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A trio of student-attorneys in Duke Law’s Immigrant Rights Clinic won protection from removal for a Haitian man facing probable torture were he to reenter his home country.

Zoe Holtzman JD ’26, Tugce Tumer JD ’26, and Dorian Alexis JD ’27 worked for a year to obtain relief for the man under the UN Convention Against Torture.

When the students told him an immigration judge had ruled in his favor, “Our client started yelling with joy from his side of the Zoom,” said clinic director Kate Evans. 

“For the first time, our client saw a team showing up to fight for him and explaining why he is justified in his belief that he would be killed if deported.”

The complex case involved a client who had been evacuated from Haiti years earlier and had long-standing ties to the U.S. government. By the time the immigration judge ruled in his favor, the man had been detained for nearly 18 months.

Alexis said the experience of preparing and winning a difficult case gave her a sense of confidence she’ll draw on in her planned career as an immigrant rights attorney.

“Even though I was spending 15-hour days on this case leading up to the filing deadline, working so hard and not sleeping a lot, not once did I ever question why I was doing it or did it ever feel like it wasn't worth it,” Alexis said. 

“Every single second that I spent on this case felt so significant and so important. And as I was doing this research and writing the brief, the laws I was learning in my other classes were coming to life in front of me. Getting to take this case from start to finish was really special.”

Holtzman, Tumer, and Alexis, who each had worked as immigration paralegals before entering law school, spent two semesters as a clinic team solely focused on building out their clients’ humanitarian protection claim. They worked extensively with him to gain his trust and draw out his story and prepared a case that included a 1,200-page evidentiary record. The work also included extensive research, brief writing, preparing experts to testify in court, preparing the client for direct- and cross-examination, and developing and delivering the closing argument.

“There's not really a facet of my professional identity that I didn't get to work on through the clinic,” Holtzman said. “It was a really amazing experience, professionally. And it was also a truly humbling experience. My client trusted me in what, for him, was a life-or-death moment. He trusted me, my clinic partners, and our clinic professors to advocate for him in that moment, as well as throughout his time in detention.”

Evans called the case “probably the hardest trial I have ever had.” 

“Our client’s number one objective was to avoid deportation to Haiti — a result tantamount to death in his eminently reasonable view,” Evans said. “The students achieved that and embodied all of the leadership, creativity, and tenacity we hope for in clinical education.  I could not be prouder or more grateful.”

Tumer said she was surprised and pleased by the amount of responsibility the students were given. 

“I really felt like all of our voices were heard, and it was such a collaborative experience with our professors,” she said. 

“I've learned so much throughout this experience, and it really felt like being a lawyer. I think that this is what I'll remember most about my time at Duke Law.”