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Kate Evans has brought significant energy and talent to advocacy, clinical education, and public service at Duke Law — and emerged as a leader in all three.

Since arriving at the law school in 2019 as founding director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic, Evans has trained more than 100 students in client-centered advocacy for people seeking safety in the United States. In 2025, she became director of Duke Law’s clinical program, which currently includes 12 clinics.

Evans also advises one of the most active student pro bono groups at the law school and partners with local organizations to expand public service opportunities for students. For her efforts, Evans was recognized with the 2025 Duke Law Faculty Award for Excellence in Community and Public Service.

“Kate’s productivity, creativity, and passion to make a difference for her students, her clients, and the institution is an inspiration,” said Shane Ellison, supervising attorney for the Immigrant Rights Clinic. “I don’t know how she is able to accomplish all she does.”

Evans is a renowned advocate and scholar of immigration law whose commitment to global equity and justice began early in her academic and professional life. After graduating from Brown University with a degree in international development studies, Evans pursued an interest in global health and humanitarian aid, joining Doctors Without Borders to engage in policy advocacy related to access to HIV/AIDS treatment and medicines for neglected tropical diseases.

But she adjusted her career path at New York University School of Law after working directly with immigrant and refugee clients as an extern at Lutheran Social Services of New York.

“I appreciated having the opportunity to help immigrant and refugees join communities in the United States,” Evans said. “Providing direct immigration legal services was a way for me to connect my commitment to international humanitarian protections with my interest in advancing diversity and justice in the U.S.”

Since 2012, Evans has focused her career on clinical legal education, helping to launch immigration law clinics at the University of Idaho College of Law and University of Minnesota School of Law. There, Evans said, mentors “taught me to challenge my ambitions for what law students and an immigration clinic can do.” That’s reflected in the amount of trust and responsibility Evans and Ellison give students at Duke Law. 

“I was surprised by how much my professors treated me like the lead attorney on the case,” said Zoe Holtzman JD ’26, who helped win protection from removal for a client during  semesters in the clinic. “Whether it was working with a national expert to develop his expert testimony or writing a very substantial brief and making novel legal arguments, they trusted me and truly treated me like an attorney.”

Watching students assume ownership of their cases is one of the most rewarding aspects of clinical instruction, Evans said.

“I love the point in the semester when students are so comfortable in their work and with their clients that they truly take over leadership of the case, telling me what needs to be done by when, challenging my assumptions, and advancing new strategies and issues to safeguard our clients,” she said.

Ellison said Evans “pushes her students to excellence” through high academic expectations combined with individualized support, both in seminars and in finely tuned clinical supervision meetings.

“Her ability to help students achieve their full potential in the clinic is truly extraordinary. She maintains exacting standards but manages to help students, regardless of their skill level upon entering the clinic, achieve a very high caliber of work product,” Ellison said. “I continue to be amazed by her ability to discern the precise instruction and feedback students need at just the moment they need it.”

Ellison said Evans’ teaching acumen also shows in her work as faculty advisor to the Duke Immigrant and Refugee Project (DIRP). 

“Whether it is advising the DIRP board on pro bono projects, informing plans related to speakers’ series, or managing pro se asylum workshops, there is no way that DIRP could be the force for good that it is without Kate’s guiding hand and gifted mind,” Ellison said. 

Alumni who have followed Evans’ path say she is a powerful influence in their own careers. 

“I knew going into law school that I wanted to practice immigration law, and my time working with Kate and Shane inspired me to pursue a career in clinical teaching,” said Kate Weaver JD ‘23, now a legal fellow at Washington University School of Law’s Immigration Law Clinic. “I still find myself referencing everything I learned from Kate in and outside of class, especially now that I am supervising students myself.”

“As a mentor, she helped me see potential in myself that I hadn’t yet recognized,” said Olivia Callan JD ‘25, a fellow at the National Immigration Litigation Alliance. “The confidence, values, and skills I developed under her mentorship continue to guide me every day."

“Kate has brought great wisdom to her role as director of clinics,” said Ryke Longest, co-director of the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic. “Her connections with clinicians across the nation have helped inform her leadership vision. Kate has worked to review best practices and also to support our faculty and students during a critical time for clinical education, and her innovative approach will serve our students, faculty, clients, and school well for years to come.”

Aside from myriad professional responsibilities, Evans finds renewal in connecting with family and in time outdoors.

“I need to get into the woods every weekend to be surrounded by an entirely different set of rhythms and aesthetics,” Evans said, noting that in another life she would be an evolutionary biologist.

Ellison has an apt metaphor for Evans: “In short, Kate is a force of nature.”