Tony Balkissoon serves as Vice President and Executive Counsel at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and is also responsible for leading other Presidential initiatives, for example, the annual Smart on Crime Innovations conference. Before joining John Jay, Tony litigated criminal-justice and civil-rights cases in federal trial and appellate courts across the country. He focused on protecting the constitutional rights of incarcerated people and people defending against criminal accusations. He has represented numerous people seeking to clear their names and secure compensation after being wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit. Prior to his criminal-justice and civil-rights work, Tony litigated intellectual-property disputes at an international law firm based in Chicago. He was a law clerk to two federal judges: the Honorable Manish S. Shah of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and the Honorable Ann Claire Williams (ret.) of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He received his law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School, and his undergraduate degree with honors in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto.