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.
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.
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.