, and much more!
Law school sponsored participants pay no program fee for the first 3 months, then $250/month. Free agents pay $600/month.
BALI is a project of the Alameda County Bar Association and Volunteer Legal Services Corporation in collaboration with four San Francisco Bay Area law schools and the Alameda County Law Library, where our hub is located.
For more information about BALI, please visit our website: https://www.bayarealegalincubator.org/. Check out the application information packet for a FAQ and more details here.