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
Jul 25, 2017
Attorney General Jeff Sessions Speaks in Code. Here’s What He’s Really Saying.
Jun 30, 2017
Officers Involved in the Laquan McDonald Case Were Indicted This Week. The Larger Fight for Police Reform That Will Protect Communities Remains.
May 16, 2017
The Firing of an Officer Who Didn’t Shoot First and Ask Questions Later Reveals The Greater Failings of Law Enforcement in the US
Feb 17, 2017
Trump Effort To Protect Cops Doesn't Match Facts
Feb 10, 2017
The ÀÏ°ÄÃÅ¿ª½±½á¹û Teamed Up With a Community of Brooklyn Dancers to Create a ‘Know Your Rights’ Video for Stop and Frisk Encounters
Nov 4, 2016
Killing Dylann Roof Won’t Make Us or the Death Penalty Any Less Racist
Sep 30, 2016
For Black Men, Running Is a Reasonable Reaction to Police Harassment and Racial Profiling, Concludes Massachusetts’ Supreme Court
Jul 12, 2016
WATCH: How Many Times Do Black People Have to Be Killed on Video Before We Reassess What We Are Doing on Race and Policing in America?
Nov 25, 2015
Laquan McDonald’s Final Seconds Tell Us We Have No Time to Waste. Reform the Police Now.