Thomas C. Baxter, Jr.
Executive Vice President and General Counsel
Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Thomas C. Baxter, Jr. has been general counsel and executive vice president of the legal group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York since March 1995. He also serves as deputy general counsel of the Federal Open Market Committee. His principal responsibility is to supervise the day-to-day operation of the New York Fed’s legal group, which includes the protection function, and he also serves on the bank’s Management Committee.

Prior to being named general counsel, he had been deputy general counsel, equivalent to senior vice president, since September 1993.

Mr. Baxter joined the bank as an attorney in August of 1980, following a one-year appointment as a law assistant to the justices of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court. He became an officer of the New York Fed in July 1984, when he was promoted to assistant counsel.

He represents the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on two Presidents’ Conference Committees, including the Subcommittee of Counsel on Personnel and the Subcommittee of Legal Counsel.

In addition to Mr. Baxter’s involvement with New York Fed and Federal Reserve System committees, he is very active in the legal community as a member of the American Bar Association, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Practising Law Institute, and the International Law Association’s International Monetary Law Committee. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Greater New York Chapter of the American Corporate Counsel Association. He has served as a legal advisor to the Current Payment Methods project of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, which developed Article 4A of the Uniform Commercial Code, and amendments to Articles 3 and 4. Mr. Baxter served as a member of the United States delegation to a United Nations group that developed a model law governing credit transfers.

He earned his law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1979 after earning a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Rochester in 1976. He is a member of the New York bar.

Mr. Baxter has published articles concerning legal aspects of bank supervision, check collection, securities transfers, and electronic transfers of funds. He also is a joint author of two text books, "Wire Transfers: A Guide to U.S. and International Laws Governing Funds Transfers" (Probus 1993), and "The ABC’s of the UCC: Article 4A Funds Transfers" (ABA 1997). He often lectures on various matters at programs sponsored by the Uniform Commercial Code Institute, the Department of Justice’s Advocacy Institute, the American Bar Association, the American Law Institute, the Bank Administration Institute, the Practicing Law Institute, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, and similar organizations. He lives on Staten Island with his wife and their three children.