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
Monterey College of Law
This study will be the first of its kind to compile and analyze empirical data from regulatory agencies (state and national bar associations), industry trade groups (malpractice insurers), and other published academic and professional research. The primary objective is to inform national and state policy decisions through an empirical analysis of the relationship between a minimum bar exam passing score (“cut score”) and minimum competency, public protection, and disparate impact. This is a companion study to the AccessLex Institute supported California Attorney Practice Analysis (CAPA).
Touro College
The study seeks to explore whether remediation of reading disfluency at the law school level will have a positive impact on reading comprehension ability – particularly in “at risk” students. For purposes of this study, the definition of “at risk” students are students with weak LSAT scores. This project builds on their 2017 empirical study examining a possible link between oral reading disfluency and reading comprehension ability in first-year law students.
Elon University School of Law
The project will assess interventions aimed at improving student success and first-time bar passage through a two-phase project funded by AccessLex. The data collected and reported to AccessLex through this grant project will help determine the impact and success of interventions in overcoming barriers to student success and first-time bar exam passage.
American Bar Foundation
This grant builds on the existing Emerging Scholars Fellowship Program in Legal and Higher Education program originally funded by AccessLex Institute in 2016. The expanded initiative will be comprised of three parts: A Doctoral Fellowship Program (supporting two, two-year fellows), an innovative Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (supporting two, two-year fellows), and annual Alumni Workshops.
The Law College Association of the University of Arizona
This grant will measure the outcomes of students in the BA Law program and compare those outcomes to students in other fields at the University of Arizona through surveys and archival data to document students’ success in their programs, career aspirations, preparedness for continuing higher education, and sources of information and advice. Results will be used to better understand what, if anything, is valuable and distinctive about the BA Law experience as a preparation for the JD, as well as provide Latina students an even more engaging experience by offering additional support and preparation through a specialized mentor and training seminar.
The Association of American Law Schools (AALS)
The Sponsorship, Research and Challenge Directed Grant is a multi-component project, including a $25,000 sponsorship for the Law School Deans’ workshop/forum at the AALS Annual Meeting, $225,000 for the Study of the American Law School Dean, and a $25,000 Challenge Grant. The project will survey the process by which individuals are recruited and selected for deanship at American law schools, as well as identify the most challenging issues facing law deans today.
Read more about the Research and Challenge Directed Grant.
Elon University School of Law
This grant will evaluate the relationship between programmatic and curricular interventions developed by the Elon University School of Law and the bar examination success of the Law School’s students. The project’s results will be used to focus its efforts on those areas which most benefit its students, particularly those at risk of not passing their bar examination on the first try.
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.
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.