When Sahar Omer, ’25, was a student at the Law School, she was interested in gaining exposure to international law while also building advocacy experience. Omer turned to the clinics—and was immediately drawn to the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic. She knew this clinical experience could provide a deep dive into working one-on-one with clients, from interviewing them to engaging in motion practice to appearing in court. She also knew that the clinic worked to apply the laws of international treaties that were codified in US law. It was exactly the kind of work Omer wanted to engage in—but what she didn’t realize at the time was just how much the case and the client would have a lasting impact on her. 

One of the Law School’s 15 clinics, the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic is led by Clinical Professor Nicole Hallett. It provides legal representation to immigrant communities in Chicago and around the country, including individual representation of immigrants in removal proceedings, immigration-related complex federal litigation, and policy and community education projects on behalf of community-based organizations. 

Today, Omer is a litigation associate at Milbank in Washington, DC.

Please describe the case you worked on in your clinic.

The case I dedicated the most time to involved Nizar Trabelsi, a man charged with conspiracy to bomb a United States naval base in Belgium. He was convicted in Belgium but was illegally extradited to the US to face trial for the same charges. At this point, Trabelsi had already spent 10 years in solitary confinement in Belgium. 

After another 10 years of navigating the US criminal system, Mr. Trabelsi was acquitted on all charges. Our clinic got involved after his acquittal. The US government was interested in removing Mr. Trabelsi to Tunisia, where he was convicted in absentia and given a 20-year sentence for the same charges. We argued that under the Convention Against Torture, an international treaty of which the United States ratified, Mr. Trabelsi could not be removed to Tunisia. This was because there was more than a 50% likelihood he would experience torture due to the fact that he would be going to serve 20 years in a Tunisian prison, a carceral system notoriously known for their torture tactics. 

We won the case at immigration court, at the Board of Immigration Appeals, and after a long negotiation with the Belgian government, Mr. Trabelsi was finally removed there and has been released, 24 years after he was first detained.

What was your specific role on the case? 

I was involved in discussing case strategy, drafting briefs, conducting witness preparations, direct examination of witnesses, translating documents from Arabic to English, and communicating with our Arabic-speaking expert witnesses. I also regularly communicated with the client for over 1.5 years, due to my Arabic language skills and my cultural and religious understanding of the client.

What skills did you develop or strengthen through this experience? 

Every part of my legal education grew from this experience. I knew very little about trial and legal advocacy before I started working on this case. My writing skills, understanding of legal strategy, and just overall understanding of how the legal system works has grown tremendously, as I got to experience almost every stage of this case.

What were your biggest takeaways from working on this case?  

The legal system is one that can both help and hurt individuals. Mr. Trabelsi was able to be confined in this way because of the gaps and loopholes in immigration law that allowed a man who was acquitted on all charges to continuously be detained, at the detriment of his mental and physical health. At the same time, we advocated for his eventual release using the same legal system. This case really underscored to me the importance of not just a strong legal team, but also how every single word of a legislation matters—because they can be weaponized by either party to drastically affect someone’s life.

Was there anything that surprised you about this experience? 

Just the existence of this case was surprising to me, given the US acquittal and the charges abroad. One thing I did not expect was just how many steps, from briefing to every question we had to ask at trial to the subsequent briefs that followed that had to be taken—just to give Mr. Trabelsi a chance at freedom. All of this took the span of two years. 

I also did not expect to form a personal relationship with the client. When I signed up to be on the case, I was interested in learning more about the legal predicament that Mr. Trabelsi was in and to help him, of course, but I had assumed that most of my communication with him would be through Prof. Hallett. However, through his awareness of my language skills and our shared religious background, he asked to speak to me on the phone after his first trial and I spoke to him almost weekly (and sometimes multiple times a week) while he was in detention. This was a very formative experience for me, because having a personal relationship with the client really opened up my eyes to the horrific situation that Mr. Trabelsi was in. It humanized the entire case for me, for I was speaking regularly to a person whose entire life was being decided through courtrooms and briefs.  

I am incredibly grateful to have gotten to know Mr. Trabelsi in this way. His case was a large part of my legal education, and he himself taught me so much about resilience, patience, and faith. I am elated that I now get to speak to him in the comfort of his home while he is surrounded by his family. 

How has your clinical experience shaped the way you approach your current work?

My clinical experience is something that I continue to reflect on. It really emphasized how important it is to explore every legal pathway to advocate for a client. Seeing how my clinical professor, Prof. Hallett, my team members, and our other co-counsel talked about the case and tried to find the best legal strategy for Mr. Trabelsi made me want to emulate this kind of thinking. In my current practice, I really give myself time to analyze all the potential problems and solutions, because I saw just how important it was to have a clear case strategy to make sure that Mr. Trabelsi had his best shot at winning his case.

What advice would you give a fellow student considering enrolling in a clinic? 

I cannot think of a better way to fully understand the legal laws and principles that we learn in the classroom. It is through clinic that I was fully able to grasp the full gravity of what I was learning through casebooks and exams. This is in addition to the fact that you can have a hand at truly changing people’s lives for the better. The clinic was the most formative experience I had in law school, and I would highly encourage any student to consider enrolling in any of them.

Anything else you’d like to share about the impact of this experience or anything else? 

I would like to give a big thank you to Prof. Hallett, my fellow student attorneys, and to all of our co-counsel for having me on their team. It was truly an honor and a privilege.