AccessLex
Since launching our grantmaking activities in 2014, we have awarded $30.7 million in support of our research priorities: access, affordability, and the value of legal education.
Awarded Grants
FILTER BY
FILTER BY
CLEAR ALL FILTERS
The State Bar of California
Program:
Directed Grants Program
Date:
November 2022
Amount:
$225,500
Status:
Completed
Grant Title: Investigating the Benefits of Live Remote Proctor of Bar Exam
The State Bar seeks to evaluate the benefits of live remote proctoring (LRP) for the First-Year Law Students’ Examination (FYLSX). Previous remote FYLSX’s have been proctored relying on software recording and AI-based monitoring. This project will evaluate if LRP, 1) reduces false positive violations; 2) lessens login and other technology issues examinees encounter; 3) improves overall test experience for examinees.
View grant outcomes.
The NALP Foundation for Law Career Research and Education
Program:
Directed Grants Program
Date:
September 2022
Amount:
$40,000
Status:
Completed
The project proposes AccessLex fund 10 law schools' participation in The NALP Foundation and NALP’s U.S. Law School Alumni Employment and Satisfaction Study, for a three-year period: 6 HBCU law schools and 4 other new law schools with significant populations of under-represented groups. The additional data from these schools’ alumni will enhance the study’s inclusivity, providing important new insights for the profession, and the new participating schools with actionable data and benchmarking.
View grant outcomes.
State Bar of California
Program:
Directed Grants Program
Date:
September 2022
Amount:
$250,950
Status:
Awarded
The State Bar seeks to understand the impact of exam modality, open book, and testing time on the test-taking population, focusing on whether any of these exam features have an adverse or positive impact on subpopulations. Specifically tested will be: 1) the amount of time allocated for the performance test; 2) possible variances of an open-book option; and 3) to assess combinations of exam material and test-taking in online vs hard copy formats.
Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology
Program:
Bar Success Intervention Grant Program
Date:
June 2022
Amount:
$299,940
Status:
Completed
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.
Behavioral Insights Institute
Program:
Directed Grants Program
Date:
November 2021
Amount:
$80,000
Status:
Completed
Demographic matching between law students from underrepresented groups and law school faculty increases these students’ access to research opportunities and quality employment and impacts their sense of belonging. The sense of belonging influences students’ academic performance, course selections, J.D. degree completion, and bar exam success.
View grant outcomes.
The Pennsylvania State University
Program:
Directed Grants Program
Date:
November 2021
Amount:
$500,000
Status:
Completed
Led by Dickinson Law, and in collaboration with other law schools that are leading this Antiracist Reformation, the ADI will offer a three-week online, hybrid, or resident program that invites fellows to participate in programs designed to facilitate Antiracist institution-building.
View Grant Outcomes.
Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Program:
Directed Grants Program
Date:
November 2021
Amount:
$331,438
Status:
Completed
Enhance and evaluate the Productive Mindset Intervention for the California, Colorado, and Utah bar exams in July 2022 and 2023. Examine the predictors of bar performance in a dataset comprising over 15,000 test-takers across 7 administrations of the bar exams in California, Colorado, and Utah.
View grant outcomes.
CALI - The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction
Program:
Directed Grants Program
Date:
September 2021
Amount:
$114,550
Status:
Completed
The purpose of this grant is to extend the reach of Academic Success Professionals and help law students become better learners in the unique law school environment. This is especially useful for first-generation and underrepresented law students.
Legal Education Access Pipeline (LEAP)
Program:
Diversity Pipeline Intervention Grant Program
Date:
September 2021
Amount:
$207,000
Status:
Completed
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.