Evangeline Abriel joined the Legal Research, Analysis, and Writing faculty at Santa Clara University School of Law in 2003 and directed the program from 2007 until 2014. In addition to teaching LARAW and Advocacy, she directs the Immigration Appellate Practice Clinic and the law school’s summer legal studies program in Sydney, Australia. She speaks and writes regularly on immigration law matters, particularly on immigration relief for refugees and victims of abuse and crime.
Prior to joining the Santa Clara law faculty, Professor Abriel spent a year in Perth, Western Australia, where she taught at Notre Dame University School of Law and served as a consultant to the Murdoch University Law School Clinic in 1999. Upon returning to the United States, she was a senior attorney with the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC) in San Francisco. Professor Abriel also served as a clinical professor of law at Loyola University New Orleans from 1983 until 1999, where she practiced law with her students in the areas of immigration, juvenile, domestic, and federal civil rights law and directed the Street Law program, the summer legal studies program in Mexico, and the Mobile Immigration Law Clinic.
Professor Abriel is fluent in Spanish and conversational in French.
Education
J.D., Tulane Law School
B.A., Newcomb College of Tulane University
Affiliations and Honors
- 2019 Pro Bono Champion, American Immigration Lawyers Association, Santa Clara Valley Chapter
- Best Writing Professor 2016 and 2007, awarded by the Santa Clara Student Bar Association
- Social Justice Recognition Award, 2016 and 2007, Santa Clara Law Center for Social Justice and Public Service
- Coordinator, Ninth Circuit Appellate Lawyer Representatives Mentoring Project, 2014 – present
- Appellate Lawyer Representative, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2012 – 2015
- Certificate of Appreciation, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for contribution to the Court’s Pro Bono Project, March 2009
- Included in Best Lawyers in America, under the category of Immigration Law in Louisiana, 1999-2001
- International Commission of Jurists, West Australian Branch, East Timor Documentation Project, Training and Evidence-Gathering Subcommittees, September 1999 – July 2000
- Gillis Long Public Service Award, 1996, New Orleans, LA
- Loyola Law School Clinic Distinguished Service Award, 1993
- Access to Justice Committee, Louisiana State Bar, 1995 – 1999
- Advisory Committee, Louisiana Center for Law and Civic Education, 1996 – 1999
- Co-convener, Immigration Law Subcommittee, Ninth Circuit Gender Bias Task Force (May 1991 – August 1992), Los Angeles, CA
- Member, Advisory Council, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Washington Regional Office, March 1989-90
- Member, Board of Directors, Ecumenical Immigration Services, Inc., New Orleans, Louisiana, 1982-1990
