Evelyn Smallwood, Partner

Among her proudest accomplishments, Evelyn traveled to Artesia, New Mexico, in October 2014 and Karnes City, Texas, in January 2015 to represent women and children who are being detained while seeking asylum in the United States. In recognition of her work in New Mexico and Texas, she was one of the recipients of the AILA 2015 Michael Maggio Pro Bono Award.

Prior to joining Hatch Rockers Immigration in November 2016, she worked at Velasquez and Associates in downtown Durham, leading their immigration department. She has also worked in Eastern North Carolina where she practiced immigration law and criminal defense and at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham, North Carolina, researching NC capital murder cases for racial prejudice under the Racial Justice Act.

Evelyn was born in Schweinfurt, Germany, but raised in a small town in the North Carolina Foothills, where she developed her love for North Carolina’s immigrant community. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Brigham Young University in English Language, where she also studied Spanish and German. While pursuing her undergraduate degree, Evelyn spent a year abroad working in Hildesheim, Germany and a year-and-a-half serving as a missionary in La Paz, Bolivia.

Evelyn received her law degree in May 2009 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law. While there, she participated in a number of pro bono and school projects, her favorite being the work she did in the Immigration and Human Rights Policy Clinic, where she represented clients on U-Visa and TPS applications and researched Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s (ICE) detention policies and practices. She also worked as a Research Assistant and contributed to a published policy review entitled “The Policies and Politics of Local Immigration Enforcement Laws: 287(g) Program in North Carolina.”

Evelyn’s passion is defending immigrants’ rights and believes that as an immigration attorney, she has a special opportunity to protect people and unite families. She lives with her husband, Michael, also an attorney, and their 3 children in Durham.