Legal Opportunity Scholarship

About the Legal Opportunity Scholarship

The American Bar Association (ABA) awards an annual Legal Opportunity Scholarship to first-year law students. The program's mission is to encourage racial and ethnic minority students to apply to law school and to provide financial assistance for them to attend and complete their legal education. The ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship grants $15,000 of financial aid to 20 - 25 incoming diverse law students over their three years in law school. Since its inception, the ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship has benefitted more than 400 students from across the country.

Share the ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship

How to Apply

The application period for the 2026 ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund for first-year students entering law school in the fall will soon open. The application cycle for 2026 will open on February 15th and close on April 15th. You can submit your application through the ABA LOSF application portal, which opens on February 15, 2026.

LOSF Material Requirements

Please read the application instructions carefully. 

FAQs regarding LOSF

Questions can be sent to [email protected] and [email protected].

Requirements for Eligibility 

To be eligible to receive an ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship, an applicant must meet all of the following requirements: 

1. The applicant must be an entering, first-year law student in academic year 2026.
2. The applicant must be a member of an underrepresented racial and/or ethnic minority (e.g. Black/African-American, Native American, Hispanic American, Asian/Pacific Islander). Please note: International students are not eligible.
3. Only first-year students beginning law school in this academic year will be eligible for a scholarship.  Law students who have completed one or more semesters or years of law school are not eligible.
4. Applicants who are part-time law students also must be starting law school in this academic year to be eligible.
5. At the time of submission of the application, the applicant must have achieved a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.5 (on a 4.0 grading scale) at their undergraduate institution.  If the applicant has not completed their undergraduate degree at the time the application is submitted, the applicant must have a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5 (on a 4.0 grading scale) as of the most recent completed semester.
6. Before receiving scholarship funds, recipients will be required to demonstrate admission to and plans to enroll at an ABA-accredited law school.  Because of the deadline for submitting applications the applicant will have applied to law schools, but may not yet have been admitted to law school.  If the applicant is selected to receive an ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship, the applicant will be required to demonstrate admission to and plans to enroll at an ABA-accredited law school before receiving scholarship funds.  Students who do not enroll or who leave law school after being admitted will be required to return all or a proportional amount of scholarship funds.

"I spent years searching my neighborhood for someone to look up to, but eventually I stopped looking for that person and decided to become that person."

Marlena Connelly, Roger Williams University School of Law

Learn More about How to Support Our Scholars

Your gift to support the ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund will bring about a more diverse and inclusive legal profession and positive changes in our communities.  

"My diversity is an asset, and I use the identities that I carry - Black, low-income, Southern, ideologically progressive – to constantly forge spaces more inclusive of marginalized individuals."

Armani Madison, Harvard Law School