LATEST ACCESSLEX RESOURCE: THE LAW SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIP DATABANK - AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION
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Thank you for the opportunity to offer a written report to the American Bar Association
Council. This brief update calls attention to a few of the most recent activities that AccessLex
Institute has undertaken in support of its mission.
Latest AccessLex Resource: The Law School Scholarship Databank
In March 2021, AccessLex Institute launched the
AccessLex Law School Scholarship Databank, a
searchable database housing over 800 scholarships
and writing competitions totaling more than $3
million in aid. It’s the most comprehensive list of
scholarships available for law students and those
interested in a law career.
Read the press release and visit the Databank today.
Helix Bar Review by AccessLex® Update
Progress continues on the creation of AccessLex Institute’s
new bar prep program, Helix Bar Review. A launch date for
the UBE, MBE and MPRE courses is set for October 2021,
with California and Florida state-specific materials to come
in 2022. AccessLex is confident that Helix Bar Review’s
exceptional quality and lower, no-profit pricing will help
rationalize the current commercial bar prep market to the
benefit of aspiring lawyers for years to come. While initial
pricing has not yet been established, students will find our
offering to be substantially below prevailing market rates for a program on par with or better
than the current full-service, commercial players.
MAX by AccessLex® Update
Our personal finance program created exclusively for law
students, MAX by AccessLex®, continues to enroll schools
and student users. Concluding its fourth year, the program
currently exceeds 29,000 participating current first-through-
third year students from 170 ABA-approved law schools.
AccessLex Awards $270,000 in Scholarships through the MAX by
AccessLex Personal Finance Program
On April 1, 2021, nine lucky law students were randomly selected as this year’s MAX by
AccessLex Grand Prize Scholarship winners. Three first-year, three second-year, and three
third-year law students — from MAX schools across the country — were awarded scholarships
toward their law school tuition:
Emily Anderson ’23 Lewis & Clark Law School $25,000
Rebecca Binzen, ’22 University of North Dakota School of Law $25,000
Matthew Buelow, ’21 University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law $25,000
Laura Callihan, ’23 University of Cincinnati College of Law $40,000
Robert Fitzgerald, ’21 Duquesne University School of Law $40,000
Abbie Hibsch, ’22 Wake Forest University School of Law $40,000
Magd Lhroob, ’22 Harvard Law School $25,000
Zachary Manley, ’21 The University of Tulsa College of Law $25,000
Mathew Novotney, ’23 Northern Illinois University College of Law $25,000
Students who participate in the MAX personal finance program are entered into scholarship
drawings by completing online lessons and attending the program’s webinars and
workshops. AccessLex has now awarded $330,000 in MAX scholarships this academic year and
over $1,000,000 since the program’s launch in fall 2017. Read our full announcement.
LexScholars Application Cycle Now Open
We are now accepting applications for LexScholars by
AccessLex. This program is designed for prospective
law students from underrepresented racial, ethnic,
and socioeconomic backgrounds who possess
potential for law school success but may be unlikely to
gain admission due to unfavorable standardized test
scores. Participants will benefit from free resources
including an online Kaplan LSAT course, law school admissions counseling, and access to
financial education and law school resources.
Applications are being accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. To learn more about
application requirements, program details and eligibility, visit AccessLex.org/lexscholars.
Working Paper on AccessLex/LSSSE National Report AccessLex Institute’s working paper, It’s Not Where You Start, It’s How you Finish: Predicting Law School and Bar Success, is a national report of the findings from the AccessLex/LSSSE Bar Exam Success Initiative. The Initiative is the first multi-institutional investigation into the factors that help predict law school academic and first-time bar exam performance. A central theme of the paper is the opportunity to change the trajectories of students who experience academic difficulty early on. We encourage your feedback at Research@accesslex.org. New Research Study Releases Findings on Legal Education Disparities In February 2021, AccessLex Institute released a new research report, Analyzing Pathways to the J.D. This three-part study probes how individual demographics and varying undergraduate routes and experiences can lead to disparate and inequitable outcomes for aspiring law students. Using data collected from the National Student Clearinghouse and the American Bar Association, the authors analyzed these different paths and where they lead in order to better understand how students of all backgrounds come to access legal education, and how we can use this information to advance diversity and equity in law school admission and enrollment. Read the report and its recommendations. AccessLex Bar Success Grant Programs AccessLex is accepting letters of inquiry for its Bar Success Intervention Grant Program and its Bar Success Research Grant Program through May 31. The Bar Success Intervention Grant Program provides funding to programs and interventions aimed at helping increase bar exam passage rates among students and/or graduates most at-risk of not passing. The Bar Success Research Grant Program funds well- designed and rigorous studies of the bar examination.
AccessLex-AASE ASP Faculty Scholarship Grant In March 2021, AccessLex announced a new AccessLex-AASE collaboration and the debut of the AccessLex-AASE ASP Faculty Scholarship Grant. AASE and AccessLex are both dedicated to the academic and bar success of law students across the nation. An important point of this collaboration is to support the scholarship of academic support educators, especially those who are newer to the discipline and face various challenges in getting such support. This grant supports scholarship by ASP faculty in any area, with academic support-related articles preferred. Grant recipients will be announced at the 2021 AASE Annual Conference. A grant award of $5,000 per recipient will be distributed on or near July 1. Now Available: Raising the Bar – Spring Edition There is great enthusiasm about improving bar exams and lawyer licensing — this year more than ever. Questions nonetheless persist. Doctors must know human anatomy; what must minimally competent 21st-century lawyers know? The Spring 2021 issue of Raising the Bar includes contributions from nearly two dozen thought leaders about attorney licensing and bar exam reform, including Deans, Professors, and the NCBE, which recently announced recommendations for a new generation of bar exam. Read the latest issue. AccessLex Institute’s Work on Education Legislation and Regulations AccessLex Institute’s policy experts track legislation and regulations with potential impact on students and the legal education community. We provide policy analysis, develop policy positions and help you use your voice on key issues impacting access, affordability and value in higher education. Following are some of our most recent policy letters. Additional information can be found here. • Pell to Grad Act • Child Care for Working Families Act • College Transparency Act • Title III (HBCU) Funding • PSLF 1099 issue • TPD Discharge
Analytix Updates Now Live! Analytix by AccessLex has been updated with the latest data from the 2020 American Bar Association Standard 509 reports. Users can now compare, trend and download data from the 2020 reports across a variety of topics, such as admissions, enrollment, tuition and living expenses. The Download Dataset tool also includes new data from the ABA reports on non-LSAT admissions. For instance, of the over 50 law schools now accepting the GRE, 21 reported the number of 1L enrolled students who submitted GRE scores and their GRE percentile scores in lieu of the LSAT. To view these and other data points, visit Analytix.
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