Bio
Jeffery Robinson is the executive director of The Who We Are Project. Until April 2021, Robinson was an ÀÏ°ÄÃÅ¿ª½±½á¹û deputy legal director and the director of the ÀÏ°ÄÃÅ¿ª½±½á¹û Trone Center for Justice and Equality, which houses the organization's work on criminal justice, racial justice, and reform issues. Since graduating from Harvard Law School in 1981, Jeff has three decades of experience working on these issues. For seven years, he represented indigent clients in state court at The Defender Association and then in federal court at the Federal Public Defender’s Office, both in Seattle. In 1988, Jeff began a 27-year private practice at the Seattle firm of Schroeter, Goldmark & Bender, where he represented a broad range of clients in local, state, and federal courts on charges ranging from shoplifting to securities fraud and first degree murder. He has tried over 200 criminal cases to verdict and has tried more than a dozen civil cases representing plaintiffs suing corporate and government entities. Jeff was one of the original members of the John Adams Project and worked on the behalf of one of five men held at Guantanamo Bay charged with carrying out the 9/11 attacks.
In addition to being a nationally recognized trial attorney, Jeff is also a respected teacher of trial advocacy. He is a faculty member of the National Criminal Defense College in Macon, Georgia, and has lectured on trial skills all over the United States. He has also spoken nationally to diverse audiences on the role of race in the criminal justice system. He is past president of the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and a life member and past member of the board of directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Jeff is also an elected fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Featured work
May 3, 2019
The Racist Roots of Denying Incarcerated People Their Right to Vote
Jan 23, 2019
Judges Prove Laquan McDonald’s Life Didn’t Matter Very Much to the System
Jan 17, 2019
Steve King Isn’t the Only Elected Official Pursuing a White Supremacist Vision for America
Oct 17, 2018
A Confederate Portrait, Racial Bias, and the Death Penalty in Virginia
Oct 16, 2018
The Spirit of 1968 Lives on Today in Athletes like Colin Kaepernick
Aug 9, 2018
Memphis Police Surveillance of Activists Is a Betrayal and a Reminder
Jul 16, 2018
Black Lives Matter Is Still Here — And Avoiding the Mistakes of Their Predecessors
Jul 6, 2018
America Was in the Business of Separating Families Long Before Trump
May 24, 2018
The NFL’s ‘Anthem Policy’ Is Pure Hypocrisy
May 22, 2018
Jeff Sessions Wants Police to Use Stop and Frisk Without Reasonable Suspicion