At the University of San Diego School of Law, students aren't just learning about the law in a classroom, they're putting it into practice in work cubicles.
Every semester, students can enroll in the school's immigration clinic for a number of units.
Logan Quessenberry and Amber Rahim have each enrolled in the clinic three times, losing track of the number of cases they’ve helped.
But one thing they have kept track of is why they wanted to come to law school in the first place: helping people.
“I didn't know exactly that I wanted to do immigration law, but I knew I wanted to help people," USD School of Law Graduate Logan Quessenberry said.
So how does it work?
Low-income individuals can apply for free legal representation through one of USD's 13 law clinics.
At the immigration clinic, students and supervising attorneys help clients with immigration-related issues, including family petitions, work authorization, citizenship, DACA applications, U- visas for crime victims and protections for survivors of domestic violence.
“Even if we're not in the grand scheme of things 'doing a lot,' at least we're doing what we can to help the San Diego community," USD School of Law Graduate Amber Rahim said.
Students help complete paperwork, draft legal documents and can even participate in immigration court proceedings.
It's work that gives students real-world experience while also giving back to the community they serve.
“My parents are both immigrants, so growing up I observed their process of becoming citizens here in the country and when I decided I wanted to come to law school, I wanted to give back to the community that I came from," Rahim said.
And it’s saving individuals millions of dollars in legal fees.
According to the law school dean, members of USD's Class of 2026 contributed more than 22,800 hours of free legal services for low-income and underserved clients across San Diego — work valued at more than 3.9 million dollars.
And for students like Amber and Logan, the experience has also helped shape where they want their future careers to go.
“Immigrants do so much for this country and I've just seen that more and more through the work I've done at the immigration clinic, so I definitely wanna keep helping this community and it's really been motivated just by helping those in need," Rahim said.
