Lawyer Jen Robinson: How we freed Julian Assange

For a rare moment, Jennifer Robinson allowed the emotion to the surface.

Her client, Julian Assange, had just touched down on Australian soil after being released on a plea deal which had shocked the world.

He was about to hug his wife Stella for the first time as a free man, and Ms Robinson, the Berry-raised lawyer who was bringing him home, didn't have time to linger in the feelings. She saw her phone buzzing; it was Anthony Albanese.

"The moment we landed, I got quite emotional," she told ACM's Illawarra Mercury. "I had a tear because I was so relieved. And then my phone rang and it was the Prime Minister who called to speak to Julian. So we had a quick chat and then I put him on.

"Julian said to him that he saved his life.

"It was incredibly moving, and then to walk off that plane and there were all these supporters there cheering, and to see him and Stella ... meet for the first time in freedom and embrace. It was really the most satisfying moment of my career."

For Ms Robinson, educated at Bomaderry High, ANU and Oxford University, who had been Assange's lawyer since an Interpol arrest warrant was first issued for him in 2010, that's saying something.

Her past decade has included successfully representing Amber Heard in the Johnny Depp defamation case, exposing clergy abuse in the Catholic Church, working with human rights guru Geoffrey Robertson, the News Corporation phone hacking scandal, representing West Papua freedom fighters, plus being a distinguished guest as her colleague and close friend Amal Alamuddin married film star George Clooney in Venice.

But the Assange case was the big one, if only because Ms Robinson had been acting for the Wikileaks founder for 14 years, since before the original Swedish arrest warrant, and before Assange released footage of the US killing civilians from a helicopter in Iraq.

None matched the international spotlight which had followed the polarising, silver-haired former computer hacker, given what his case represented internationally, and the fact Ms Robinson was by his side throughout the saga's manifold twists.

She had succeeded in freeing Assange from the grip of the world's most powerful country, which had for years wanted him jailed for what it called espionage - releasing classified documents leaked by insiders and revealing the details behind the official version of how the US "War on Terror" operated, among other information.

To Assange, this was journalism, or publishing at least; to the US Administration and its friends it was reason to pursue him into maximum security Belmarsh prison in the UK, where he had spent the past five years fighting extradition stateside.

For Ms Robinson, the principles at stake dwarfed the years or the particulars: the US was trying to exert legal authority over a non-citizen outside its borders, for a "crime" of releasing information, without allowing him the constitutional free speech protections of the First Amendment.

"It's an absolute affront to the First Amendment," she said. "It's an absolute affront to the principles that the US says they stand upon, and no right thinking person should support the US. People need to stand up against this dangerous precedent."

Ms Robinson had consistently argued that "no crime had been committed", and "the facts involved in the case don't support a crime". So when a judge in the US Pacific territory of Saipan asked Assange last Wednesday how did he plead, the answer "Guilty to the information" was to get him home.

So while his return to Australia was clearly a victory for his legal team, and his family, Ms Robinson delivered a warning rather than a celebration.

"He should never have been charged in the first place - he should never have spent so long in a high security prison, and this case should never have been prosecuted," she told the Mercury.

"And the prosecution sets a very dangerous precedent for free speech around the world because the US is saying we will exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction [but not] give you constitutional free speech protections.

"The fact that he was prosecuted, the fact that another journalist could be prosecuted again, the fact the law in the United States is not clear on what protections journalists have in these circumstances, means that there's an ongoing uncertainty and chilling effect for journalists everywhere.

"For Julian, it was a rational choice to accept a plea deal that we negotiated very hard for, to plead guilty to win his freedom, because he could have spent many more years of his life in prison fighting this, and might not have got a better outcome.

"So that's why you heard me say we're thrilled and we are celebrating his liberty - but those who supported us to get to this outcome need to now turn their attentions to changing the law in the United States so this could never happen again to anyone else."

Before Assange arrived in Saipan an intensely detailed arrangement was in place to ensure however the judge ruled, he would be able to fly directly to Australia. It had been at least a year in the making, Ms Robinson said.

But arriving in US territory brought its own anxieties.

"It was tense going into a US jurisdiction with him, obviously, given everything that's happened, but we'd negotiated strong terms in the deal that meant that no matter what happened in court, he was getting on a plane home to Australia," Ms Robinson said.

"Sitting in court hearing the judge say that he would be leaving court a free man, was a huge relief. Getting on the plane and taking off from Saipan was another sense of relief.

"Hitting Australian airspace and knowing we were home was a celebration, and landing in Canberra was incredibly emotional.

"Actually my dad [ horse trainer Terry Robinson] Facetimed me just as we were about to land, and I was sitting next to Julian.

"He got on the video and he's like, 'hi darling, I'm really proud of you'. I said 'Oh dad, I'm here with Julian'. I put Julian on. He said 'hello' and Dad was like, 'good on you, mate'."

In global media this week Ms Robinson was "the woman who freed Julian Assange", "Assange's saviour", Assange's "homegrown hardnosed lawyer" - much of which may be true. But the lawyer herself said the plea deal negotiations started "a year ago", and she spread the credit across not only the legal team but the big wheels in Australia's government.

"Our Prime Minister Anthony Albanese raising it at the highest levels at every opportunity and making it a very clearly stated public priority for the Australian government - that changed everything," she said.

"And our ambassador [to the US] Kevin Rudd ... the engagement by our Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Mark Dreyfus, our Attorney-General, who also had meetings at the highest levels and really pushed for this to be done. We're grateful to them."

Many of Ms Robinson's years on the Assange case were pro bono - for free - and she admitted there were times she wondered whether they would ever win. But she never considered leaving it.

"I was always going to see it through," she said.

"The principle of free speech is important. The fact he's a fellow Australian citizen is important. I had to believe that one day we would get here because the consequences for our democracy, and the grave injustice if we couldn't get there, it was too grave.

"There [were] some really dark moments where, you know, I wonder whether it would be possible. The fact that we did it, negotiating the release of an Australian citizen from the US who wanted to prosecute him and send him to prison for the rest of his life - the most powerful country in the world - it's no small feat.

"It is no small feat and it took a lot and it took a big team. I'm not taking credit for this.

"I was a remarkable team of lawyers - there was a group of three of us that negotiated this very confidentially and secretly, working with the US Government and the Australian Government."

Jennifer Robinson may have earned some time to put the feet up but she's not that lawyer. Immediately after our interview on Friday night she was holding an event for Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong media proprietor and, who is on trial and facing possible life imprisonment for his activities. She and Lai's son Sebastien will appear at the National Press Club on Monday, July 1.

As for Assange, he is doing his best to lie low with his wife and their two young sons.

"He's just thrilled to be home," Ms Robinson said.

"He's absolutely thrilled to be home. He's thrilled to be with his family and I just hope that people will allow them to have their privacy so that they can have time together as a family rebuild, and allow him to recover."