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
University of Denver
This grant, in partnership with the ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Education and Prof. Deborah Merritt (Ohio State University Moritz College of Law), will develop a fair, evidence-based definition of minimum competence. The grant will build on existing research, including the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS)’ Foundations for Practice, and will use layered focus groups to deepen our understanding of minimum competence.
Read more here.
University of Cincinnati
The grant will conduct rigorous, multi-site analyses to develop a richer empirical model of bar passage and improve understanding through qualitative interviews of student graduates. The grant will use this information to extend existing literature and build research-practice partnerships that provide university partners with actionable insight into programmatic decisions, student interventions and supports, and advising.
View grant outcomes.
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.
University of Tennessee
A $50,000 research grant was awarded to Louis Rocconi, Assistant Professor at University of Tennessee’s College of Education, Health & Human Sciences, to examine the relationship between law school rank and student engagement.
To read more, please visit AccessLex Institute Announces Grant Winners
University at Buffalo
A $49,925 research grant was awarded to Jaekyung Lee, Professor at University at Buffalo’s Graduate School of Education, to study academic and sociocultural readiness for postgraduate education among immigrant and international students to promote equal access and success in graduate/professional schools.
To read more, please visit AccessLex Institute Announces Grant Winners
Boston College
A $49,978 research grant was awarded to Andrés Castro Samayoa, Assistant Professor at Boston College’s Lynch School of Education and Human Development, to explore how Latinx students and university officials at differently-ranked law schools articulate the value of legal education.
To read more, please visit AccessLex Institute Announces Grant Winners
Indiana University Maurer School of Law
A $24,600 research grant was awarded to Elizabeth Bodamer, Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at Indiana University, to study the law school experience of minority students.
To read more, please visit AccessLex Institute Announces Grant Winners
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.