Carolyn Waller has been practicing immigration and refugee law and policy since 1978. She received the 1990-1991 Laura N. Rinaldi Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year award by the DC Bar.

In the early 1980s (exact dates?) Carolyn Waller served as the director of the Alien Rights Project of the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Waller’s work for the Haitian Appeals project is documented in the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law/Alien Rights Project collection (see description of the project, NEJL 062). Waller also served on the Board of the Washington Office on Haiti from approx.. 1984-1995. The WHO was an independent ecumenical organization that monitored human rights in Haiti and the situation of Haitian refugees in the United States, which was established in 1984 and existed until 1997. The WHO served as a primary source of information and as a network coordinating center for a broad range of organization, as well as Congress and other U.S. agencies.