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

Bowie State University
Prelaw Society: Prelaw Pathway Initiative
The Prelaw Society at Bowie State University supplements the Prelaw minor curriculum through activities that provide a supportive community. Through advising, workshops, networking opportunities, scholarly forums, and mentorships with judges, faculty, and attorneys, the program equips students from all majors with the knowledge, skills, disposition, and connections necessary for success in the legal field. The Prelaw Society empowers students with a solid foundation for their future legal careers.

University of Colorado Law School
Colorado Pre-Law Pathway Partnership (CPPP)
This collaboration between the University of Colorado Law School (CU Law) and Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU), a Minority Serving Institution, seeks to increase matriculation into law school by MSU undergraduates from underrepresented racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The Program uses a differential treatment methodology to grow the knowledge base about pre-law supports through a novel, long-term intervention focused on student awareness, engagement, and belonging.

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.

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.
View grant outcomes.

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.
View Grant Outcomes.

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.