United States
Recipient of the New York Law Journal’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Judge Robinson’s had a unique 40-year legal career. Stephen grew up in the Marcy Projects in Brooklyn. His mother, a woman of extraordinary intellectual appetite trapped in a life that could not fulfill her, responded by taking her three sons to libraries, Broadway shows, Philharmonic concerts, and the Metropolitan Opera, buying tickets she could hardly afford. She gave them the world one Saturday at a time. That took him everywhere. From Cornell University and Cornell Law School, Robinson went on to become the first Black attorney hired at Alexander & Green, before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York where he prosecuted narcotics, securities fraud, and white-collar crime, and was awarded both the Department of Justice's Award for Superior Service and later the Lumbard Award, the SDNY's recognition for outstanding public service and integrity, presented to distinguished former Assistant U.S. Attorneys. He left government to join Kroll Associates as an international investigator, where he investigated Iraqi war crimes on behalf of the government of Kuwait and led a corruption inquiry for the Brazilian Congress that contributed to their sitting president’s resignation. FBI Director Louis Freeh recruited him to the FBI where, as Principal Deputy General Counsel and Special Assistant to the Director he investigated terrorism and espionage matters. President Clinton nominated him as United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, where he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate becoming the first Black U.S. Attorney in the district’s history. President George W. Bush nominated him to the federal bench, and he sat as a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York for seven years. In 2010, he was named a litigation partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and in 2021 he retired from the firm. Robinson serves on the boards of Cornell University, Weill Cornell Medicine, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The New York Community Trust and FTI Consulting. For six years, ending in 2023, he served as the civilian representative on NYPD’s Handschu Committee, which oversees the department’s investigation of terrorism. He has taught at Yale Law School and Cardozo School of Law.