WEST CHESTER, PA — AccessLex Institute® has announced its first law school partnership under the Admission Innovation Project (AIP), teaming up with Southwestern Law School to evaluate a novel admissions process that gives waitlisted applicants another route to acceptance through structured interviews.
The collaboration marks a milestone in AccessLex’s ongoing effort to help law schools explore new ways to identify student potential beyond standardized test scores. Launched in 2024, the AIP funds and supports research into alternative admissions models aimed at promoting fairness, diversity, and evidence-based decision-making.
Under the partnership, AccessLex researchers will work with Southwestern Law to analyze data from the school’s interview-based admissions pathway. The study will examine which factors predict academic success and professional readiness among students admitted through this process, with the goal of refining and improving future admissions practices.
“We launched the Admission Innovation Project to support law schools that select students in ways that truly capture the important principles of holistic admission,” said Aaron N. Taylor, Senior Vice President and Executive Director of the AccessLex Center for Legal Education Excellence®. “Southwestern’s admission interview process has already demonstrated success in opening pathways to talented future lawyers. We are excited to help them learn more about the impacts of the process.”
Southwestern leaders Natalie Rodriguez, Vice Dean for Academics, and Anahid Gharakhanian, Vice Dean and Co-Director of the Externship Program, said the initiative aligns with the school’s broader mission to redefine academic merit. “Law schools can and should reimagine how they assess law school readiness by defining merit more broadly, using measures that matter,” they wrote. “This approach not only expands access to legal education and the profession but also benefits society as a whole.”
AccessLex’s Admission Innovation Project accepts proposals year-round, funding multi-year collaborations that test and evaluate nontraditional admissions approaches. Each project runs up to 24 months and includes both financial support and research expertise from AccessLex’s team of legal education analysts.
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