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The program in Mexico City, one of eight

summer abroad programs run by the Uni-

versity of San Diego (USD) School of Law,

actually encouraged the planned start-up of a

new student clinic at North Carolina Central,

says Hall.

Hall’s classmate is taking time off to go

to USD Law and see how their immigra-

tion clinic is run there, with an eye towards

duplicating the model in North Carolina on

his return. Now that Hall has returned from

his stint in the Mexico program, he plans to

“most definitely” be involved with the new im-

migration clinic when it is up and running.

Hall, who is going into his second year of law

school in the fall, is interested in how govern-

ment policy affects law, and was able to study

that first-hand in Mexico City. As he and other

program participants studied courses on

immigration law and NAFTA, they were living

in a place where those policies and issues

are affecting people’s lives — and they could

discuss the issues both inside and outside

of the classroom. Taught in the context, the

courses “gave me a great introduction to how

the policy works,” says Hall.

In Mexico City, program participants — from

several different law schools, and coun-

tries — were placed with families for the

five weeks they were there. Hall lived with

two other law students with the family of a

Mexican lawyer. Hall studied Spanish in high

school, and bridged any language gap at the

house with the help of the lawyer’s wife, who

spoke English, and his fellow students, who

are both fluent in Spanish. Out and about in

the city, he took a dictionary and a map, and

“was able to communicate very well,” he

says.

Taking summer courses in a foreign country

that is currently affected by those issues

meant that learning “didn’t stop in the class-

room,” says Hall. The lawyer with whom he

stayed had done human rights work with the

Zapatista rebels in southern Mexico, and they

talked about that experience, as well as about

how NAFTA is effecting rural people and

farms in the country. In the program, “you

can take what you learn out on the street

and talk about it” with people in the city, says

Hall.

Courses are tailored to fit each country in the

USD Law study abroad program. While Hall

studied NAFTA in Mexico City, other program

participants were taking courses on Interna-

tional Negotiation, East-West Trade Law, and

Russian law in Moscow, says USD program

coordinator Cindy King.

In Florence, law students can study interna-

tional comparative law in the arts and intel-

lectual property law. In Dublin, the program

focuses on human rights issues, especially

those in the European Union’s legal system.

Some faculty and student alumni of the pro-

gram are quite well-known. Justice Antonin

Scalia taught a course at the USD program

in Dublin in 1998, for example. And one law

student who participated went on to become

the President of Ireland. The USD programs

are also distinguished by their longevity, says

King, with the first program launched in 1973

in Paris.

With such a broad reach and high credentials,

the USD Law study abroad programs may

still find their greatest impact is made on the

individual, local level.

Hall, who is embarking on a second ca-

reer, had a graphic design and sign-making

business before entering law school. He

was inspired to become a lawyer through

the grassroots efforts of his church to help

residents of a neighboring public housing

development who were going to be evicted to

make way for building renovations.

Since the church provided free day care for

the children in the development, as well as

other services, being displaced would have a

great impact on the development’s residents.

“Our church is very community oriented,”

says Hall. Lawyers in the church did pro bono

work with residents dealing with the housing

authority, which inspired Hall. “It motivated

me,” he says, and, seeking an HBCU (Histori-

cally Black College or University), he applied

to North Carolina Central Law. “I want to

make a different kind of difference in people’s

lives.”

Hall hopes to work with a nonprofit group

on civil rights issues in his future legal

career. He sees his experience in Mexico as

forwarding that goal through the connections

between immigration issues and civil rights

work — understanding international issues

and applying them back at home.

Learning About NAF TA In Mexico City: Study Abroad Brings Knowl-edge to Life [by Erica Winter]

After a friend and fellow classmate at North Carolina Central University School of Law returned from a study abroad program in Mexico City and sang its

praises, Dave Hall decided to go.