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
Florida Atlantic University
Florida Atlantic University Pre-Law University Services (PLUS) Expansion [PLUS-Expansion]
FAU's focus is on traditionally underrepresented groups in law. FAU will: 1) Create an inclusive pre-law community for all students, especially those historically underrepresented in law; 2) Eliminate barriers for law school applications; 3) Build a pre-law hub of services to enhance and integrate existing FAU Pre-Law University Services (PLUS) resources; and 4) Establish a formal articulation agreement with St. Thomas University, setting an example for partnerships with other law institutions.
University of Arkansas
Summer Pre-Law Program Arkansas [SPPARK]
SPPARK is an intervention program that addresses challenges in the educational pipeline to the legal profession by exposing historically underrepresented students to information, skills, resources and mentors focused on facilitating successful matriculation into law school and the legal profession. We will conduct a quasi-experimental process and outcome evaluation of SPPARK that involves the differential treatment of participants with high-intensity treatment and low-intensity control groups.
Wake Forest University School of Law
This project will identify students’ knowledge gaps about the law school admissions process, negative views of Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), and financial barriers that lead to fewer application submissions, and fewer offers of acceptance.
Washington University School of Law
The project aims to evaluate factors that will enhance the value and relevance of legal education, especially for historically underrepresented groups. The first objective is to create a nationwide archival dataset on lawyer rosters, lawyer disciplinary actions, and state occupational licensing requirements for lawyers in the United States from 1900 to 2018. Second, the research will investigate the effects of a host of law school and licensing policies that are relevant to the value of legal education.
University of Pennsylvania
This grant will comprehensively evaluate whether the adoption of rgw Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) has positively influenced enrollment and Bar passage rates of underrepresented and minority students in law schools located in participating states. It will also measure the extent to which (a) tuition and fees costs and costs of living, (b) interstate employment mobility, and (c) overall employment prospects of graduates from participating schools and states varied given the adoption of UBE.
Concordia University Chicago
The grant will examine approximately 30 first-generation law students enrolled at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law using both surveys and in-depth interviews to identify critical: pre-law school experiences, psychoemotional/educational needs of enrolled first-generation law students, and personal qualities associated with first-generation students’ law school success.
The Law College Association of the University of Arizona - James E. Rogers College of Law
This grant will pilot a seven and a half-week online course teaching standard contracts and foundational skills in case-reading and analysis to 250 aspiring JD students. The course is intended to expose students to the materials and methods of legal education and better prepare them for success in JD programs. A more valid and reliable predictor of student performance in law school will be developed using factors beyond standardized test scores and undergraduate grades.
The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois on behalf of The John Marshall Law School
This grant supports a study of the impact of High performance cognitive training – Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Training (SMART) has on improving cognitive performance, and thus academic performance and bar passage.
To read more, please visit Texas Tech adopts SMART brain training for its 1Ls
University of Massachusetts
This grant supports a study of students’ social networks that will examine whether certain connections are associated with law school success. The project will focus on whether students from diverse backgrounds lack access to key social connections and to what extent network inequality accounts for disparities in legal education outcomes.