Bio
Charles “Shane” Ellison is a clinical professor of law in the Duke Immigrant Rights Clinic. Professor Ellison’s scholarly work focuses on strengthening procedural rights and protections in the U.S. asylum system, along with efforts to expand protection based upon more generous interpretations of the substantive elements of the refugee definition. He currently chairs the Asylum Litigation Working Group, which monitors protection-related legal developments in the U.S. and coordinates with the foremost impact litigation attorneys and organizations seeking to advance the rights of asylum-seekers within the U.S. Before joining the Duke Law faculty, Professor Ellison served as the legal director and lead attorney for the Immigrant Legal Center (ILC) for more than nine years. Prior to ILC, Professor Ellison worked within the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Refugee, Asylum, and International Operations Directorate. He was a co-recipient of the 2023 Jack Wasserman Award, an honor given to attorneys in recognition of their excellence in litigation in the field of immigration law.
Publications
The Toll Paid When Adjudicators Err: Reforming Appellate Review Standards for Refugees, 38, GEORGETOWN IMMIGRATION LAW JOURNAL 143 (2024).
Pedagogy and Praxis: Incorporating Critical Theory Into Teaching Immigration Law and Policy (forthcoming) (co-authored with Katherine Evans).
Appellate Review Standards of Denials of Asylum and Withholding of Removal, AILA FALL CONFERENCE HANDBOOK (2023).
Dismantling the Wall, 20 MICHIGAN LAW REVIEW ONLINE 1; DUKE LAW SCHOOL PUBLIC LAW AND LEGAL THEORY SERIES NO. 2022-26 (2022) (co-authored with Anjum Gupta).
Hot Topics in Asylum Law, AILA PRACTICE POINTERS (2022) (co-authored with Dree Collopy, Christine Lin, and Caroline Walters).
Preparing Asylum Claims for Applicants Fleeing Nonstate Persecutors, AILA PRACTICE POINTERS (2021) (co- authored with Zachary Albun, Blaine Bookey, and Gabriela Brito).
Unwilling or Unable: The Failure to Conform the Nonstate Actor Standard in Asylum Claims to the Refugee Act, 52.2 COLUMBIA HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REVIEW 441; DUKE LAW SCHOOL PUBLIC LAW AND LEGAL THEORY SERIES NO. 2021-07 (2021) (co-authored with Anjum Gupta).
When All Else Fails: Relief Under the Convention Against Torture, AILA PRACTICE POINTERS (2020) (co- authored with Mark Frey, Valeria Gomez, and Anne Peterson).
Un(avail)able Protection: The Shifting Legal Landscape in the Eighth Circuit and Beyond for Asylum Seekers Fleeing Nonstate Persecution, 25 BENDER’S IMMIGR. BULL. 1061 (2020) (co-authored with Anjum Gupta).
Defending Refugees: A Case For Protective Procedural Safeguards In the Persecutor Bar Analysis, 33 GEORGETOWN IMMIGRATION LAW JOURNAL 2013 (2019).
Seeking Predicate Findings in Nebraska for Special Immigrant Juveniles, 21 THE NEBRASKA LAWYER 4 (2018) (co-authored with Kevin Ruser).
Being Deprived of the Right to Effective Counsel in Removal Proceedings: Why the Eighth Circuit’s Decision in Rafiyev Must be Overturned, 49 CREIGHTON L. REV. 523 (2016).
The Ethics of Balancing Humanity and Lawyering, AILA PRACTICE POINTERS (2016) (co-authored with Michael S. Vastine).
Extending Due Process Protections to Unadmitted Aliens Within the U.S. Through the Functional Approach of Boumediene, 3 IDAHO CRITICAL LEGAL STUDIES JOURNAL 1 (2010).