Baker, Steven M.

Robin Baker is a counsel in the Litigation/Controversy Department, and a member of the Investigations and Criminal Litigation Practice Group. She joined the firm in 2010.

Experience

From 2007 to 2010, Ms. Baker served as the Executive Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice with the Office of the New York State Attorney General. During this time, Ms. Baker supervised and managed the Criminal Justice Division, which prosecutes civil and criminal cases and includes the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU), the Public Integrity Bureau, the Criminal Prosecutions Bureau, and the Organized Crime Task Force. In 2009, the MFCU received the United States Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General’s 2009 State Fraud Award for outstanding detection, investigation, and prosecution of Medicaid provider fraud. Other matters handled by the Criminal Justice Division under Ms. Baker's direction included securities fraud in violation of New York’s Martin Act; corruption, fraud, and abuse by government personnel or involving government funds; criminal bid rigging; tax offenses; and environmental crimes.

Ms. Baker was responsible for developing and implementing the agenda for the Criminal Justice Division and managing its resources, which include approximately 110 attorneys and over 300 auditors, investigators, and support personnel across New York State. She personally supervised complex and high-profile matters, such as an ethics code for the wind-power industry, a $35 million Medicaid fraud settlement with HealthFirst, and the investigation of qui tam cases under the New York State and federal False Claims Acts. Ms. Baker also drafted and reviewed legislation and regulations, including the New York State False Claims Act, and represented the Attorney General at press conferences and meetings with the public and other government officials.

From 1996 to 2006, Ms. Baker was an Assistant US Attorney in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. There, she conducted eight jury trials, totaling more than 16 months of trial time. She served as Deputy Chief of Appeals and Acting Chief of Appeals; the significant appeals on which she worked included United States v. Ebbers, in which the Second Circuit affirmed the fraud convictions and 25-year sentence of the WorldCom CEO, and In re W.R. Huff Asset Management Company, in which the Second Circuit rejected objections to the creation of a fund to compensate victims of the Rigases’ fraud at Adelphia. For more than six years, she was a member of the Organized Crime & Terrorism Unit and investigated and prosecuted international terrorism cases, including United States v. Sattar, in which defense attorney Lynne Stewart and two other defendants were convicted for supporting or participating in the terrorist activity of the imprisoned “Blind Sheikh,” Omar Abdel Rahman; and United States v. Haouari and United States v. Ressam, involving the “Millennium Plot” to bomb Los Angeles International Airport. Ms Baker also previously served in the Narcotics Unit and the General Crimes Unit, and specialized in investigating and prosecuting RICO cases against violent drug gangs.

From 1989 to 1996, she was a litigation associate at a prominent law firm in New York where she focused in the areas of securities fraud, bankruptcy, contracts, products liability, libel and press access.

Ms. Baker is admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the United States District Courts for the Southern, Eastern, Northern, and Western Districts of New York.

Professional Activities

Ms. Baker has taught as an adjunct professor of clinical law at the New York University School of Law, and as an instructor at the Department of Justice National Advocacy Center.

Honors and Awards

Ms. Baker has received numerous honors and awards in connection with her public service, including the United States Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service (US Department of Justice's highest honor), the Stimson Medal from the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and the Department of Justice Director’s Award for Superior Performance.