USD School of Law Receives Nearly $3 Million in Grant Funding to Provide Legal Training and Mentorship to Mexican Professors, Students

The University of San Diego (USD)’s School of Law received nearly $3 million in grant funding from the U.S. Department of State to train Mexican law professors and students on effective trial and mediation skills - with a goal of preparing the next generation of Mexican lawyers for a successful career in criminal justice.

The three-year grant, ending in December 2025, will also prepare the professors to develop internal competitions at each university and USD will host a national mediation and mock trial competition for law students throughout Mexico. 

The Mexico Law Student Litigation and Mediation Initiative is a part of the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) rule of law initiative.  It focuses on building capacity across Mexico’s criminal justice system. INL works with diverse partners in the U.S. and Mexico to improve the Mexican justice system by contributing to the education of future attorneys. One of INL’s goals is to improve the rule of law in Mexico.

Over the next three years, USD’s School of Law will provide mediation and litigation courses for Mexican law professors and students at eight different law schools in Mexico each year (reaching 24 universities by the end of the grant) and support each university’s internal mediation and mock trial competitions. In addition, the winning teams from the mock trial competitions will receive employment training sessions and mentorship from USD to help them secure a position in the Mexican accusatorial criminal justice system upon graduation. 

“We hope that the workshops give the students an opportunity to acquire the skills that they will need to become better lawyers, which in turn leads to the improvement of the Mexican justice system,” said Karen Sigmond, Senior Director of Graduate, International and Certificate Programs at the USD School of Law.

Over the next several months, the Mexican law professors will receive training via Zoom. There will also be opportunities for professors and students to visit USD’s School of Law for the national mock trial competition in the summer. 

Along with this grant, USD’s Justice in Mexico program has received $9 million over the course of 9 years from the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) to conduct similar work through the Oral Adversarial Skill-Building Immersion Seminar (OASIS) program. Through the program, USD helps provide oral advocacy training to law faculty and students in Mexico with a goal of building relationships and improving the Mexican criminal justice system. 

“As a global institution located in a gateway to Latin America, the University of San Diego School of Law is always looking for ways to strengthen our partnerships with local and crossborder communities. This grant from the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs offers an opportunity to share the School of Law’s legal expertise with our neighbors in Mexico, helping to prepare lawyers with the experience and tools they need to continue to provide the highest level of service to their communities in a rapidly evolving legal environment,” said Robert Schapiro, Dean of USD’s School of Law. 

About the University of San Diego

Strengthened by the Catholic intellectual tradition, we confront humanity’s challenges by fostering peace, working for justice and leading with love. With more than 8,000 students from 75 countries and 44 states, USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States. USD’s eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the Knauss School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. In 2021, USD was named a “Laudato Si’ University” by the Vatican with a seven-year commitment to address humanity’s urgent challenges by working together to take care of our common home.