Assemblymember Patricia Fahy (D-Albany) was awarded the “Excellence in Mandated Representation” Award by the New York State Bar Association on Friday June 9th. Assemblymember Fahy sponsored Indigent Legal Services Reform, sometimes called the “Justice Equality Act,” alongside Senator John DeFrancisco. The bill, which was designed to shift the burden of indigent legal services from the counties to the state, was passed unanimously by both houses of the legislature in 2016. When the bill was ultimately given a midnight veto on the last day of 2016, she made it a priority to include the full implementation of Gideon V Wainwright in the adopted budget, ending the county-to-county patchwork system of justice in New York State.