Awarded Grants

Through the Texas Lawyers Study, Texas A&M University School of Law will survey nearly 88,000 members of the State Bar of Texas to collect data regarding income levels,  demographics and career satisfaction.  The data will be used to better understand the varying effects of a law degree based on student characteristics as well to produce scholarly research on the economic value of a law degree.

A $49,999 research grant was awarded to Xeuli Wang, expert on Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis, to explore whether community college attendance plays a role in baccalaureate recipients’ access to graduate and professional education.

A $50,000 research grant was awarded to Erdal Tekin, Professor with the Department of Public Administration and Policy, to explore whether exposure to adjunct (part-time) law school instructors affects students’ success.

A $49,851 research grant was awarded to Hironao Okahana, Higher Education Researcher, to examine access to graduate and professional education, factors that are associated with attrition, and the effects that departure without earning a degree has on the future economic prospects of students.

A $125,000 grant was awarded to the American Bar Association (ABA) Fund for Justice and Education for the Evaluation of Key ABA Pipeline Programs project. The project intends to measure the effectiveness of three ABA Fund for Justice and Education pipeline programs: the Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund; the Judicial Clerkship Program; and, the Judicial Internship Opportunity Program.

The Elon University School of Law received a grant to study the impact and benefits of its innovative new curriculum. The curriculum is intended to improve the quality of the educational experience, shorten the length of the program and reduce cost in order to increase accessibility. The revised curriculum was first implemented during the 2016-2017 academic year. Major components include shortening the general course of study to two and a half years, reducing cost by nearly 25 percent and enhancing the educational experience by requiring that all students complete substantial experiential learning components.

The Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education received a grant to analyze the law school admissions market. A set of regression models will be estimated for predicting the prices charged by law schools reporting data to the American Bar Association. Similarly, institutional characteristics such as LSAT scores, bar passage rates and employment outcomes will be mapped. 

The Washington University School of Law received a grant to support a multi-school examination of the relationship between experiential coursework, bar subject coursework, outcomes on the bar examination, and securing an initial post-graduation legal job.