UNPARALLELED COMMITMENT TO SOCIAL JUSTICE

SPRING 2026

Dear LSJLC Community,

Over the first two months of 2026, Loyola Social Justice Law Clinic students and faculty have been advancing justice across an extraordinary range of spaces: from local courtrooms in Los Angeles to immigration advocacy at the U.S.-Mexico border to international accountability efforts in Syria. 

While the landscapes differ, the central ethos of the work does not. 

In this issue, you’ll read about: a rare expungement victory, statewide legislative reform now in motion, mediation that preserved a family home, and students leading public access and outreach efforts for international accountability. Each of these stories reflects what experiential clinical training makes possible: thoughtful, rigorous advocacy for real people. 

For students eager to engage in this work, our upcoming Experiential Learning Fair and Clinics Open House in March offer opportunities to learn more about our clinics and how to get involved. We encourage you to join us. 

Thank you for your partnership and for being part of the community that makes this work possible.

Elizabeth Bluestein

Executive Director
Loyola Social Justice Law Clinic

On Jan. 14, 2026, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge granted a rare expungement petition for Quan Huynh.

The ruling was brief. The story behind it was not.  

For Huynh, the decision marked a formal legal recognition of years of accountability and sustained rehabilitation. For Megan Kim ’27 — the Collateral Consequences of Conviction Justice Project (CCCJP) student who argued the petition on his behalf — it was her first courtroom appearance leading argument in a case, and it reshaped her understanding of the law.

Just before 6 a.m. on a Thursday morning in late October 2025, Loyola Justice for Atrocities Clinic (LJAC) students in Los Angeles logged onto Zoom for what was anything but an ordinary meeting.  

After months of preparation, they were hosting their first live discussion with victims and survivors of Syria’s former Assad regime, whose decades of repression and civil war left lasting scars across the country. The meeting marked a significant step in LJAC’s partnership with the Global Accountability Network (GAN), a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to securing justice for victims of atrocity crimes worldwide. 

The criminal trial in U.S. v. Samir Ousman Al-Sheikh is set to open Monday, March 2, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The case represents a rare federal prosecution under the U.S. universal jurisdiction statute relating to torture. LJAC has been monitoring the case since Al-Sheikh’s arrest in 2024. As the matter moves into its trial phase, clinic students — in partnership with the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC) — will observe proceedings and translate complex legal developments into clear, process-focused explanations. 

In a case of significant national and global interest, LJAC’s role is to support public access, legal clarity, and informed understanding of how allegations of mass atrocities are examined within a U.S. court of law. 

LMU Loyola Law School welcomes new ITESO faculty member Eduardo Osornio Garcia as the Guadalajara-based director of the Binational Migrant Advocacy Project (BMAP) — a first-of-its-kind clinical model in U.S. legal education developed by the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic (LIJC) in partnership with ITESO, Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara. 

To BMAP, Osornio Garcia brings extensive experience in refugee protection and human rights advocacy in Mexico, including senior leadership roles with HIAS — the world’s oldest refugee agency — as well as academic clinic leadership focused on refugee representation. His appointment strengthens BMAP’s cross-border advocacy for migrants while expanding hands-on learning opportunities for Loyola students preparing to practice in an evolving immigration landscape.

Interested in stepping into hands-on legal advocacy this fall? LMU Loyola Law School’s Spring 2026 Experiential Learning Fair will take place Monday, March 23, 2026, from 12–1:30 p.m. and 5–6 p.m. on the Esplanade. The fair brings together clinics, competition teams, and other experiential programs with upcoming application periods or tryouts, offering students a one-stop opportunity to explore their options for the coming year. 

The Loyola Social Justice Law Clinics will also host a Clinics Open House on Thursday, March 26, from noon–1 p.m. in Founders Hall where students can learn more about live-client clinic offerings and the application process. Pink’s Hot Dogs will be available to students who participate. 

The work of the Loyola Social Justice Law Clinic is only possible in partnership with supporters like you. Help us advance our vital work with a gift today.