Sara J. Berman, a professor and author whose work focuses on student success, distance learning, and attorney licensing, currently serves on the faculty of the USC Gould School of Law.
Berman previously served as a Professor of Law in New York and as Director of Academic and Bar Success at the nonprofit AccessLex Center for Legal Education Excellence where she established and led empirical research initiatives and grant funding programs to assist law schools nationwide in improving bar passage and student success outcomes. Berman conceived, founded, and served as Managing Editor of Raising the Bar, a quarterly publication dedicated to the civil exchange of evidence-based thought regarding law student success and the bar exam.
Berman attended the UCLA School of Law for her JD, and received a BA from the University of California at Santa Barbara, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa, with Distinction in both the Political Science and French Literature majors.
Berman is a relationship-focused leader who inspires and sustains long-term connections with colleagues, staff, students, and collaborators nationwide. She is a mission-driven optimist dedicated to meaningful reform in legal education, true access to justice for all, and inspiring future lawyers as the guardians of our democracy.
Berman publishes extensively with West Academics and Nolo.com and has served legal education in numerous capacities including as an ABA Fact Finder and on ABA site team visits. Berman presents regularly at national conferences and has decades of experience teaching doctrinal and skills courses and creating innovative curricular and co-curricular content in online and in-person learning environments.
Law School & Bar Exam Success 