Meet the students who already want your firm.
Law students use BigLaw Bear for free to research every major firm, track applications and mark the firms they want most. Your team sees that interest months before applications open.
41 of the Am Law 100 have a firm portal account.
Why I Built BigLaw Bear
Founder, BigLaw Bear
Today’s recruiting platforms are incomplete in one of two ways. Some charge firms to advertise, so students only see the firms that paid. Others charge students, which is unfair to the people with the least money. Both are partial versions of the platform recruiting needs. BigLaw Bear lists every major firm, whether or not it pays us anything, and it is free for every student.
When I recruited, I applied directly to 47 law firms. In every cover letter I wrote some version of the same line:
“I am super excited to work at blank.”
What was missing, and what hurt both me and the recruiting teams reading those letters, was a way to show special interest. That’s what we’re solving for.
Why a Gold Medal Means Something
A Gold Medal works like early decision. It is a student telling one firm, and only that firm, that it is their first choice. Gold Stars are a short list of three. Picks are limited and changes are capped, so a pick costs the student something, and that is what makes it credible. Students verify with their school email.
For your firm, that changes three things:
- Yield. You spend interview and callback time on students who already want you, so more of your offers should turn into acceptances.
- Earlier, warmer conversations. You know who is interested before applications open, so you can reach out first.
- Interest you can check. Instead of reading the same line in every cover letter, you can see whether a student actually picked you.
Your recruiting team sees the Medals and Stars given to your firm, never the rest of a student’s list.
Students Who Want to Be Found
Every student here chose to be visible to firms. Right now that is 1,019 students who finished their profile and have not hidden it from firms. Your team sees their recruiting profile: school, class year, background, and the cities and practice areas they want. Resumes and transcripts open once a student picks your firm, applies or RSVPs to one of your events.
You can reach them before applications open: host events, email the students you choose, and put your application in front of them on the Job Board.
Club Sponsorships in One Place
Every summer, firms get hundreds, sometimes thousands, of sponsorship emails, menus and price sheets from law school clubs. BigLaw Bear puts it all in one place: the request, the menu, the invoice and the event. More than 40 law firms used this exact system over the past year to work with one law school club, all handled through BigLaw Bear.
The 1Ls Who Already Chose You
Ask for your free 1L interest report: how many verified students gave your firm a Gold Medal or Gold Star, by school and class year, with the 30-day trend. Counts only, no names, no commitment. Once your firm is in recruiting mode, it arrives on the first business day of every month and lives under Analytics in the portal.
Interest report
Your firm, last 30 days. Example data; your counts will differ
- Gold Medals
- 3
- Students who picked you first
- Gold Stars
- 15
- On their shortlist
Picks over 30 days
By school
- Harvard5
- Columbia4
- NYU4
- Georgetown3
- Michigan2
Gold MedalsGold Stars
What Your Team Gets
Six tools in one firm portal. Use one or all of them.
- 1
Gold Medals and Gold Stars
See which students picked your firm.
Each student gets one Gold Medal for their first choice and a short list of Gold Stars. You see the Medals and Stars given to your firm, never the rest of a student’s list. A pick is an invitation to get to know a student, not an application or a promise to join.
- 2
Your Firm Profile
Check what students read about you.
Pay, Am Law and Vault ranks, Chambers rankings by city, offices and recruiting dates, each with a dated source. Send a correction with your source and we check it before it goes live.
- 3
Job Board
Post your openings where students track deadlines.
Your apply link, open date, deadline and offices go on the board students use for summer and postgrad programs. Post an opening on the Job Board.
- 4
Events
Meet students before applications open.
Publish an office visit or practice-group conversation, collect RSVPs and take attendance.
- 5
School Partnerships
Work with law school clubs in one place.
Clubs send sponsorship requests with the amount, the events and what your firm gets. You review and track them in one place. How partnerships work.
- 6
Recruiting Workspace
Keep the cycle in one record.
Applications, screeners, callbacks, offers and notes together. Applications export as CSV, and you can start with one piece.
How to Start
1
Claim Your Portal
Request access with your firm email. We confirm you can act for the firm.
2
Review Your Profile
Check pay, offices, rankings and dates, and send any corrections.
3
Go Live
Once we confirm your admin and they accept the data use agreement, we switch your portal from preview to live.
Free and With a Plan
Free for Every Firm
- Your Firm Profile
- Review what students read about you and send corrections with your source.
- Gold Medals and Gold Stars
- See which students picked your firm, in the Student Database.
- The Interest Report
- Monthly counts by school and class year.
- Job Board Listings
- Your apply links, open dates, deadlines and offices where students track them.
- School Partnerships
- Club sponsorship requests, reviewed and tracked in one place.
With a Plan
- Events
- Publish office visits and practice-group conversations, collect RSVPs, take attendance.
- Outreach
- Email the students you choose. Students who turned off outreach or paused recruiting are left out for you.
- Your Team
- Seats with per-person permissions and an audit log.
- Recruiting Workspace
- Applications, screeners, callbacks, offers and notes in one record.
Plans are set up with you, not self-serve.
How We Keep It Honest
Students have to trust where their picks go, and firms have to trust what they read. These are the rules the whole product runs on.
Free for every student. Knowing the firms does not depend on who already knows a lawyer, and the students you meet here arrive knowing more about your firm.
Sourced or blank. Every fact on your profile cites your own site or a named ranking, with the date we read it. Estimates say so. What we cannot source stays blank.
Students stay in control. They can hide from a firm, pause recruiting or turn off outreach, and your portal respects it.
Nothing to rip out. Use one piece or all of them. Applications export as CSV for your ATS.
No AI on anyone's data. No automated scoring or screening of students, and no training on platform data.
Questions Recruiting Teams Ask
Straight answers to what recruiting teams ask us most.
Gold Medals and Gold Stars
What are Gold Medals and Gold Stars?
Each verified student gets one Gold Medal for the firm they want most and 3 Gold Stars for their shortlist. Students can earn more Stars only by referring classmates. Your firm sees the Medals and Stars given to it.
Is a Gold Medal or Gold Star an application?
No. It is a student telling you they are interested. It does not commit the student or your firm to anything, and it is not a substitute for your application process.
Can we see which other firms a student picked?
No. Your firm sees only the picks given to your firm, never the rest of a student's list.
Can students game the system by moving picks around?
Picks are scarce on purpose. A student can move their Gold Medal 3 times and their Gold Stars 10 times in total (plus 2 more for each extra Star they earn), so a pick means something.
The Students
Who are the students?
Law students who use BigLaw Bear for free to research firms, track deadlines and plan recruiting. Firms see students who have confirmed their email and completed a profile. Test accounts never appear and never count.
Which class years can we see?
Every class year. The interest report breaks your Medals and Stars down by school and by class year.
Do you verify grades, class rank or work history?
No. School, grades, rank and experience are what the student reports, so confirm them through your usual process.
What can we see about a student?
The profile a student chose to share in the Student Database: school, class year, interests and, where they uploaded them, a resume and transcript. Your admin decides who on your team can open resumes and add notes.
Can a student hide from our firm?
Yes. Students can hide their profile from a specific firm, pause recruiting, or turn off firm outreach. The Student Database and outreach respect those choices.
The Interest Report
What is in the interest report?
How many students gave your firm a Gold Medal or Gold Star, by school and class year, with the trend over the last 30 days. It is counts only, and you can ask for yours free, with no commitment.
What is recruiting mode?
Your firm portal starts as a preview with sample data. Recruiting mode switches it to live: your team works with real students, sees who picked your firm, and the interest report starts arriving every month. Once we confirm your admin and they accept the data use agreement, we switch your portal from preview to live.
Who receives the monthly report?
Members of your portal who can view analytics. It arrives on the first business day of each month once your firm is in recruiting mode, and it also lives under Analytics in the portal.
Your Firm Profile
Where do the facts on our profile come from?
Pay, class size, offices and leadership come from your firm's own site or announcements, each with the date we read it. Rankings come from their publishers (Vault, Am Law, Chambers) and are applied the same way to every firm. Where a figure is an estimate, the page says so, and anything we cannot source stays blank.
Something on our profile is wrong. How do we fix it?
Send a correction from the firm portal with your source. We review each one and publish it unless it looks like an accidental edit. For rankings, we can fix how we copied a ranking, not the ranking itself.
Can a firm pay to rank higher or change how it appears?
No. Rankings come from their publishers and are applied the same way to every firm. A plan changes your tools, never your profile or your place in a list.
Can we post our openings?
Yes, free. Add your apply link, open date, deadline and offices to the Job Board, where students track summer and postgraduate programs.
Your Team and Your Tools
Do we have to replace our ATS?
No. Use one piece or all of them. Applications export as CSV with columns mapped for common ATS imports.
Can we control what each person on our team can do?
On a plan, yes. Permissions are set per person: who can message students, move applications, extend offers, view analytics or export data, with an audit log of changes.
How do we contact students?
On a plan, by email from the portal to students you choose. Every message carries an unsubscribe link, and students who paused recruiting, turned off outreach or hid your firm are left out automatically.
How does this fit with school recruiting rules?
Your team decides when and how to contact students, under your schools' rules and your own policies. A Gold Medal or Gold Star is interest a student chose to share, not a contact from your firm.
Privacy and Security
Where is our data stored, and how is it protected?
On Supabase (AWS, Oregon) with the app on Vercel. Data is encrypted at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.2+), each firm's data is isolated by row-level security, and backups run daily.
Do you sign a data processing agreement?
Yes. Our DPA covers CCPA service-provider terms, 72-hour breach notice, 30 days' notice of new sub-processors, audit rights and deletion at the end of service. Email hello@biglawbear.com to sign; we countersign within two business days.
What happens to our data if we stop using BigLaw Bear?
Under our DPA your firm's data is deleted at the end of service. Before then, anyone on your team with export permission can export your students and applications.
Do you use AI on student or firm data?
No. BigLaw Bear does not use artificial intelligence or automated decision-making on student or firm data, and our terms bar anyone from using platform data to train AI.
Do you collect students' demographic data?
No. We do not collect demographic information about students.
Cost and Getting Started
Who built BigLaw Bear?
Tulio Tagliaferri, a law student, built it independently.
What does it cost?
Your profile, your Gold Medals and Gold Stars, the Student Database, the interest report, Job Board listings and school partnerships are free. Events, outreach, team permissions and the recruiting workspace come with a paid plan. Ask us and we will walk you through it.
How do we get access?
Request access with your firm email. We confirm you can act for the firm, then your first admin accepts the data use agreement and your portal opens in preview with sample data. When your admin accepts the data use agreement, we switch it to live.
Who do we talk to?
For access, tulio@biglawbear.com. For the DPA, security questionnaires or anything else, hello@biglawbear.com. Or request a 15-minute walkthrough and we will reply within one business day.
See your firm the way students do.
Your portal opens in preview with sample data, so your team can look around before anything is live.