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

Michigan State University College of Law
Grant Title: Michigan State University College of Law Pathway to the Legal Profession Program (MSUCOL PLPP)
The program will prepare participants to successfully apply for law school admission in Michigan. The program’s purpose is to redress the decrease in the enrollment of underrepresented students in law school exacerbated by Proposal 2 which forbade the consideration of race in admissions decisions. The program will support undergraduate Michigan residents attending Michigan public institutions who are underrepresented in law. Key partners will include local and national bench and bar leaders.

The University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law
Grant Title: The “Law as Influence, Law as Change"
The “Law as Influence, Law as Change” program seeks to increase the participation of historically underrepresented and minoritized students in the Four Corners region attending Utah State University Blanding ("Blanding") in Blanding, Utah. The program would sponsor students for a four-week learning experience. In the first two weeks, they will receive instruction at the Blanding site. The final two weeks will take place on campus and in-residence at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
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Legal Education Access Pipeline (LEAP)
Legal Education Access Pipeline (LEAP), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization now in its third year of operations. LEAP was established to diversify the legal sector and serves college juniors, seniors, and recent graduates from racial and socioeconomic backgrounds that are underrepresented in the legal profession. Leaning on research about successful diversity pipelines and education access initiatives, LEAP’s programs address the primary barriers to law school for the participants they serve.
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Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
The project seeks to evaluate the efficacy of a 1-credit personal finance course for fourth-year medical students in improving financial knowledge, self-efficacy, and financial planning behaviors. The potential differences in course outcomes for under-represented minority (URM) students versus their non-URM peers to evaluate equity of impact will be examined.

Arkansas State University System Foundation, Inc.
The project will focus on the impact that peer-led and initiated behavioral nudges (in the form of emails, text messages, and phone calls) will have on the financial wellness goals of first-year college students.

UC Berkeley School of Law
This grant will support the development of the Pre-Law Online Curriculum, a web-based, mobile-friendly pre-law advising center that is free and available to all. This system will provide instructional modules, community discussions, and online resources to students preparing for law school.
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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.
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University of St. Thomas School of Law
Over the last few years, a growing number of law schools have implemented a required first-year course/program focused on professional development or professional identity formation. To date, there has been no assessment of which of the courses/programs are most successful in advancing students with respect to learning outcomes associated with professional development. This project would be designed to assess these courses/ programs and to identify the most successful pedagogies.
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