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Alumni Award

Lucy Adams Billings

Winner of 2024 Alumni Award: 
Honored for Lifetime of Advocacy and Public Service
Justice Lucy Adams Billings '63

The New Canaan Country School Alumni Award is presented to honor an alumna or alumnus who has shown the courage and confidence to make a positive contribution to the world. This year, the honor went to Lucy Adams Billings '63.

Justice Billings, a Justice of the New York County Supreme Court, has spent her distinguished career advocating for equal justice, particularly for those who cannot afford legal representation. Throughout her career, she has fought for the rights of tenants, minorities, children, seniors, and families navigating difficult legal circumstances.

Justice Billings’ legal career spans decades and includes a broad spectrum of civil rights, tenants' rights, environmental justice, public health, and children's rights cases. Prior to serving as a judge, she held leadership positions at Bronx Legal Services and worked as staff counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Children’s Rights Project. Her landmark cases include forcing the City of New York to address lead paint hazards in public spaces and securing the rights of tenants facing unjust evictions.

Lucy Billings' contributions have extended beyond the courtroom into communities in need. She has been an advocate for those who have felt left behind by the justice system and has dedicated her life to ensuring that all people, regardless of their circumstances, are treated with dignity and respect under the law.

After graduating from Country School, Justice Billings earned her B.A. from Smith College, magna cum laude, and her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, John, a professor at NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and has a daughter, Marion.
 
Career highlights:
  • 1973: Began her career as a staff attorney with Vermont Legal Aid
  • 1975-1976: Worked as a representative for the Utah Legal Clinic Foundation
  • 1976-1978: Joined Utah Legal Services, working as: the Supervisor of the Public Benefits and Health Unit
  • 1978-1982: A Senior Attorney with Utah Legal Services, (with one break from this service in 1980)
  • 1980-1982: Chairperson of the Public Benefits and Health Task Forces
  • 1982: Director of Legal Support for Community Action for Legal Services
  • 1982-1986: Worked for Bronx Legal Services as the Director of Litigation
  • 1986: Became staff counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union National Headquarters
  • 1989-1997: Bronx Legal Services, working as the Director of Special Litigation and Training
  • 1996-1997: Worked as a consultant for the Northern Manhattan Improvement Corp.

Alumni Award Recipients

List of 29 items.

  • 2025: Jonathan Isham '75

  • 2024: Lucy Adams Billings '63

  • 2023: Nicholas Britell '96

  • 2022: Lisa Pike Sheehy ’83

  • 2021: AJ Mleczko ’90

  • 2020: Eric Woolworth ’80

  • 2019: Allison Kessler Vear ’00

  • 2018: Topsy Post ’66

  • 2017: Mo Vaughn ’82

  • 2016: G. David Forney ’54

  • 2015: Zach Iscol ’94

  • 2014: Katherine Ward ’79

  • 2013: Liz Barratt-Brown ’74

  • 2012: Matt Heineman ’98

  • 2011: Rick Ackerly ’60

  • 2010: Edward Hoagland ’47

  • 2009: Patricia Gates Lynch Ewell ’41

  • 2008: Hardy Jones ’58

  • 2007: Elizabeth Spelke ’64

  • 2006: L. Paul Bremer ’56

  • 2005: Edmund L. Resor ’66

  • 2004: William A. Shutkin ’80

  • 2003: Emily Mead ’41

  • 2002: Keith H. Brodie ’54

  • 2001: Samuel Sachs ’50

  • 2000: Elizabeth S. Crow ’61

  • 1999: Hedrick Smith ’47

  • 1998: Jonathan B. O’Brien ’53 & Joan Dominick O’Brien ’53

  • 1997: Peter Goldmark ’55

New Canaan Country School

635 Frogtown Road, New Canaan, CT 06840
Phone: (203) 972-0771

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New Canaan Country School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin and are afforded all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, sex, sexual orientation, national origin or ancestry, or disability in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, financial aid policies or any other school-administered programs.