Jacquelyn Robins

After graduating from UNM law school, Jackie joined Zuni Legal Services and thereafter became a staff attorney with Northern NM Legal Services.  She then became a contract attorney with the Public Defender Department (PDD) in Las Vegas, NM and then a staff attorney in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. She moved to New York City, where she was an associate attorney with the Legal Aid Society, Criminal Defense Division in the Bronx.  Returning to NM, Jackie worked as a private attorney with her father, Melvin Robins, and then returned to the PDD as a staff attorney.  She took a leave of absence to teach a clinical law course in criminal defense at UNM law school.  In December 1985, Jackie was appointed by Governor Toney Anaya to be the Chief Public Defender and was subsequently re-appointed by Governor Garrey Carruthers and Governor Bruce King.  Jackie resigned that office in 1991 and worked as an associate attorney for a private law firm.  She opened her own office in 1993, working as a sole practitioner, primarily in criminal defense.  Her representation ran the gamut from DWI to death penalty murder in state and federal court.  Although Jackie has retired and is no longer an active attorney, she continues to have a lifelong interest in righting the wrongs of the criminal justice system.