Tina Luongo, Chief Attorney of The Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Defense Practice has been honored with a Servant of Justice Award from It Could Happen To You.

Each year, the organization honors individuals who have dedicated their lives to fighting for justice. Luongo is being honored for their work, and on behalf of the work of multiple Legal Aid attorneys in defending Discovery reform, their work on legislation establishing the New York State Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct, and for championing the Challenging Wrongful Conviction Act.

It Could Happen To You, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, is an advocacy organization started by Bill Bastuk after he was falsely accused of a crime in 2008.

“I accept this not only for all the defenders at Legal Aid but for defenders statewide. More importantly, the people who most deserve this award are the impacted people who fought for their right to the discovery on their case,” Luongo said. “They made this happen. You all made this happen by making this a movement not about lawyering but about what an accused person deserves on their case.”

Congratulations to Tina, who was honored along with New York State Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Jeffrion L. Aubry, retired Monroe Country Public Defender Jill L. Paperno, and Nada Khader Executive Director of the WESPAC Foundation, at a ceremony in Hastings-on-Hudson earlier this week.