Biographies of our Moderator & Speakers:
Andre Baynes, A91 - Andre Baynes is Associate General Counsel at Fidelity Investments in Boston, MA. Andre re-joined Fidelity in 2001 and focuses his legal practice on ERISA/retirement law. He provides legal advice and guidance to Fidelity on all issues impacting its retirement business. With almost 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, Andre has significant expertise in advising clients on matters involving qualified and non-qualified plans, individual and small business retirement accounts/plans and 403(b)(7) plans. Prior to returning to Fidelity, Andre worked in product management, sales and relationship management roles at a number of financial services companies including MFS, Putnam Investments and Gruntal & Company. Andre received a Bachelor of Science degree from Tufts University in 1991, a Masters of Business Administration degree from Boston University and a J.D degree from Suffolk Law School.
Honorable Eric Washington, A76 - The Honorable Eric T. Washington was appointed Chief Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in 2005 and served three consecutive 4 year terms as Chief Judge and Chair of the Joint Committee on Judicial Administration for the District of Columbia before retiring in 2017 and taking Senior Judge status. Prior to being designated as Chief Judge, he was an Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, and before that, he served as trial judge on the D.C. Superior Court. During his tenure as Chief Judge, Washington initiated live streaming of oral arguments; instituted a new case management system allowing for electronic accessibility to court dockets; and significantly reduced the time on appeal for cases filed. Judge Washington has co-authored a paper on sustainable court governance for a Harvard Executive Session and more recently, his remarks on Pre-trial Justice Reform, delivered at the 22nd Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. Lecture on State Courts and Social Justice, was published in the November 2016 NYU Law Review. Judge Washington, a past President of the Conference of Chief Justices of the United States, is a nationally recognized leader on Access to Justice Issues and works tirelessly to raise awareness of the importance of the rule of law and the role of the courts in our democracy. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington Foundation and the Public Welfare Foundation, and also serves on the Advisory Boards for the Tisch College of Tufts University and the ARC. In addition to his work as a Senior Judge, Judge Washington serves as an ADR professional with the McCammon Group. In that capacity, Judge Washington has served as a mediator in civil cases pending in Maryland and Virginia, as well as in the District of Columbia. He has been and remains active in many professional, civic and charitable organizations. He recently co-chaired the ABA’s Legal Access Job Corps Task Force and served on the Governing Council for the ABA Center for Innovation and the Advisory Board for the ABA Center for Human Rights. Judge Washington has been the recipient of many awards and honors including: The National Bar Association’s Wiley A. Branton Symposium Leadership Award and the Washington Bar Association’s Ollie May Cooper Award. In 2014, Judge Washington was inducted into the Washington Bar Association Hall of Fame.
Lisa Radcliffe, J88 - Deputy Chief Counsel, US Department of Homeland Security, and our moderator for the evening. She is a Deputy Chief Counsel with the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor for the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York City (OPLA NYC). She was selected as a Deputy Chief Counsel in June of 2012. In addition to managing a team of attorneys and serving as second line supervisor to the support staff, Lisa oversees the National Security program at OPLA NYC where she supervises a specialized team of attorneys (NS) responsible for representing the Department in all phases of litigation before the Executive Office for Immigration Review. The NS team works with OPLA NYC’s clients Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Homeland Security Investigations Joint Terrorism Task Force (HIS-JTTF), the United States Attorney’s Offices in the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, and other stakeholders, to assist in the investigation and prosecution of terrorists and those who pose a danger to the United States. Lisa is OPLA NYC’s Special Emphasis Program Manager (F-SEPM) which is a program is designed to advise and assist management officials in the identification, analysis, and resolution of policies, practices, and procedures which serve to create barriers to the hiring, advancement, and retention of minorities, women, and persons with disabilities, or other identified groups. As F-SEPM Lisa also coordinates OPLA NYC’s cultural observances and has provided officewide training for OPLA attorneys in the area of Diversity and Inclusion and the Elimination of Bias in the Legal Profession pursuant to New York State’s CLE Program Rules 22 NYCRR 1500.2(g). Lisa began her service in the federal government as an Assistant District Counsel with the legacy U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in 2002. Later, as an Assistant Chief Counsel, she became a member of the Aguilar/Suppression Litigation Team. As a member of the team, she litigated motions to suppress and terminate in the New York area of responsibility that alleged violations of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments and she provided training on these issues to HSI and ERO. Prior to her tenure with the Department, Lisa was an Assistant District Attorney with the New York County District Attorney’s Office. In this role, she was responsible for all phases of criminal case prosecution. Lisa received her Bachelor of Science degree in Social Psychology and Spanish from Tufts University and her Juris Doctor from Fordham University School of Law where she served as Managing Editor of the Moot Court Board.
Mitchell Robinson, A07 - Mitch Robinson is a business and trial attorney focusing his practice on labor and employment and commercial litigation matters. His litigation experience includes defending and counseling employers with respect to single-plaintiff, collective action, and class action cases involving wage and hour claims, employment discrimination, sexual harassment, government investigations, and common law tort and contract cases. He also has wide-ranging experience representing employers in restrictive covenant litigation in both state and federal court, including lawsuits involving breaches of employer’s confidentiality, solicitation, and non-compete covenants and the disclosure of employer’s trade secrets. In addition to his litigation experience, Mitch represents and counsels public and private entities and senior executives in the negotiation and drafting of agreements including executive employment, severance and releases, change-in-control, and retention and bonus agreements. He also routinely assists clients with the development and implementation of policy and practices by drafting employee handbooks and related policies, protocols, and guidance, conducting trainings and employment audits, and designing employment compliance programs. Prior to entering into private practice, Mitch served as a law clerk for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. He also worked a legislative assistant in the U.S. House of Representatives where he advised on and was involved in various subject matter areas involving energy, education, housing, federal budget, immigration, and appropriations.
Koro Nuri, A93 - Koro is an International finance lawyer with extensive public and private sector experience structuring financing solutions and preparing and negotiating all forms of relevant documentation for cross-border finance transactions, including project finance, trade finance, trade credit insurance and export credit agency insurance and loan guarantee programs. Koro currently serves as the Global Lead Counsel for Institutional Matters at the International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group. Prior to the current role, Koro spent 5 years as Senior Counsel at IFC working on a variety of infrastructure finance transactions in developing countries. Koro started his legal career as a Project Finance associate at the law firm Skadden Arps in Washington, DC and then moved to the U.S. Export-Import Bank and rose to Assistant General Counsel for Trade Finance and Insurance, where he led a team of attorneys and was responsible for all sovereign debt and a variety of international trade finance products and programs before joining IFC in 2014. Koro graduated from Tufts in 1993 with a B.A. in international relations and concentration in Political Economy.
