Character Overview
Robinette is introduced as having been raised in Harlem and worked his way through law school and into the Manhattan District Attorney's office at a young age. He works under Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty), whom he comes to think of as a mentor, despite occasionally disagreeing with his prosecution methods.
Robinette advocates racial equality through equal treatment, including equal punishment; while he abhors racism, he also feels little sympathy for black people who turn to crime. He insists on being given the same opportunities as the equal of his white colleagues, without what he feels are added advantages from affirmative action policies.
In the first season episode "Out of the Half-Light", Stone asks Robinette if he thinks of himself as "a black lawyer, or a lawyer who's black". Originally considering himself the latter, Robinette would gradually come to think of race as a more integral part of his reasons for practicing law. He later confirms this in the 1996 episode "Custody".
Read more about this topic: Paul Robinette
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“The serial number of a human specimen is the face, that accidental and unrepeatable combination of features. It reflects neither character nor soul, nor what we call the self. The face is only the serial number of a specimen.”
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