Jeff Robbins, the Herald’s lawyer and contributing columnist, is out with a book chronicling his work as a First Amendment warrior.

He has defended this paper in court and on the Opinion pages with intelligence and wit. You can agree or disagree with his opinions, but that’s why the First Amendment is, well, first. He cares deeply about Herald readers, and he gives this paper balance.

His book, “Notes from the Brink,” is a collection of his best columns from 2019 to this year.

He’s an unabashed Democrat, but that hasn’t stopped him from hitting progressives for allowing antisemitism to grow on college campuses. The war in Israel against Hamas is complicated and Robbins has brought his knowledge to bear on the issue.

“He brings clarity to every single subject he writes about,” said Ambassador Meron Reuben, consulate general of Israel to New England. “I look up to Jeff to help find my way in Boston.”

Robbins is a former assistant U.S. attorney and delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva and was chief counsel for the minority of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

For the Herald, he has backstopped our public records fights that fuel our investigative reporting. When we are thwarted, Robbins has pushed to help unseal government documents readers have a right to know about.

Robbins writes in today’s paper that the American media has a lot of work to do. Nearly 40% of Americans say they have no confidence at all in journalists. Jeff Robbins works at flipping that percentage every day.

“What sets him apart are his principles,” said attorney Joe Lipchitz, managing partner at their firm Saul Ewing at Monday night’s book party in the city. “To remain silent would be complicit.”