Legal Education Leader AccessLex Institute Introduces Innovative New Diversity Pipeline Program

Washington, DC, February 3, 2020 - The legal profession is the least diverse profession in the United States, which is a direct reflection of insufficient student diversity in law schools. AccessLex Institute is trying to help change that with the launch of LexScholars by AccessLex^®.

Although law schools have been actively trying to increase racial, ethnic and socioeconomic diversity among their students, their efforts are frequently undermined by disadvantages that people from underrepresented backgrounds are more likely to face, such as unequal educational opportunities and limited access to rigorous LSAT prep.

LexScholars is designed to help counteract the effects of these disadvantages by providing more than 1,200 aspiring law students (over five years) with resources and guidance to pursue their goal of attending law school. The program particularly targets people who possess potential for law school success but may be unlikely to gain admission due to unfavorable LSAT scores and/or undergraduate grades.

“The ‘ideal’ LexScholars participant has endured multilayered disadvantages,” said Aaron N. Taylor, Executive Director of the AccessLex Center for Legal Education Excellence and the principle architect behind the LexScholars by AccessLex program. “And despite potential for success and a clear, demonstrated commitment to attending law school, they remain unlikely to gain admission without targeted assistance.”

LexScholars participants will benefit from access to various resources, including LSAT preparation, law school admission counseling, financial education, wellness training and writing skills development. Additionally, a smaller cohort will be invited to participate in a 4-week residential summer program in Washington, DC. AccessLex researchers will track the law school admission experiences and outcomes of participants and use that information to aid their progression and develop diversity pipeline models that will benefit legal education, the profession and society.

“An ultimate goal of LexScholars, added Dr. Taylor, “is to develop sustainable and scalable models for effective diversity pipeline programming. This is the kind of results-driven work AccessLex Institute is uniquely positioned to do, and we look forward to seeing LexScholars help move the needle on law school diversity in a positive direction.”

The LexScholars application will open on February 3 and close on April 1. For more information, please visit: Accesslex.org/lexscholars.