Jabbar Collins is employed by the law firm as a paralegal and legal analyst. He concentrates on
criminal defense, civil rights, and Freedom of Information Act litigation, and assists clients in dealing with the circumstances of their incarceration and their release.
Jabbar is a uniquely self-educated individual. After growing up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, he was wrongfully arrested and convicted on criminal charges, and spent 16 years in prison, before he was vindicated in 2010. Federal Judge Dora Irizarry freed him on a writ of habeas corpus, and fully dismissed all charges against him, because of pervasive prosecutorial misconduct at his trial. While in prison, he was employed for many years at the Green Haven Correctional Facility's law library as a law clerk, taught a course in legal research, and became a renowned "jailhouse lawyer." In that capacity, he brought numerous successful judicial petitions under the Freedom of Information Law for himself and others, assisted several prisoners gain their freedom, argued petitions before federal judges by telephone, reinvestigated his own case, and, represented by Mr. Rudin, won his own freedom. His case was featured in a front-page article in The Wall Street Journal, which may be accessed here.
Mr. Collins, in conjunction with a Columbia Law School professor, co-founded a program at Green Haven providing incarcerated fathers with counseling and assistance on family issues. With Mr. Rudin, he spoke at Brooklyn Law School on prosecutorial misconduct and co-taught an evening seminar for lawyers at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York entitled, "Federal Habeas Litigation: The Fundamental Rules and Principles That All Defense Lawyers Should Know." Jabbar is also on the board of directors of Rehabilitation Through The Arts, a non-profit organization that uses the arts to teach critical life skills to incarcerated men.
