Since launching our grantmaking activities in 2014, we have awarded over $26.4 million in support of our research priorities: access, affordability, and the value of legal education.
Awarded Grants
Grant Program
Grant Status

Willamette University
Grant Title: Assessing the Impact of Cohort Structure on First-Time Bar Pass Rates
This project hypothesizes that implementing a cohort structure for recent law school graduates who use Helix Bar Review while studying for state bar exams will result in improved bar passage rates for these first-time test takers. Project results will inform legal education literature as well as other ongoing studies and activities to improve passage rates and may, depending on cohort size, provide insight into the disparity currently seen in the passage rates of underrepresented populations.
View grant outcomes.

Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology
One & Done addresses three barriers to passing the bar exam on the first try that face "at-risk" graduates. First, these graduates need more personal support with time management than they typically get from commercial preparation programs, as well as additional study time devoted to spaced repetition study and practice-as-study. Second, many need financial support. Third, many need support to stay emotionally, psychologically, and socially healthy through the grueling bar preparation process.
View grant outcomes.

University of Georgia
A $50,000 research grant was awarded to Associate Professor of Higher Education Karen Webber, with the University of Georgia, to examine the increase in graduate student debt between 2008 and 2012.

American University
A $49,000 research grant was awarded to Seth Gershenson, assistant professor at American University, to explore whether the demographic match between law school instructors and students affects students’ academic progress and career paths.
To read more, please visit Stereotype Threat, Role Models, and Demographic Mismatch in an Elite Professional School Setting

University of Georgia
A $50,000 research grant was awarded to Manuel Gonzalez Canche, assistant professor at the University of Georgia, to estimate the effect of losing the federal loan subsidy on debt accumulation for law and professional students.

University of Florida
A $47,000 research grant was awarded to Assistant Professor Dennis Kramer, with the University of Florida, to examine the impact of need-based aid programs on the graduate and professional school enrollment of low-income students at the institutional and national levels.
To read more, please visit More Money, More Opportunities: The Impact of a No-Loan Program on the PostBaccalaureate Enrollment Decisions of Low-Income and First-Generation Students

University of Memphis
A $50,000 research grant was awarded to University of Memphis Associate Professor Yonghong Xu to examine diversity in law schools and how the educational experiences of women and racial minorities contribute to their career progress in legal professions.
To read more, please visit Equality at the Starting Line? Gender- and Race-Based Differences at the Transition from Law School to the Legal Profession

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
A $50,000 research grant was awarded to Stephen DesJardins, a professor at the University of Michigan—Ann Arbor, to address ways that law schools can use data systematically to admit students into their programs and then predict which students will actually enroll at the institution.
To read more, please visit Predicting Law School Enrollment: The Strategic Use of Financial Aid to Craft a Class

University of Chicago
A $12,400 dissertation grant was awarded to Nayoung Rim, a Ph.D. student at the University of Chicago, to study the effect of Title IX on gender disparity in legal education and other graduate and professional education.
To read more, please visit The Effect of Title IX on Gender Disparity in Graduate Education