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School of Law
Law Student Affairs
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Sidebar
March 23, 2026— Volume 15, Number 29
Construction Update
Curious about what’s happening around Warren Hall and across campus? USD VP of Operations will be sharing an overview on current and upcoming construction projects, timelines, and what to expect. Click here for more information and to RSVP.
New Resources from the LRC
The LRC is pleased to announce two new resources available to students now: vLex and Harvey.ai.
vLex is a legal research database providing access to resources from over 100 countries, making it great for foreign and international law research. vLex also includes a dedicated generative AI tool called Vincent AI designed to help with a variety of tasks performed by lawyers in practice. Learn more about creating an individual vLex account to access Vincent AI on the LRC’s Databases A-Z list.
Harvey.ai is a generative AI tool built on ChatGPT’s models and fine-tuned for legal workflows. Harvey supports contract analysis, compliance review, and multi-step legal research tasks. Learn more about accessing Harvey on the LRC’s Databases A-Z list.
Students are not permitted to use their academic access to vLex or Harvey for commercial work. Under USD Law’s AI use policy, students may not use generative AI for academic work without explicit permission from their instructor.
Please reach out to the LRC reference desk (lrcrefer@sandiego.edu) with any questions about vLex or Harvey!
Upcoming Events
Monday, March 23
JAG 101
Monday, March 23, 2026 // Noon
Warren Hall, Grace Courtroom
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Tuesday, March 24
Wednesday, March 25
Thursday, March 26
Yoga in the Garden
Thursday, March 26, 2026 // 4 p.m.
Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, Garden of the Sea
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Friday, March 27
March Bar Review
Friday, March 27, 2026 // 9 p.m.
The Holding Company, 5046 Newport Ave, San Diego, CA 92107
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Monday, March 30
Tuesday, March 31
Wednesday, April 1
Thursday, April 2
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Announcements
Announcements from SBA
Tuesday, March 24, 2026 - Noon-12:50 p.m. - SBA Budget Committee - ZOOM
Wednesday, April 1, 2026 - Noon-12:50 p.m. - SBA General Meeting - WH 2A
Campus Concerns and Comments Form
Voting for Your 2026-2027 SBA Board NOW OPEN!
Please vote for your 2026-2027 SBA Board now! Voting closes this Friday, March 27, and the winners will be announced Monday, March 30.
Link here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdtWprqVluHielAnuQFpOmkGnytKZvkUR7VtktBgVZxaTr6Xw/viewform?usp=header
Barrister’s Ball 2026
Join the ADR Team!
The Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Team invites you to join our team and try out on April 10-12th, 2026. Gain hands-on experience in negotiation, sports law negotiation, mediation, and client counseling. By trying out, you’ll enhance your advocacy skills, build your professional network, receive mentorship, and even have the opportunity to travel nationwide for competitions. The tryout consists of a short 10-minute session with no written component—all interested USD law students are encouraged to apply. Tryout details are below:
Date: April 10-12th, 2026
Location: Over Zoom
Details: 10-minute tryouts in pairs, based on a one-page fact pattern (no written component)
Sign up here!
USD Legal Clinics: Openings for Summer & Fall 2026
Do an internship right here on campus. Join our on-site law office and gain skills working with actual clients on real legal cases. This is an experience that can boost your resume and prepare you for legal practice. We have openings for the summer 2026 session and Fall 2026 semester in the following direct client service clinics: Appellate (fall and 3Ls only), Civil, Education and Disability, Entrepreneurship, Federal Tax, Housing Rights, Immigration, State Income Tax, State Sales & Use (fall only), Veterans, Women's (family law), and Workers' Rights (fall only).
Apply online today. Please contact usdlegalclinics@sandiego.edu or (619) 260-7640 with any questions about registration. Visit the Legal Clinics webpage for more information about our clinic offerings.
Perform the National Anthem
Apply to audition to perform the National Anthem at the School of Law 2026 Commencement Ceremony by April 1st. Auditions are open to all USD School of Law students, including vocalists and instrumentalists. In-person auditions will be held April 7–10.
DILSA Board Applications Open
Apply for a board position with DILSA for the 2026-27 year!
Apply here: https://forms.gle/A8RYPB5h1gydSuQZ7
Scholarship
Check out a comprehensive list of both USD and external scholarships to help fund your studies HERE.
Below is a partial listing of outside scholarships of interest for USD Law students. For a complete listing, please visit Outside Scholarships on the USD School of Law Financial Aid website.
James E. Beckley Law Student Scholarship $750 - $1,500 - Available to JD or LLM students currently enrolled. Selected writings will be published in the Public Investors Advocate Bar Association. Deadline - March 27, 2026.
2026 Lem Garcia Law Scholarship $1,000 - Available to JD or LLM students currently enrolled and continuing enrollment into 2026-27. Deadline - June 25, 2026.
Nix Patterson Collegiate Scholarship $5,000 - Available to US citizens or permanent residents who are accepted or enrolled in law school with a 3.5 GPA or higher, and demonstrate community involvement. Deadline - July 31, 2026.
Graduate Student Life
Are you interested in connecting with other grad students across USD? Grad Life offers a wide variety of programming for grad and law students. See the events calendar and sign up for the newsletter! Check out the Grad and Law Student Handbook as well!
Student Writing Competitions
Looking for a way to get published? Maybe earn some extra cash? Then consider entering a writing competition. Visit Writing Competitions webpage for current opportunities. Deadlines vary and new competitions are posted periodically.
CalFresh Program
We recognize the importance of the CalFresh Program available to eligible, enrolled students and strongly encourage all to apply. CalFresh provides food resources in the form of an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card, which works like a debit card. This program helps many graduate and professional students purchase groceries 12 months a year. Visit CalFresh at https://students.getcalfresh.org/ to start your application. If you have questions about eligibility or need assistance with your application, please contact a CalFresh representative. Approval is determined by CalFresh and the State of California. Please contact the USD School of Law Financial Aid Office at lawaid@sandiego.com to request a CalFresh letter to submit with your application as supporting documentation. It is also recommended to include a copy of the 25-26 FAFSA Submission Summary (The FAFSA Submission Summary summarizes the information you reported on your FAFSA form and includes your estimated eligibility for federal funding, and your Student Aid Index (SAI) received by email from the Department of Education - Federal Student Aid after submitting the FAFSA) along with the CalFresh application, and USD supporting letter.
USD Food Pantry and Torero Closet
The USD Food Pantry in Hahn University Center (UC) 116 includes: food, school supplies, hygiene supplies, laundry detergent, etc. Additionally, we have a refrigerator and freezer to offer students fresh produce, dairy, and additional protein options.
The Torero Closet’s mission is to provide support and resources to members of the USD community who are low income students who express need, identify as former foster youth, homeless or at risk for homelessness, and those students who were emancipated minors or in legal guardianships. It is located at 5330 Linda Vista Road, just south of the West Parking Lot
TimelyCare
TimelyCare provides students with 24/7 access to campus health and counseling resources—anytime, anywhere.
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Sidebar is a weekly enewsletter prepared by the Office for Law Student Affairs and is emailed to all USD law students every Monday morning. It contains important deadlines, announcements and upcoming events for the following two weeks. Past issues of sidebar can be found online.
Submit your listing request online by noon on the Thursday before you wish the listing to run. Listing requests may be edited. Announcements will not be posted for more than two weeks.
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Law Student Affairs
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School of Law
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA 92110-2492
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