As part of its primary goals to promote diversity, the Connecticut Bar Assocation's YLS hosted The Sixth Annual Diversity Award Dinner on Monday, November 15. This year's award recipient was The Honorable Richard A. Robinson.
Judge Robinson became a superior court judge in 2000, and during his tenure, he served as the presiding judge (civil) in the judicial districts of New Britain, Ansonia/Milford, and Stamford/Norwalk. On December 10, 2007, Judge Robinson was administered the oath of office as an appellate court judge.
As a superior and appellate court judge, Judge Robinson continued his active role in the bar and public service. For the last seven years, Judge Robinson has served as faculty at multiple judicial institutes and spring and fall lectures and sat on the Judicial Education Curriculum Committee and in the New Haven Inn of Court program. More recently, Judge Robinson began participating in the Civil Commission (2005), the Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers program (2005), the Rules Committee (2007) and the Foreclosure Committee (2007). Remarkably, Judge Robinson remains presently involved in all such activities.
In 2009, Judge Robinson was honored by the Connecticut State Conference of NAACP Branches as one of the "100 Most Influential Blacks in the State of Connecticut." Additionally, in 2009, Chief Justice Rogers appointed Judge Robinson as the chairperson of the Judicial Branch's Cultural Competency Committee.
Whether through participation in activities such as the Yale Law School 2009 Symposium on Minority Representation in the Connecticut state judiciary or interviews with the Connecticut Law Tribune, Judge Robinson is a strong voice about the value of and need for diversity on the bench. His actions in highlighting the importance of diversity on the bench and working to promote such diversity embody the core values the Diversity Dinner honors.