Since launching our grantmaking activities in 2014, we have awarded over $21 million in support of our research priorities: access, affordability, and the value of legal education.
Awarded Grants
Grant Program
Grant Status
The Florida International University Board of Trustees on Behalf of Its College of Law
The Path to the Profession Initiative is a nine-week summer program that targets undergraduate students in their sophomore year through their enrollment into law school. The purpose of the program is to both facilitate the increased enrollment of minority and other traditionally underrepresented groups into an ABA approved law school, and to further the development of skills necessary for a successful law school experience once enrolled.
To read more, please visit FIU Law Receives $124,850 Grant to Increase Diversity in the Legal Profession.
Appalachian School of Law
The grant will measure whether students with weak academic predictors exceed bar pass expectations after completing the academic success-bar pass program at Appalachian School of Law. The project also will report on the relationship of traditional (e.g., LSAT, UGPA, gender, race-ethnicity, age) and non-traditional (e.g., socioeconomic. pre-law education) factors to bar exam performance.
To read more, please visit Academic Support & Bar Exam Prep.
UC Hastings College of the Law
This project would test the validity of the Nevada bar exam and, by extension, state bar exams generally. The objective is to determine whether and to what extent state bar exams are predictive of practice capacities.
To read more, please visit A better bar exam? Law profs weigh in on whether test accurately measures skills required for law practice.
View grant outcomes.
Northern Illinois University
The Legal Education, Access, and Recognition (LEARN) Program provides students from underrepresented minority groups and economically disadvantaged backgrounds with tools to support law school matriculation including rigorous LSAT preparation, tutoring and access to materials to improve admission rates, review of personal statements and resumes, application preparation support, and practice interviewing, and mentorship.
To read more, please visit NIU Law creates innovative program to decrease barriers to law school
Board of Trustees, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
The Summer Pre-Law Program (SPPARK) is a three-week residential summer program that will expose 25 undergraduate students to careers in the law and preparation for law school through LSAT preparation, academics, professional development, guest speakers, and field trips. The program focuses on the inclusion of minorities, first generation college students, economically disadvantaged students and other populations historically underrepresented in law school and the legal profession.
To read more, please visit Law School Welcomes 23 Students for Intensive Summer Pre-law Program
Council on Legal Education Opportunity
The goal of the CLEO Legally Inspired Cohort (CLIC) 2.0 program is to enhance access to legal education for students from diverse backgrounds. This grant will be a continuation and expansion of the 2016 CLIC program, funded in large part by AccessLex that enabled 15 students of color, whose LSAT scores ranged from 128 - 144, to successfully matriculate the first year of law school.
The State Bar of California
This grant allows the State Bar of California to build on studies performed in 2017 to address the state's bar exam passage rate and other matters related to the exam. In 2017, the State Bar of California conducted a series of tests to evaluate various components of the California Bar Exam, including the pass line and the alignment of the subject matters on the exam in relation to the expected knowledge and skills of entry-level attorneys.
To read more, please visit AccessLex Institute Awards Grant to State Bar of California for Job Analysis Study
American Bar Foundation
Dr. Robert Nelson has been awarded a grant to analyze longitudinal data collected from the After the JD Study of Lawyer Careers to determine the role of legal education in careers. This grant will support the work of young scholars who are providing research support throughout the project.
Dillard University
This grant supports the Foundation to Legal Education Advancing Diversity (LEAD) program. The program will provide rising college juniors with analytical and logical reasoning skills to ensure their success on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and in law school.