April 20, 2021

AccessLex Institute Surpasses $1,000,000 in Scholarship Awards through its MAX by AccessLex® Personal Finance Program

Financial Education

 

West Chester, PA (April 20, 2021) – For the fourth year in a row, legal education nonprofit AccessLex Institute held its MAX by AccessLex Grand Prize Scholarship Drawing, awarding $270,000 to nine current law students. Since launching the MAX personal finance program in 2017, the organization has handed out over $1 million in scholarships to students who have completed lessons and activities designed to maximize the knowledge gain and behavior change essential to making sound financial decisions while in school – and throughout their lives.

This month, three first-year, three second-year and three third-year law students from across the country were awarded scholarships toward their law school tuition:

Emily Anderson ’23  Lewis & Clark Law School      $25,000
• Rebecca Binzen, ’22   University of North Dakota School of Law          $25,000
• Matthew Buelow, ’21     University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law       $25,000
• Laura Callihan, ’23  University of Cincinnati College of Law         $40,000 
• Robert Fitzgerald, ’21   Duquesne University School of Law  $40,000 
• Abbie Hibsch, ’22    Wake Forest University School of Law         $40,000 
• Magd Lhroob, ’22 Harvard Law School   $25,000
• Zachary Manley, ’21  The University of Tulsa College of Law   $25,000
• Mathew Novotney, ’23  Northern Illinois University College of Law              $25,000

Designed exclusively for law students, MAX is a comprehensive personal finance curriculum that combines in-person workshops, online programming, and one-on-one coaching with fully accredited financial counselors. AccessLex makes MAX available free of charge to nonprofit and State-affiliated ABA-approved law schools and their students. To date, over 30,000 students at 170 law schools are participating in the program.

The annual Grand Prize Scholarship Drawing, as well as two other smaller annual drawings each year, are meant to encourage students to not only register for MAX but to actively engage with the program. Workshop participation and lesson completion earn students entries into the drawings, while also keeping financial education top of mind.

“We know law students are extremely busy with multiple competing priorities,” said Cynthia Cassity, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at AccessLex. “That understanding is baked into the program’s design, evident in both its content delivery and the scholarship incentives. It’s just a fact of life that sometimes we all need a nudge, especially when it comes to the things that don’t necessarily come naturally to us.”

Abbie Hibsch, a second-year student at Wake Forest University School of Law and one of the Grand Prize winners, said: “The MAX programming has given me invaluable financial skills. As I approach graduation, I feel confident in my ability to tackle my debt efficiently and responsibly. As someone who is going into the public interest field, this scholarship quite literally changed my life. Words cannot even begin to express how grateful I am for this scholarship and the wealth of knowledge I gained from AccesLex!”

 

About AccessLex Institute

AccessLex Institute is a nonprofit organization committed to helping talented, purpose-driven students find their path from aspiring lawyer to fulfilled professional. In partnership with its nearly 200 member law schools, improving access and positively influencing legal education have been at the heart of the Company’s mission since 1983. AccessLex Institute is headquartered in West Chester, PA. Learn more at AccessLex.org.